Kenilworth...........................................................................................................................................................1

Walter Scott.............................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................2

CHAPTER I. ............................................................................................................................................6

CHAPTER II. .........................................................................................................................................14

CHAPTER III........................................................................................................................................19

CHAPTER IV........................................................................................................................................25

CHAPTER V.........................................................................................................................................32

CHAPTER VI........................................................................................................................................38

CHAPTER VII. ......................................................................................................................................46

CHAPTER VIII.....................................................................................................................................61

CHAPTER IX........................................................................................................................................67

CHAPTER X.........................................................................................................................................73

CHAPTER XI........................................................................................................................................79

CHAPTER XII. ......................................................................................................................................86

CHAPTER XIII.....................................................................................................................................95

CHAPTER XIV.....................................................................................................................................99

CHAPTER XV,...................................................................................................................................104

CHAPTER XVI...................................................................................................................................113

CHAPTER XVII. .................................................................................................................................124

CHAPTER XVIII. ................................................................................................................................136

CHAPTER XIX...................................................................................................................................145

CHAPTER XX....................................................................................................................................150

CHAPTER XXI...................................................................................................................................156

CHAPTER XXII. .................................................................................................................................160

CHAPTER XXIII. ................................................................................................................................169

CHAPTER XXIV................................................................................................................................176

CHAPTER XXV. .................................................................................................................................183

CHAPTER XXVI................................................................................................................................189

CHAPTER XXVII. ..............................................................................................................................193

CHAPTER XXVIII. .............................................................................................................................198

CHAPTER XXIX................................................................................................................................199

CHAPTER XXX. .................................................................................................................................204

CHAPTER XXXI................................................................................................................................211

CHAPTER XXXII. ..............................................................................................................................216

CHAPTER XXXIII. .............................................................................................................................223

CHAPTER XXXIV.............................................................................................................................229

CHAPTER XXXV. ..............................................................................................................................237

CHAPTER XXXVI.............................................................................................................................242

CHAPTER XXXVII............................................................................................................................247

CHAPTER XXXVIII. ..........................................................................................................................254

CHAPTER XXXIX.............................................................................................................................262

CHAPTER XL. ....................................................................................................................................267

CHAPTER XLI. ...................................................................................................................................273

A certain degree of success, real or supposed, in the delineation of Queen Mary, naturally induced the author

to attempt something similar respecting "her sister and her foe," the celebrated Elizabeth. He will not,

however, pretend to have approached the task with the same feelings; for the candid Robertson himself

confesses having felt the prejudices with which a Scottishman is tempted to regard the subject; and what so

liberal a historian avows, a poor romancewriter dares not disown. But he hopes the influence of a prejudice,

almost as natural to him as his native air, will not be found to have greatly affected the sketch he has

attempted of England's Elizabeth. I have endeavoured to describe her as at once a highminded sovereign,

and a female of passionate feelings, hesitating betwixt the sense of her rank and the duty she owed her

subjects on the one hand, and on the other her attachment to a nobleman, who, in external qualifications at

least, amply merited her favour. The interest of the story is thrown upon that period when the sudden death of

the first Countess of Leicester seemed to open to the ambition of her husband the opportunity of sharing the

It is possible that slander, which very seldom favours the memories of persons in exalted stations, may have

blackened the character of Leicester with darker shades than really belonged to it. But the almost general

voice of the times attached the most foul suspicions to the death of the unfortunate Countess, more especially

as it took place so very opportunely for the indulgence of her lover's ambition. If we can trust Ashmole's

Antiquities of Berkshire, there was but too much ground for the traditions which charge Leicester with the

murder of his wife. In the following extract of the passage, the reader will find the authority I had for the

"At the west end of the church are the ruins of a manor, anciently belonging (as a cell, or place of removal, as

some report) to the monks of Abington. At the Dissolution, the said manor, or lordship, was conveyed to one

"In the hall, over the chimney, I find Abington arms cut in stonenamely, a patonee between four martletts;

and also another escutcheonnamely, a lion rampant, and several mitres cut in stone about the house. There

is also in the said house a chamber called Dudley's chamber, where the Earl of Leicester's wife was murdered,

"Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a very goodly personage, and singularly well featured, being a great

favourite to Queen Elizabeth, it was thought, and commonly reported, that had he been a bachelor or

widower, the Queen would have made him her husband; to this end, to free himself of all obstacles, he

commands, or perhaps, with fair flattering entreaties, desires his wife to repose herself here at his servant

Anthony Forster's house, who then lived in the aforesaid manorhouse; and also prescribes to Sir Richard

Varney (a prompter to this design), at his coming hither, that he should first attempt to poison her, and if that

did not take effect, then by any other way whatsoever to dispatch her. This, it seems, was proved by the

report of Dr. Walter Bayly, sometime fellow of New College, then living in Oxford, and professor of physic

in that university; whom, because he would not consent to take away her life by poison, the Earl endeavoured

to displace him the court. This man, it seems, reported for most certain that there was a practice in Cumnor

among the conspirators, to have poisoned this poor innocent lady, a little before she was killed, which was

attempted after this manner:They seeing the good lady sad and heavy (as one that well knew, by her other

handling, that her death was not far off), began to persuade her that her present disease was abundance of

melancholy and other humours, etc., and therefore would needs counsel her to take some potion, which she

absolutely refusing to do, as still suspecting the worst; whereupon they sent a messenger on a day (unawares

to her) for Dr. Bayly, and entreated him to persuade her to take some little potion by his direction, and they

would fetch the same at Oxford; meaning to have added something of their own for her comfort, as the doctor

upon just cause and consideration did suspect, seeing their great importunity, and the small need the lady had

of physic, and therefore he peremptorily denied their request; misdoubting (as he afterwards reported) lest, if

they had poisoned her under the name of his potion, he might after have been hanged for a colour of their sin,

and the doctor remained still well assured that this way taking no effect, she would not long escape their

violence, which afterwards happened thus. For Sir Richard Varney abovesaid (the chief projector in this

design), who, by the Earl's order, remained that day of her death alone with her, with one man only and

Forster, who had that day forcibly sent away all her servants from her to Abington market, about three miles

distant from this place; they (I say, whether first stifling her, or else strangling her) afterwards flung her down

a pair of stairs and broke her neck, using much violence upon her; but, however, though it was vulgarly

reported that she by chance fell downstairs (but still without hurting her hood that was upon her head), yet the

inhabitants will tell you there that she was conveyed from her usual chamber where she lay, to another where

the bed's head of the chamber stood close to a privy postern door, where they in the night came and stifled her

in her bed, bruised her head very much broke her neck, and at length flung her down stairs, thereby believing

the world would have thought it a mischance, and so have blinded their villainy. But behold the mercy and

justice of God in revenging and discovering this lady's murder; for one of the persons that was a coadjutor in

this murder was afterwards taken for a felony in the marches of Wales, and offering to publish the manner of

the aforesaid murder, was privately made away in the prison by the Earl's appointment; and Sir Richard

Varney the other, dying about the same time in London, cried miserably, and blasphemed God, and said to a

person of note (who hath related the same to others since), not long before his death, that all the devils in hell

did tear him in pieces. Forster, likewise, after this fact, being a man formerly addicted to hospitality,

company, mirth, and music, was afterwards observed to forsake all this, and with much melancholy and

pensiveness (some say with madness) pined and drooped away. The wife also of Bald Butter, kinsman to the

Earl, gave out the whole fact a little before her death. Neither are these following passages to be forgotten,

that as soon as ever she was murdered, they made great haste to bury her before the coroner had given in his

inquest (which the Earl himself condemned as not done advisedly), which her father, or Sir John Robertsett

(as I suppose), hearing of, came with all speed hither, caused her corpse to be taken up, the coroner to sit

upon her, and further inquiry to be made concerning this business to the full; but it was generally thought that

the Earl stopped his mouth, and made up the business betwixt them; and the good Earl, to make plain to the

world the great love he bare to her while alive, and what a grief the loss of so virtuous a lady was to his

tender heart, caused (though the thing, by these and other means, was beaten into the heads of the principal

men of the University of Oxford) her body to be reburied in St, Mary's Church in Oxford, with great pomp

and solemnity. It is remarkable, when Dr. Babington, the Earl's chaplain, did preach the funeral sermon, he

tript once or twice in his speech, by recommending to their memories that virtuous lady so pitifully murdered,

instead of saying pitifully slain. This Earl, after all his murders and poisonings, was himself poisoned by that

which was prepared for others (some say by his wife at Cornbury Lodge before mentioned), though Baker in

his Chronicle would have it at Killingworth; anno 1588." [Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, vol.i., p.149.

The tradition as to Leicester's death was thus communicated by Ben Jonson to Drummond of

Hawthornden:"The Earl of Leicester gave a bottle of liquor to his Lady, which he willed her to use in any

faintness, which she, after his returne from court, not knowing it was poison, gave him, and so he

The same accusation has been adopted and circulated by the author of Leicester's Commonwealth, a satire

written directly against the Earl of Leicester, which loaded him with the most horrid crimes, and, among the

rest, with the murder of his first wife. It was alluded to in the Yorkshire Tragedy, a play erroneously ascribed

to Shakespeare, where a baker, who determines to destroy all his family, throws his wife downstairs, with this

The reader will find I have borrowed several incidents as well as names from Ashmole, and the more early

authorities; but my first acquaintance with the history was through the more pleasing medium of verse. There

is a period in youth when the mere power of numbers has a more strong effect on ear and imagination than in

more advanced life. At this season of immature taste, the author was greatly delighted with the poems of

Mickle and Langhorne, poets who, though by no means deficient in the higher branches of their art, were

eminent for their powers of verbal melody above most who have practised this department of poetry. One of

those pieces of Mickle, which the author was particularly pleased with, is a ballad, or rather a species of

elegy, on the subject of Cumnor Hall, which, with others by the same author, was to be found in Evans's

Ancient Ballads (vol. iv., page 130), to which work Mickle made liberal contributions. The first stanza

especially had a peculiar species of enchantment for the youthful ear of the author, the force of which is not

It is the privilege of taletellers to open their story in an inn, the free rendezvous of all travellers, and where

the humour of each displays itself without ceremony or restraint. This is specially suitable when the scene is

laid during the old days of merry England, when the guests were in some sort not merely the inmates, but the

messmates and temporary companions of mine Host, who was usually a personage of privileged freedom,

comely presence, and goodhumour. Patronized by him the characters of the company were placed in ready

contrast; and they seldom failed, during the emptying of a sixhooped pot, to throw off reserve, and present

themselves to each other, and to their landlord, with the freedom of old acquaintance.

The village of Cumnor, within three or four miles of Oxford, boasted, during the eighteenth of Queen

Elizabeth, an excellent inn of the old stamp, conducted, or rather ruled, by Giles Gosling, a man of a goodly

person, and of somewhat round belly; fifty years of age and upwards, moderate in his reckonings, prompt in

his payments, having a cellar of sound liquor, a ready wit, and a pretty daughter. Since the days of old Harry

Baillie of the Tabard in Southwark, no one had excelled Giles Gosling in the power of pleasing his guests of

every description; and so great was his fame, that to have been in Cumnor without wetting a cup at the bonny

Black Bear, would have been to avouch one'sself utterly indifferent to reputation as a traveller. A country

fellow might as well return from London without looking in the face of majesty. The men of Cumnor were

proud of their Host, and their Host was proud of his house, his liquor, his daughter, and himself.

It was in the courtyard of the inn which called this honest fellow landlord, that a traveller alighted in the close

of the evening, gave his horse, which seemed to have made a long journey, to the hostler, and made some

inquiry, which produced the following dialogue betwixt the myrmidons of the bonny Black Bear.

"At hand, Will Hostler," replied the man of the spigot, showing himself in his costume of loose jacket, linen

breeches, and green apron, half within and half without a door, which appeared to descend to an outer cellar.

"Beshrew my heart else," answered the tapster, "since there are but four miles betwixt us and Oxford. Marry,

if my ale did not convince the heads of the scholars, they would soon convince my pate with the pewter

"Call you that Oxford logic?" said the stranger, who had now quitted the rein of his horse, and was advancing

towards the inn door, when he was encountered by the goodly form of Giles Gosling himself.

"Is it logic you talk of, Sir Guest?" said the host; "why, then, have at you with a downright consequence

"Amen! with all my heart, my good host," said the stranger; "let it be a quart of your best Canaries, and give

"Nay, you are but in your accidence yet, Sir Traveller, if you call on your host for help for such a sipping

matter as a quart of sack; Were it a gallon, you might lack some neighbouring aid at my hand, and yet call

"Fear me not." said the guest, "I will do my devoir as becomes a man who finds himself within five miles of

Oxford; for I am not come from the field of Mars to discredit myself amongst the followers of Minerva."

As he spoke thus, the landlord, with much semblance of hearty welcome, ushered his guest into a large, low

chamber, where several persons were seated together in different partiessome drinking, some playing at

cards, some conversing, and some, whose business called them to be early risers on the morrow, concluding

their evening meal, and conferring with the chamberlain about their night's quarters.

The entrance of a stranger procured him that general and careless sort of attention which is usually paid on

such occasions, from which the following results were deduced:The guest was one of those who, with a

wellmade person, and features not in themselves unpleasing, are nevertheless so far from handsome that,

whether from the expression of their features, or the tone of their voice, or from their gait and manner, there

arises, on the whole, a disinclination to their society. The stranger's address was bold, without being frank,

and seemed eagerly and hastily to claim for him a degree of attention and deference which he feared would

be refused, if not instantly vindicated as his right. His attire was a ridingcloak, which, when open, displayed

a handsome jerkin overlaid with lace, and belted with a buff girdle, which sustained a broadsword and a pair

"You ride well provided, sir," said the host, looking at the weapons as he placed on the table the mulled sack

"Yes, mine host; I have found the use on't in dangerous times, and I do not, like your modern grandees, turn

"Ay, sir?" said Giles Gosling; "then you are from the Low Countries, the land of pike and caliver?"

"I have been high and low, my friend, broad and wide, far and near. But here is to thee in a cup of thy sack;

fill thyself another to pledge me, and, if it is less than superlative, e'en drink as you have brewed."

"Less than superlative?" said Giles Gosling, drinking off the cup, and smacking his lips with an air of

ineffable relish,"I know nothing of superlative, nor is there such a wine at the Three Cranes, in the Vintry,

to my knowledge; but if you find better sack than that in the Sheres, or in the Canaries either, I would I may

never touch either pot or penny more. Why, hold it up betwixt you and the light, you shall see the little motes

dance in the golden liquor like dust in the sunbeam. But I would rather draw wine for ten clowns than one

"It is neat and comfortable, mine host; but to know good liquor, you should drink where the vine grows. Trust

me, your Spaniard is too wise a man to send you the very soul of the grape. Why, this now, which you

account so choice, were counted but as a cup of bastard at the Groyne, or at Port St. Mary's. You should

travel, mine host, if you would be deep in the mysteries of the butt and pottlepot."

"In troth, Signior Guest," said Giles Gosling, "if I were to travel only that I might be discontented with that

which I can get at home, methinks I should go but on a fool's errand. Besides, I warrant you, there is many a

fool can turn his nose up at good drink without ever having been out of the smoke of Old England; and so

"This is but a mean mind of yours, mine host," said the stranger; "I warrant me, all your town's folk do not

think so basely. You have gallants among you, I dare undertake, that have made the Virginia voyage, or taken

a turn in the Low Countries at least. Come, cudgel your memory. Have you no friends in foreign parts that

"Troth, sir, not I," answered the host, "since ranting Robin of Drysandford was shot at the siege of the Brill.

The devil take the caliver that fired the ball, for a blither lad never filled a cup at midnight! But he is dead and

gone, and I know not a soldier, or a traveller, who is a soldier's mate, that I would give a peeled codling for."

"By the Mass, that is strange. What! so many of our brave English hearts are abroad, and you, who seem to

"Nay, if you speak of kinsmen," answered Gosling, "I have one wild slip of a kinsman, who left us in the last

"Do not say so, friend, unless you have heard ill of him lately. Many a wild colt has turned out a noble

"Michael Lambourne," answered the landlord of the Black Bear; "a son of my sister'sthere is little pleasure

"Michael Lambourne!" said the stranger, as if endeavouring to recollect himself"what, no relation to

Michael Lambourne, the gallant cavalier who behaved so bravely at the siege of Venlo that Grave Maurice

thanked him at the head of the army? Men said he was an English cavalier, and of no high extraction."

"It could scarcely be my nephew," said Giles Gosling, "for he had not the courage of a henpartridge for

"It may be," said the landlord; "but I would have thought our Mike more likely to lose the little he had."

"The Michael Lambourne whom I knew," continued the traveller, "was a likely fellowwent always gay and

"Our Michael," replied the host, "had the look of a dog with a bottle at its tail, and wore a coat, every rag of

"Our Mike," answered the landlord, "was more like to pick it up in a frippery warehouse, while the broker

was looking another way; and, for the hawk's eye you talk of, his was always after my stray spoons. He was

tapster's boy here in this blessed house for a quarter of a year; and between misreckonings, miscarriages,

mistakes, and misdemeanours, had he dwelt with me for three months longer, I might have pulled down sign,

"You would be sorry, after all," continued the traveller, "were I to tell you poor Mike Lambourne was shot at

"Sorry!it would be the blithest news I ever heard of him, since it would ensure me he was not hanged. But

let him passI doubt his end will never do such credit to his friends. Were it so, I should say"(taking

"Tush, man," replied the traveller, "never fear but you will have credit by your nephew yet, especially if he be

the Michael Lambourne whom I knew, and loved very nearly, or altogether, as well as myself. Can you tell

"Faith, none that I can think of," answered Giles Gosling, "unless that our Mike had the gallows branded on

his left shoulder for stealing a silver caudlecup from Dame Snort of Hogsditch."

"Nay, there you lie like a knave, uncle," said the stranger, slipping aside his ruff; and turning down the sleeve

of his doublet from his neck and shoulder; "by this good day, my shoulder is as unscarred as thine own.

"What, Mike, boyMike!" exclaimed the host;"and is it thou, in good earnest? Nay, I have judged so for

this halfhour; for I knew no other person would have ta'en half the interest in thee. But, Mike, an thy

shoulder be unscathed as thou sayest, thou must own that Goodman Thong, the hangman, was merciful in his

"Tush, uncletruce with your jests. Keep them to season your sour ale, and let us see what hearty welcome

thou wilt give a kinsman who has rolled the world around for eighteen years; who has seen the sun set where

"Thou hast brought back one traveller's gift with thee, Mike, as I well see; and that was what thou least didst:

need to travel for. I remember well, among thine other qualities, there was no crediting a word which came

"Here's an unbelieving pagan for you, gentlemen!" said Michael Lambourne, turning to those who witnessed

this strange interview betwixt uncle and nephew, some of whom, being natives of the village, were no

strangers to his juvenile wildness. "This may be called slaying a Cumnor fatted calf for me with a

vengeance. But, uncle, I come not from the husks and the swinetrough, and I care not for thy welcome or

So saying, he pulled out a purse of gold indifferently well filled, the sight of which produced a visible effect

upon the company. Some shook their heads and whispered to each other, while one or two of the less

scrupulous speedily began to recollect him as a schoolcompanion, a townsman, or so forth. On the other

hand, two or three grave, sedatelooking persons shook their heads, and left the inn, hinting that, if Giles

Gosling wished to continue to thrive, he should turn his thriftless, godless nephew adrift again, as soon as he

could. Gosling demeaned himself as if he were much of the same opinion, for even the sight of the gold made

less impression on the honest gentleman than it usually doth upon one of his calling.

"Kinsman Michael," he said, "put up thy purse. My sister's son shall be called to no reckoning in my house

for supper or lodging; and I reckon thou wilt hardly wish to stay longer where thou art e'en but too well

"For that matter, uncle," replied the traveller, "I shall consult my own needs and conveniences. Meantime I

wish to give the supper and sleeping cup to those good townsmen who are not too proud to remember Mike

Lambourne, the tapster's boy. If you will let me have entertainment for my money, so; if not, it is but a short

two minutes' walk to the Hare and Tabor, and I trust our neighbours will not grudge going thus far with me."

"Nay, Mike," replied his uncle, "as eighteen years have gone over thy head, and I trust thou art somewhat

amended in thy conditions, thou shalt not leave my house at this hour, and shalt e'en have whatever in reason

you list to call for. But I would I knew that that purse of thine, which thou vapourest of, were as well come by

"Here is an infidel for you, my good neighbours!" said Lambourne, again appealing to the audience. "Here's a

fellow will rip up his kinsman's follies of a good score of years' standing. And for the gold, why, sirs, I have

been where it grew, and was to be had for the gathering. In the New World have I been, manin the

Eldorado, where urchins play at cherrypit with diamonds, and country wenches thread rubies for necklaces,

instead of rowantree berries; where the pantiles are made of pure gold, and the pavingstones of virgin

"By my credit, friend Mike," said young Laurence Goldthred, the cutting mercer of Abingdon, "that were a

likely coast to trade to. And what may lawns, cypruses, and ribands fetch, where gold is so plenty?"

"Oh, the profit were unutterable," replied Lambourne, "especially when a handsome young merchant bears

the pack himself; for the ladies of that clime are bonarobas, and being themselves somewhat sunburnt, they

catch fire like tinder at a fresh complexion like thine, with a head of hair inclining to be red."

"Why, and so thou mayest," said Michael"that is, if thou art the same brisk boy who was partner with me

at robbing the Abbot's orchard. 'Tis but a little touch of alchemy to decoct thy house and land into ready

money, and that ready money into a tall ship, with sails, anchors, cordage, and all things conforming; then

clap thy warehouse of goods under hatches, put fifty good fellows on deck, with myself to command them,

"Thou hast taught him a secret, kinsman," said Giles Gosling, "to decoct, an that be the word, his pound into

a penny and his webs into a thread.Take a fool's advice, neighbour Goldthred. Tempt not the sea, for she is

a devourer. Let cards and cockatrices do their worst, thy father's bales may bide a banging for a year or two

ere thou comest to the Spital; but the sea hath a bottomless appetite,she would swallow the wealth of

Lombard Street in a morning, as easily as I would a poached egg and a cup of clary. And for my kinsman's

Eldorado, never trust me if I do not believe he has found it in the pouches of some such gulls as thyself.

But take no snuff in the nose about it; fall to and welcome, for here comes the supper, and I heartily bestow it

on all that will take share, in honour of my hopeful nephew's return, always trusting that he has come home

another man.In faith, kinsman, thou art as like my poor sister as ever was son to mother."

"Not quite so like old Benedict Lambourne, her husband, though," said the mercer, nodding and winking.

"Dost thou remember, Mike, what thou saidst when the schoolmaster's ferule was over thee for striking up

thy father's crutches?it is a wise child, saidst thou, that knows its own father. Dr. Bircham laughed till he

"Well, he made it up to me many a day after," said Lambourne; "and how is the worthy pedagogue?"

"That he is," said the clerk of the parish; "I sat by his bed the whilst. He passed away in a blessed frame.

'MORIORMORTUUS SUM VEL FUIMORI'these were his latest words; and he just added, 'my last

"No, truly," replied Goldthred; "and every lash which he laid on thee, he always was wont to say, he spared

"One would have thought he left him little to do then," said the clerk; "and yet Goodman Thong had no

"VOTO A DIOS!" exclaimed Lambourne, his patience appearing to fail him, as he snatched his broad,

slouched hat from the table and placed it on his head, so that the shadow gave the sinister expression of a

Spanish brave to eyes and features which naturally boded nothing pleasant. "Hark'ee, my mastersall is fair

among friends, and under the rose; and I have already permitted my worthy uncle here, and all of you, to use

your pleasure with the frolics of my nonage. But I carry sword and dagger, my good friends, and can use

them lightly too upon occasion. I have learned to be dangerous upon points of honour ever since I served the

"Ay, sir, what would you do?" said the mercer, bustling up on the other side of the table.

"Slit your throat, and spoil your Sunday's quavering, Sir Clerk," said Lambourne fiercely; "cudgel you, my

"Come, come," said the host, interposing, "I will have no swaggering here.Nephew, it will become you

best to show no haste to take offence; and you, gentlemen, will do well to remember, that if you are in an inn,

still you are the inn keeper's guests, and should spare the honour of his family.I protest your silly broils

make me as oblivious as yourself; for yonder sits my silent guest as I call him, who hath been my two days'

inmate, and hath never spoken a word, save to ask for his food and his reckoninggives no more trouble

than a very peasantpays his shot like a prince royallooks but at the sum total of the reckoning, and does

not know what day he shall go away. Oh, 'tis a jewel of a guest! and yet, hangdog that I am, I have suffered

him to sit by himself like a castaway in yonder obscure nook, without so much as asking him to take bite or

sup along with us. It were but the right guerdon of my incivility were he to set off to the Hare and Tabor

With his white napkin gracefully arranged over his left arm, his velvet cap laid aside for the moment, and his

best silver flagon in his right hand, mine host walked up to the solitary guest whom he mentioned, and

He was a man aged betwixt twentyfive and thirty, rather above the middle size, dressed with plainness and

decency, yet bearing an air of ease which almost amounted to dignity, and which seemed to infer that his

habit was rather beneath his rank. His countenance was reserved and thoughtful, with dark hair and dark eyes;

the last, upon any momentary excitement, sparkled with uncommon lustre, but on other occasions had the

same meditative and tranquil cast which was exhibited by his features. The busy curiosity of the little village

had been employed to discover his name and quality, as well as his business at Cumnor; but nothing had

transpired on either subject which could lead to its gratification. Giles Gosling, headborough of the place,

and a steady friend to Queen Elizabeth and the Protestant religion, was at one time inclined to suspect his

guest of being a Jesuit, or seminary priest, of whom Rome and Spain sent at this time so many to grace the

gallows in England. But it was scarce possible to retain such a prepossession against a guest who gave so

little trouble, paid his reckoning so regularly, and who proposed, as it seemed, to make a considerable stay at

"Papists," argued Giles Gosling, "are a pinching, closefisted race, and this man would have found a lodging

with the wealthy squire at Bessellsey, or with the old Knight at Wootton, or in some other of their Roman

dens, instead of living in a house of public entertainment, as every honest man and good Christian should.

Besides, on Friday he stuck by the salt beef and carrot, though there were as good spitchcocked eels on the

Honest Giles, therefore, satisfied himself that his guest was no Roman, and with all comely courtesy

besought the stranger to pledge him in a draught of the cool tankard, and honour with his attention a small

collation which he was giving to his nephew, in honour of his return, and, as he verily hoped, of his

reformation. The stranger at first shook his head, as if declining the courtesy; but mine host proceeded to urge

him with arguments founded on the credit of his house, and the construction which the good people of

"By my faith, sir," he said, "it touches my reputation that men should be merry in my house; and we have ill

tongues amongst us at Cumnor (as where be there not?), who put an evil mark on men who pull their hat over

their brows, as if they were looking back to the days that are gone, instead of enjoying the blithe sunshiny

weather which God has sent us in the sweet looks of our sovereign mistress, Queen Elizabeth, whom Heaven

"Why, mine host," answered the stranger, "there is no treason, sure, in a man's enjoying his own thoughts,

under the shadow of his own bonnet? You have lived in the world twice as long as I have, and you must

know there are thoughts that will haunt us in spite of ourselves, and to which it is in vain to say, Begone, and

"By my sooth," answered Giles Gosling, "if such troublesome thoughts haunt your mind, and will not get

them gone for plain English, we will have one of Father Bacon's pupils from Oxford, to conjure them away

with logic and with Hebrewor, what say you to laying them in a glorious red sea of claret, my noble guest?

Come, sir, excuse my freedom. I am an old host, and must have my talk. This peevish humour of melancholy

sits ill upon you; it suits not with a sleek boot, a hat of trim block, a fresh cloak, and a full purse. A pize on it!

send it off to those who have their legs swathed with a haywisp, their heads thatched with a felt bonnet, their

jerkin as thin as a cobweb, and their pouch without ever a cross to keep the fiend Melancholy from dancing in

it. Cheer up, sir! or, by this good liquor, we shall banish thee from the joys of blithesome company, into the

mists of melancholy and the land of littleease. Here be a set of good fellows willing to be merry; do not

"You say well, my worthy host," said the guest, with a melancholy smile, which, melancholy as it was, gave a

very pleasant: expression to his countenance"you say well, my jovial friend; and they that are moody like

myself should not disturb the mirth of those who are happy. I will drink a round with your guests with all my

So saying, he arose and joined the company, who, encouraged by the precept and example of Michael

Lambourne, and consisting chiefly of persons much disposed to profit by the opportunity of a merry meal at

the expense of their landlord, had already made some inroads upon the limits of temperance, as was evident

from the tone in which Michael inquired after his old acquaintances in the town, and the bursts of laughter

with which each answer was received. Giles Gosling himself was somewhat scandalized at the obstreperous

nature of their mirth, especially as he involuntarily felt some respect for his unknown guest. He paused,

therefore, at some distance from the table occupied by these noisy revellers, and began to make a sort of

"You would think," he said, "to hear these fellows talk, that there was not one of them who had not been bred

to live by Stand and Deliver; and yet tomorrow you will find them a set of as painstaking mechanics, and so

forth, as ever cut an inch short of measure, or paid a letter of change in light crowns over a counter. The

mercer there wears his hat awry, over a shaggy head of hair, that looks like a curly waterdog's back, goes

unbraced, wears his cloak on one side, and affects a ruffianly vapouring humour: when in his shop at

Abingdon, he is, from his flat cap to his glistening shoes, as precise in his apparel as if he was named for

mayor. He talks of breaking parks, and taking the highway, in such fashion that you would think he haunted

every night betwixt Hounslow and London; when in fact he may be found sound asleep on his featherbed,

with a candle placed beside him on one side, and a Bible on the other, to fright away the goblins."

"And your nephew, mine host, this same Michael Lambourne, who is lord of the feastis he, too, such a

"Why, there you push me hard," said the host; "my nephew is my nephew, and though he was a desperate

Dick of yore, yet Mike may have mended like other folks, you wot. And I would not have you think all I said

of him, even now, was strict gospel; I knew the wag all the while, and wished to pluck his plumes from him.

And now, sir, by what name shall I present my worshipful guest to these gallants?"

"Tressilian?" answered mine host of the Bear. "A worthy name, and, as I think, of Cornish lineage; for what

"Say no more than I have given you warrant for, mine host, and so shall you be sure you speak no more than

is true. A man may have one of those honourable prefixes to his name, yet be born far from Saint Michael's

Mine host pushed his curiosity no further, but presented Master Tressilian to his nephew's company, who,

after exchange of salutations, and drinking to the health of their new companion, pursued the conversation in

After some brief interval, Master Goldthred, at the earnest instigation of mine host, and the joyous

concurrence of his guest, indulged the company with, the following morsel of melody:

"There is savour in this, my hearts," said Michael, when the mercer had finished his song, "and some

goodness seems left among you yet; but what a beadroll you have read me of old comrades, and to every

man's name tacked some illomened motto! And so Swashing Will of Wallingford hath bid us goodnight?"

"He died the death of a fat buck," said one of the party, "being shot with a crossbow bolt, by old Thatcham,

"Ay, ay, he always loved venison well," replied Michael, "and a cup of claret to bootand so here's one to

When the memory of this departed worthy had been duly honoured, Lambourne proceeded to inquire after

"Pranced offmade immortal ten years since," said the mercer; "marry, sir, Oxford Castle and Goodman

"What, so they hung poor Prance high and dry? so much for loving to walk by moonlight. A cup to his

memory, my mastersall merry fellows like moonlight. What has become of Hal with the Plume he who

"What, Hal Hempseed?" replied the mercer. "Why, you may remember he was a sort of a gentleman, and

would meddle in state matters, and so he got into the mire about the Duke of Norfolk's affair these two or

three years since, fled the country with a pursuivant's warrant at his heels, and has never since been heard of."

"Nay, after these baulks," said Michael Lambourne, "I need hardly inquire after Tony Foster; for when ropes,

and crossbow shafts, and pursuivant's warrants, and suchlike gear, were so rife, Tony could hardly 'scape

"Why, him they called Tony FiretheFagot, because he brought a light to kindle the pile round Latimer and

Ridley, when the wind blew out Jack Thong's torch, and no man else would give him light for love or

"Tony Foster lives and thrives," said the host. "But, kinsman, I would not have you call him Tony

"How! is he grown ashamed on't?" said Lambourne, "Why, he was wont to boast of it, and say he liked as

"Ay, but, kinsman, that was in Mary's time," replied the landlord, "when Tony's father was reeve here to the

Abbot of Abingdon. But since that, Tony married a pure precisian, and is as good a Protestant, I warrant you,

"And looks grave, and holds his head high, and scorns his old companions," said the mercer.

"Then he hath prospered, I warrant him," said Lambourne; "for ever when a man hath got nobles of his own,

"Prospered, quotha!" said the mercer; "why, you remember Cumnor Place, the old mansionhouse beside the

"By the same token, I robbed the orchard three times what of that? It was the old abbot's residence when

"Ay," said the host, "but that has been long over; and Anthony Foster hath a right in it, and lives there by

some grant from a great courtier, who had the churchlands from the crown. And there he dwells, and has as

little to do with any poor wight in Cumnor, as if he were himself a belted knight."

"Nay," said the mercer, "it is not altogether pride in Tony neither; there is a fair lady in the case, and Tony

"How!" said Tressilian, who now for the first time interfered in their conversation; "did ye not say this Foster

"Married he was, and to as bitter a precisian as ever ate flesh in Lent; and a catanddog life she led with

Tony, as men said. But she is dead, rest be with her! and Tony hath but a slip of a daughter; so it is thought he

"Why, I wot not," answered the host, "except that men say she is as beautiful as an angel, and no one knows

whence she comes, and every one wishes to know why she is kept so closely mewed up. For my part, I never

"That I have, old boy," said the mercer. "Look you, I was riding hither from Abingdon. I passed under the

east oriel window of the old mansion, where all the old saints and histories and such like are painted. It was

not the common path I took, but one through the Park; for the postern door was upon the latch, and I thought

I might take the privilege of an old comrade to ride across through the trees, both for shading, as the day was

somewhat hot, and for avoiding of dust, because I had on my peachcoloured doublet, pinked out with cloth

"Which garment," said Michael Lambourne, "thou wouldst willingly make twinkle in the eyes of a fair dame.

"Not sonot so," said the mercer, with a smirking laugh"not altogether sobut curiosity, thou knowest,

and a strain of compassion withal; for the poor young lady sees nothing from morn to even but Tony Foster,

"And thou wouldst willingly show her a dapper body, in a silken jerkina limb like a shortlegged hen's, in

a cordovan boot and a round, simpering, whatd'yelack sort of a countenance, set off with a velvet

bonnet, a Turkey feather, and a gilded brooch? Ah! jolly mercer, they who have good wares are fond to show

them!Come, gentles, let not the cup standhere's to long spurs, short boots, full bonnets, and empty

"Nay, now, you are jealous of me, Mike," said Goldthred; "and yet my luck was but what might have

"Marry confound thine impudence," retorted Lambourne; "thou wouldst not compare thy pudding face, and

"Nay, my good sir," said Tressilian, "let me beseech you will not interrupt the gallant citizen; methinks he

"It's more of your favour than of my desert," answered Master Goldthred; "but since I give you pleasure,

worthy Master Tressilian, I shall proceed, maugre all the gibes and quips of this valiant soldier, who,

peradventure, hath had more cuffs than crowns in the Low Countries. And so, sir, as I passed under the great

painted window, leaving my rein loose on my ambling palfrey's neck, partly for mine ease, and partly that I

might have the more leisure to peer about, I hears me the lattice open; and never credit me, sir, if there did not

stand there the person of as fair a woman as ever crossed mine eyes; and I think I have looked on as many

"Oh, sir," replied Master Goldthred, "I promise you, she was in gentlewoman's attirea very quaint and

pleasing dress, that might have served the Queen herself; for she had a forepart with body and sleeves, of

gingercoloured satin, which, in my judgment, must have cost by the yard some thirty shillings, lined with

murrey taffeta, and laid down and guarded with two broad laces of gold and silver. And her hat, sir, was truly

the best fashioned thing that I have seen in these parts, being of tawny taffeta, embroidered with scorpions of

Venice gold, and having a border garnished with gold fringeI promise you, sir, an absolute and

allsurpassing device. Touching her skirts, they were in the old passdevant fashion."

"I did not ask you of her attire, sir," said Tressilian, who had shown some impatience during this

"Touching her complexion," answered the mercer, "I am not so special certain, but I marked that her fan had

an ivory handle, curiously inlaid. And then again, as to the colour of her hair, why, I can warrant, be its hue

what it might, that she wore above it a net of green silk, parcel twisted with gold."

"A most mercerlike memory!" said Lambourne. "The gentleman asks him of the lady's beauty, and he talks

"I tell thee," said the mercer, somewhat disconcerted, "I had little time to look at her; for just as I was about

to give her the good time of day, and for that purpose had puckered my features with a smile"

"Up started of a sudden," continued Goldthred, without heeding the interruption, "Tony Foster himself, with a

"And broke thy head across, I hope, for thine impertinence," said his entertainer.

"That were more easily said than done," answered Goldthred indignantly; "no, nothere was no breaking of

heads. It's true, he advanced his cudgel, and spoke of laying on, and asked why I did not keep the public road,

and such like; and I would have knocked him over the pate handsomely for his pains, only for the lady's

"Now, out upon thee for a faintspirited slave!" said Lambourne; "what adventurous knight ever thought of

the lady's terror, when he went to thwack giant, dragon, or magician, in her presence, and for her deliverance?

But why talk to thee of dragons, who would be driven back by a dragonfly. There thou hast missed the

"Take it thyself, then, bully Mike," answered Goldthred. "Yonder is the enchanted manor, and the dragon,

"Why, so I would for a quartern of sack," said the soldier "or stay: I am foully out of linenwilt thou bet

a piece of Hollands against these five angels, that I go not up to the Hall tomorrow and force Tony Foster to

"I accept your wager," said the mercer; "and I think, though thou hadst even the impudence of the devil, I

shall gain on thee this bout. Our landlord here shall hold stakes, and I will stake down gold till I send the

"I will hold stakes on no such matter," said Gosling. "Good now, my kinsman, drink your wine in quiet, and

let such ventures alone. I promise you, Master Foster hath interest enough to lay you up in lavender in the

"That would be but renewing an old intimacy, for Mike's shins and the town's wooden pinfold have been well

known to each other ere now," said the mercer; "but he shall not budge from his wager, unless he means to

"Forfeit?" said Lambourne; "I scorn it. I value Tony Foster's wrath no more than a shelled peacod; and I will

"I would gladly pay your halves of the risk, sir," said Tressilian, "to be permitted to accompany you on the

"In nothing, sir," said Tressilian, "unless to mark the skill and valour with which you conduct yourself. I am a

traveller who seeks for strange rencounters and uncommon passages, as the knights of yore did after

"Nay, if it pleasures you to see a trout tickled," answered Lambourne, "I care not how many witness my skill.

And so here I drink success to my enterprise; and he that will not pledge me on his knees is a rascal, and I

The draught which Michael Lambourne took upon this occasion had been preceded by so many others, that

reason tottered on her throne. He swore one or two incoherent oaths at the mercer, who refused, reasonably

"Wilt thou chop logic with me," said Lambourne, "thou knave, with no more brains than are in a skein of

But as he attempted to draw his sword for this doughty purpose, Michael Lambourne was seized upon by the

tapster and the chamberlain, and conveyed to his own apartment, there to sleep himself sober at his leisure.

The party then broke up, and the guests took their leave; much more to the contentment of mine host than of

some of the company, who were unwilling to quit good liquor, when it was to be had for free cost, so long as

they were able to sit by it. They were, however, compelled to remove; and go at length they did, leaving

"By my faith," said the former, "I wonder where our great folks find pleasure, when they spend their means in

entertainments, and in playing mine host without sending in a reckoning. It is what I but rarely practise; and

whenever I do, by Saint Julian, it grieves me beyond measure. Each of these empty stoups now, which my

nephew and his drunken comrades have swilled off, should have been a matter of profit to one in my line, and

I must set them down a dead loss. I cannot, for my heart, conceive the pleasure of noise, and nonsense, and

drunken freaks, and drunken quarrels, and smut, and blasphemy, and so forth, when a man loses money

instead of gaining by it. And yet many a fair estate is lost in upholding such a useless course, and that greatly

contributes to the decay of publicans; for who the devil do you think would pay for drink at the Black Bear,

Tressilian perceived that the wine had made some impression even on the seasoned brain of mine host, which

was chiefly to be inferred from his declaiming against drunkenness. As he himself had carefully avoided the

bowl, he would have availed himself of the frankness of the moment to extract from Gosling some further

information upon the subject of Anthony Foster, and the lady whom the mercer had seen in his

mansionhouse; but his inquiries only set the host upon a new theme of declamation against the wiles of the

fair sex, in which he brought, at full length, the whole wisdom of Solomon to reinforce his own. Finally, he

turned his admonitions, mixed with much objurgation, upon his tapsters and drawers, who were employed in

removing the relics of the entertainment, and restoring order to the apartment; and at length, joining example

to precept, though with no good success, he demolished a salver with half a score of glasses, in attempting to

show how such service was done at the Three Cranes in the Vintry, then the most topping tavern in London.

This last accident so far recalled him to his better self, that he retired to his bed, slept sound, and awoke a new

"And how doth your kinsman, good mine host?" said Tressilian, when Giles Gosling first appeared in the

public room, on the morning following the revel which we described in the last chapter. "Is he well, and will

"For well, sir, he started two hours since, and has visited I know not what purlieus of his old companions;

hath but now returned, and is at this instant breakfasting on newlaid eggs and muscadine. And for his wager,

I caution you as a friend to have little to do with that, or indeed with aught that Mike proposes. Wherefore, I

counsel you to a warm breakfast upon a culiss, which shall restore the tone of the stomach; and let my

"It seems to me, mine host," said Tressilian, "that you know not well what to say about this kinsman of yours,

and that you can neither blame nor commend him without some twinge of conscience."

"You have spoken truly, Master Tressilian," replied Giles Gosling. "There is Natural Affection whimpering

into one ear, 'Giles, Giles, why wilt thou take away the good name of thy own nephew? Wilt thou defame thy

sister's son, Giles Gosling? wilt thou defoul thine own nest, dishonour thine own blood?' And then, again,

comes Justice, and says, 'Here is a worthy guest as ever came to the bonny Black Bear; one who never

challenged a reckoning' (as I say to your face you never did, Master Tressiliannot that you have had

cause), 'one who knows not why he came, so far as I can see, or when he is going away; and wilt thou, being

a publican, having paid scot and lot these thirty years in the town of Cumnor, and being at this instant head

borough, wilt thou suffer this guest of guests, this man of men, this sixhooped pot (as I may say) of a

traveller, to fall into the meshes of thy nephew, who is known for a swasher and a desperate Dick, a carder

and a dicer, a professor of the seven damnable sciences, if ever man took degrees in them?' No, by Heaven! I

might wink, and let him catch such a small butterfly as Goldthred; but thou, my guest, shall be forewarned,

"Why, mine host, thy counsel shall not be cast away," replied Tressilian; "however, I must uphold my share

in this wager, having once passed my word to that effect. But lend me, I pray, some of thy counsel. This

"Troth," replied Gosling, "I can add but little to what you heard last night. He was one of Queen Mary's

Papists, and now he is one of Queen Elizabeth's Protestants; he was an onhanger of the Abbot of Abingdon;

and now he lives as master of the Manorhouse. Above all, he was poor, and is rich. Folk talk of private

apartments in his old waste mansionhouse, bedizened fine enough to serve the Queen, God bless her! Some

men think he found a treasure in the orchard, some that he sold himself to the devil for treasure, and some say

that he cheated the abbot out of the church plate, which was hidden in the old Manorhouse at the

Reformation. Rich, however, he is, and God and his conscience, with the devil perhaps besides, only know

how he came by it. He has sulky ways toobreaking off intercourse with all that are of the place, as if he

had either some strange secret to keep, or held himself to be made of another clay than we are. I think it likely

my kinsman and he will quarrel, if Mike thrust his acquaintance on him; and I am sorry that you, my worthy

Tressilian again answered him, that he would proceed with great caution, and that he should have no fears on

his account; in short, he bestowed on him all the customary assurances with which those who are determined

Meantime, the traveller accepted the landlord's invitation, and had just finished the excellent breakfast, which

was served to him and Gosling by pretty Cicely, the beauty of the bar, when the hero of the preceding night,

Michael Lambourne, entered the apartment. His toilet had apparently cost him some labour, for his clothes,

which differed from those he wore on his journey, were of the newest fashion, and put on with great attention

"By my faith, uncle," said the gallant, "you made a wet night of it, and I feel it followed by a dry morning. I

will pledge you willingly in a cup of bastard.How, my pretty coz Cicely! why, I left you but a child in the

cradle, and there thou stand'st in thy velvet waistcoat, as tight a girl as England's sun shines on. Know thy

friends and kindred, Cicely, and come hither, child, that I may kiss thee, and give thee my blessing."

"Concern not yourself about Cicely, kinsman," said Giles Gosling, "but e'en let her go her way, a' God's

name; for although your mother were her father's sister, yet that shall not make you and her catercousins."

"Why, uncle," replied Lambourne, "think'st thou I am an infidel, and would harm those of mine own house?"

"It is for no harm that I speak, Mike," answered his uncle, "but a simple humour of precaution which I have.

True, thou art as well gilded as a snake when he casts his old slough in the spring time; but for all that, thou

creepest not into my Eden. I will look after mine Eve, Mike, and so content thee.But how brave thou be'st,

lad! To look on thee now, and compare thee with Master Tressilian here, in his sadcoloured ridingsuit,

"Troth, uncle," replied Lambourne, "no one would say so but one of your countrybreeding, that knows no

better. I will say, and I care not who hears me, there is something about the real gentry that few men come up

to that are not born and bred to the mystery. I wot not where the trick lies; but although I can enter an

ordinary with as much audacity, rebuke the waiters and drawers as loudly, drink as deep a health, swear as

round an oath, and fling my gold as freely about as any of the jingling spurs and white feathers that are

around me, yet, hang me if I can ever catch the true grace of it, though I have practised an hundred times. The

man of the house sets me lowest at the board, and carves to me the last; and the drawer says, 'Coming, friend,'

without any more reverence or regardful addition. But, hang it, let it pass; care killed a cat. I have gentry

enough to pass the trick on Tony FiretheFaggot, and that will do for the matter in hand."

"You hold your purpose, then, of visiting your old acquaintance?" said Tressilian to the adventurer.

"Ay, sir," replied Lambourne; "when stakes are made, the game must be played; that is gamester's law, all

over the world. You, sir, unless my memory fails me (for I did steep it somewhat too deeply in the

"I propose to accompany you in your adventure," said Tressilian, "if you will do me so much grace as to

permit me; and I have staked my share of the forfeit in the hands of our worthy host."

"That he hath," answered Giles Gosling, "in as fair Harrynobles as ever were melted into sack by a good

fellow. So, luck to your enterprise, since you will needs venture on Tony Foster; but, by my credit, you had

better take another draught before you depart, for your welcome at the Hall yonder will be somewhat of the

driest. And if you do get into peril, beware of taking to cold steel; but send for me, Giles Gosling, the

headborough, and I may be able to make something out of Tony yet, for as proud as he is."

The nephew dutifully obeyed his uncle's hint, by taking a second powerful pull at the tankard, observing that

his wit never served him so well as when he had washed his temples with a deep morning's draught; and they

The village of Cumnor is pleasantly built on a hill, and in a wooded park closely adjacent was situated the

ancient mansion occupied at this time by Anthony Foster, of which the ruins may be still extant. The park

was then full of large trees, and in particular of ancient and mighty oaks, which stretched their giant arms

over the high wall surrounding the demesne, thus giving it a melancholy, secluded, and monastic appearance.

The entrance to the park lay through an oldfashioned gateway in the outer wall, the door of which was

formed of two huge oaken leaves thickly studded with nails, like the gate of an old town.

"We shall be finely helped up here," said Michael Lambourne, looking at the gateway and gate, "if this

fellow's suspicious humour should refuse us admission altogether, as it is like he may, in case this

linseywolsey fellow of a mercer's visit to his premises has disquieted him. But, no," he added, pushing the

huge gate, which gave way, "the door stands invitingly open; and here we are within the forbidden ground,

without other impediment than the passive resistance of a heavy oak door moving on rusty hinges."

They stood now in an avenue overshadowed by such old trees as we have described, and which had been

bordered at one time by high hedges of yew and holly. But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had

run up into great bushes, or rather dwarftrees, and now encroached, with their dark and melancholy boughs,

upon the road which they once had screened. The avenue itself was grown up with grass, and, in one or two

places, interrupted by piles of withered brushwood, which had been lopped from the trees cut down in the

neighbouring park, and was here stacked for drying. Formal walks and avenues, which, at different points,

crossed this principal approach, were, in like manner, choked up and interrupted by piles of brushwood and

billets, and in other places by underwood and brambles. Besides the general effect of desolation which is so

strongly impressed whenever we behold the contrivances of man wasted and obliterated by neglect, and

witness the marks of social life effaced gradually by the influence of vegetation, the size of the trees and the

outspreading extent of their boughs diffused a gloom over the scene, even when the sun was at the highest,

and made a proportional impression on the mind of those who visited it. This was felt even by Michael

Lambourne, however alien his habits were to receiving any impressions, excepting from things which

"This wood is as dark as a wolf's mouth," said he to Tressilian, as they walked together slowly along the

solitary and broken approach, and had just come in sight of the monastic front of the old mansion, with its

shafted windows, brick walls overgrown with ivy and creeping shrubs, and twisted stalks of chimneys of

heavy stonework. "And yet," continued Lambourne, "it is fairly done on the part of Foster too for since he

chooses not visitors, it is right to keep his place in a fashion that will invite few to trespass upon his privacy.

But had he been the Anthony I once knew him, these sturdy oaks had long since become the property of some

honest woodmonger, and the manorclose here had looked lighter at midnight than it now does at noon,

while Foster played fast and loose with the price, in some cunning corner in the purlieus of Whitefriars."

"He was," answered Lambourne, "like the rest of us, no saint, and no saver. But what I liked worst of Tony

was, that he loved to take his pleasure by himself, and grudged, as men say, every drop of water that went

past his own mill. I have known him deal with such measures of wine when he was alone, as I would not

have ventured on with aid of the best toper in Berkshire;that, and some sway towards superstition, which

he had by temperament, rendered him unworthy the company of a good fellow. And now he has earthed

"May I ask you, Master Lambourne," said Tressilian, "since your old companion's humour jumps so little

"And may I ask you, in return, Master Tressilian," answered Lambourne, "wherefore you have shown

"I told you my motive," said Tressilian, "when I took share in your wagerit was simple curiosity."

"La you there now!" answered Lambourne. "See how you civil and discreet gentlemen think to use us who

live by the free exercise of our wits! Had I answered your question by saying that it was simple curiosity

which led me to visit my old comrade Anthony Foster, I warrant you had set it down for an evasion, and a

"And wherefore should not bare curiosity," said Tressilian, "be a sufficient reason for my taking this walk

"Oh, content yourself, sir," replied Lambourne; "you cannot put the change on me so easy as you think, for I

have lived among the quickstirring spirits of the age too long to swallow chaff for grain. You are a

gentleman of birth and breedingyour bearing makes it good; of civil habits and fair reputationyour

manners declare it, and my uncle avouches it; and yet you associate yourself with a sort of scantofgrace, as

men call me, and, knowing me to be such, you make yourself my companion in a visit to a man whom you

are a stranger toand all out of mere curiosity, forsooth! The excuse, if curiously balanced, would be found

"If your suspicions were just," said Tressilian, "you have shown no confidence in me to invite or deserve

"Oh, if that be all," said Lambourne, "my motives lie above water. While this gold of mine lasts"taking out

his purse, chucking it into the air, and catching it as it fell"I will make it buy pleasure; and when it is out I

must have more. Now, if this mysterious Lady of the Manorthis fair Lindabrides of Tony

FiretheFagotbe so admirable a piece as men say, why, there is a chance that she may aid me to melt my

nobles into greats; and, again, if Anthony be so wealthy a chuff as report speaks him, he may prove the

"A comfortable proposal truly," said Tressilian; "but I see not what chance there is of accomplishing it."

"Not today, or perchance tomorrow," answered Lambourne; "I expect not to catch the old jack till. I have

disposed my groundbaits handsomely. But I know something more of his affairs this morning than I did last

night, and I will so use my knowledge that he shall think it more perfect than it is. Nay, without expecting

either pleasure or profit, or both, I had not stepped a stride within this manor, I can tell you; for I promise you

I hold our visit not altogether without risk.But here we are, and we must make the best on't."

While he thus spoke, they had entered a large orchard which surrounded the house on two sides, though the

trees, abandoned by the care of man, were overgrown and messy, and seemed to bear little fruit. Those which

had been formerly trained as espaliers had now resumed their natural mode of growing, and exhibited

grotesque forms, partaking of the original training which they had received. The greater part of the ground,

which had once been parterres and flowergardens, was suffered in like manner to run to waste, excepting a

few patches which had been dug up and planted with ordinary pot herbs. Some statues, which had

ornamented the garden in its days of splendour, were now thrown down from their pedestals and broken in

pieces; and a large summerhouse, having a heavy stone front, decorated with carving representing the life

They had just traversed this garden of the sluggard, and were within a few steps of the door of the mansion,

when Lambourne had ceased speaking; a circumstance very agreeable to Tressilian, as it saved him the

embarrassment of either commenting upon or replying to the frank avowal which his companion had just

made of the sentiments and views which induced him to come hither. Lambourne knocked roundly and

boldly at the huge door of the mansion, observing, at the same time, he had seen a less strong one upon a

county jail. It was not until they had knocked more than once that an aged, sourvisaged domestic

reconnoitred them through a small square hole in the door, well secured with bars of iron, and demanded

"To speak with Master Foster instantly, on pressing business of the state," was the ready reply of Michael

"Methinks you will find difficulty to make that good," said Tressilian in a whisper to his companion, while

"Tush," replied the adventurer; "no soldier would go on were he always to consider when and how he should

In a short time the servant returned, and drawing with a careful hand both bolt and bar, opened the gate,

which admitted them through an archway into a square court, surrounded by buildings. Opposite to the arch

was another door, which the servingman in like manner unlocked, and thus introduced them into a

stonepaved parlour, where there was but little furniture, and that of the rudest and most ancient fashion. The

windows were tall and ample, reaching almost to the roof of the room, which was composed of black oak;

those opening to the quadrangle were obscured by the height of the surrounding buildings, and, as they were

traversed with massive shafts of solid stonework, and thickly painted with religious devices, and scenes

taken from Scripture history, by no means admitted light in proportion to their size, and what did penetrate

Tressilian and his guide had time enough to observe all these particulars, for they waited some space in the

apartment ere the present master of the mansion at length made his appearance. Prepared as he was to see an

inauspicious and illlooking person, the ugliness of Anthony Foster considerably exceeded what Tressilian

had anticipated. He was of middle stature, built strongly, but so clumsily as to border on deformity, and to

give all his motions the ungainly awkwardness of a leftlegged and lefthanded man. His hair, in arranging

which men at that time, as at present, were very nice and curious, instead of being carefully cleaned and

disposed into short curls, or else set up on end, as is represented in old paintings, in a manner resembling that

used by fine gentlemen of our own day, escaped in sable negligence from under a furred bonnet, and hung in

elf locks, which seemed strangers to the comb, over his rugged brows, and around his very singular and

unprepossessing countenance. His keen, dark eyes were deep set beneath broad and shaggy eyebrows, and as

they were usually bent on the ground, seemed as if they were themselves ashamed of the expression natural to

them, and were desirous to conceal it from the observation of men. At times, however, when, more intent on

observing others, he suddenly raised them, and fixed them keenly on those with whom he conversed, they

seemed to express both the fiercer passions, and the power of mind which could at will suppress or disguise

the intensity of inward feeling. The features which corresponded with these eyes and this form were irregular,

and marked so as to be indelibly fixed on the mind of him who had once seen them. Upon the whole, as

Tressilian could not help acknowledging to himself, the Anthony Foster who now stood before them was the

last person, judging from personal appearance, upon whom one would have chosen to intrude an unexpected

and undesired visit. His attire was a doublet of russet leather, like those worn by the better sort of country

folk, girt with a buff belt, in which was stuck on the right side a long knife, or dudgeon dagger, and on the

other a cutlass. He raised his eyes as he entered the room, and fixed a keenly penetrating glance upon his two

visitors; then cast them down as if counting his steps, while he advanced slowly into the middle of the room,

and said, in a low and smothered tone of voice, "Let me pray you, gentlemen, to tell me the cause of this

He looked as if he expected the answer from Tressilian, so true was Lambourne's observation that the

superior air of breeding and dignity shone through the disguise of an inferior dress. But it was Michael who

replied to him, with the easy familiarity of an old friend, and a tone which seemed unembarrassed by any

"Ha! my dear friend and ingle, Tony Foster!" he exclaimed, seizing upon the unwilling hand, and shaking it

with such emphasis as almost to stagger the sturdy frame of the person whom he addressed, "how fares it

with you for many a long year? What! have you altogether forgotten your friend, gossip, and playfellow,

"Michael Lambourne!" said Foster, looking at him a moment; then dropping his eyes, and with little

ceremony extricating his hand from the friendly grasp of the person by whom he was addressed, "are you

"'Tis well," answered his sullen host. "And what may Michael Lambourne expect from his visit hither?"

"VOTO A DIOS," answered Lambourne, "I expected a better welcome than I am like to meet, I think."

"Why, thou gallowsbirdthou jailratthou friend of the hangman and his customers!" replied Foster,

"hast thou the assurance to expect countenance from any one whose neck is beyond the compass of a Tyburn

"It may be with me as you say," replied Lambourne; "and suppose I grant it to be so for argument's sake, I

were still good enough society for mine ancient friend Anthony FiretheFagot, though he be, for the

"Hark you, Michael Lambourne," said Foster; "you are a gambler now, and live by the counting of

chancescompute me the odds that I do not, on this instant, throw you out of that window into the ditch

"And wherefore, I pray you?" demanded Anthony Foster, setting his teeth and compressing his lips, like one

"Because," said Lambourne coolly, "you dare not for your life lay a finger on me. I am younger and stronger

than you, and have in me a double portion of the fighting devil, though not, it may be, quite so much of the

undermining fiend, that finds an underground way to his purposewho hides halters under folk's pillows,

Foster looked at him earnestly, then turned away, and paced the room twice with the same steady and

considerate pace with which he had entered it; then suddenly came back, and extended his hand to Michael

Lambourne, saying, "Be not wroth with me, good Mike; I did but try whether thou hadst parted with aught of

thine old and honourable frankness, which your enviers and backbiters called saucy impudence."

"Let them call it what they will," said Michael Lambourne, "it is the commodity we must carry through the

world with us.Uds daggers! I tell thee, man, mine own stock of assurance was too small to trade upon. I

was fain to take in a ton or two more of brass at every port where I touched in the voyage of life; and I started

overboard what modesty and scruples I had remaining, in order to make room for the stowage."

"Nay, nay," replied Foster, "touching scruples and modesty, you sailed hence in ballast. But who is this

"I prithee, know Master Tressilian, bully Foster," replied Lambourne, presenting his friend in answer to his

friend's question, "know him and honour him, for he is a gentleman of many admirable qualities; and though

he traffics not in my line of business, at least so far as I know, he has, nevertheless, a just respect and

admiration for artists of our class. He will come to in time, as seldom fails; but as yet he is only a neophyte,

only a proselyte, and frequents the company of cocks of the game, as a puny fencer does the schools of the

"If such be his quality, I will pray your company in another chamber, honest Mike, for what I have to say to

thee is for thy private ear.Meanwhile, I pray you, sir, to abide us in this apartment, and without leaving it;

Tressilian acquiesced, and the two worthies left the apartment together, in which he remained alone to await

The room into which the Master of Cumnor Place conducted his worthy visitant was of greater extent than

that in which they had at first conversed, and had yet more the appearance of dilapidation. Large oaken

presses, filled with shelves of the same wood, surrounded the room, and had, at one time, served for the

arrangement of a numerous collection of books, many of which yet remained, but torn and defaced, covered

with dust, deprived of their costly clasps and bindings, and tossed together in heaps upon the shelves, as

things altogether disregarded, and abandoned to the pleasure of every spoiler. The very presses themselves

seemed to have incurred the hostility of those enemies of learning who had destroyed the volumes with which

they had been heretofore filled. They were, in several places, dismantled of their shelves, and otherwise

broken and damaged, and were, moreover, mantled with cobwebs and covered with dust.

"The men who wrote these books," said Lambourne, looking round him, "little thought whose keeping they

"Nor what yeoman's service they were to do me," quoth Anthony Foster; "the cook hath used them for

scouring his pewter, and the groom hath had nought else to clean my boots with, this many a month past."

"And yet," said Lambourne, "I have been in cities where such learned commodities would have been deemed

"Pshaw, pshaw," answered Foster, "'they are Popish trash, every one of themprivate studies of the

mumping old Abbot of Abingdon. The nineteenthly of a pure gospel sermon were worth a cartload of such

Foster scowled darkly at him, as he replied, "Hark ye, friend Mike; forget that name, and the passage which it

relates to, if you would not have our newlyrevived comradeship die a sudden and a violent death."

"Why," said Michael Lambourne, "you were wont to glory in the share you had in the death of the two old

"That," said his comrade, "was while I was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, and applies not to

my walk or my ways now that I am called forth into the lists. Mr. Melchisedek Maultext compared my

misfortune in that matter to that of the Apostle Paul, who kept the clothes of the witnesses who stoned Saint

Stephen. He held forth on the matter three Sabbaths past, and illustrated the same by the conduct of an

"I prithee peace, Foster," said Lambourne, "for I know not how it is, I have a sort of creeping comes over my

skin when I hear the devil quote Scripture; and besides, man, how couldst thou have the heart to quit that

convenient old religion, which you could slip off or on as easily as your glove? Do I not remember how you

were wont to carry your conscience to confession, as duly as the month came round? and when thou hadst it

scoured, and burnished, and whitewashed by the priest, thou wert ever ready for the worst villainy which

could be devised, like a child who is always readiest to rush into the mire when he has got his Sunday's clean

"Trouble not thyself about my conscience," said Foster; "it is a thing thou canst not understand, having never

had one of thine own. But let us rather to the point, and say to me, in one word, what is thy business with me,

"The hope of bettering myself, to be sure," answered Lambourne, "as the old woman said when she leapt over

the bridge at Kingston. Look you, this purse has all that is left of as round a sum as a man would wish to

carry in his sloppouch. You are here well established, it would seem, and, as I think, well befriended, for

men talk of thy being under some special protectionnay, stare not like a pig that is stuck, mon; thou canst

not dance in a net and they not see thee. Now I know such protection is not purchased for nought; you must

"But how if I lack no assistance from thee, Mike? I think thy modesty might suppose that were a case

"That is to say," retorted Lambourne, "that you would engross the whole work, rather than divide the reward.

But be not over greedy, Anthonycovetousness bursts the sack and spills the grain. Look you, when the

huntsman goes to kill a stag, he takes with him more dogs than one. He has the stanch lymehound to track

the wounded buck over hill and dale, but he hath also the fleet gazehound to kill him at view. Thou art the

lymehound, I am the gazehound; and thy patron will need the aid of both, and can well afford to requite it.

Thou hast deep sagacityan unrelenting purposea steady, longbreathed malignity of nature, that

surpasses mine. But then, I am the bolder, the quicker, the more ready, both at action and expedient. Separate,

our properties are not so perfect; but unite them, and we drive the world before us. How sayest thoushall

"It is a currish proposalthus to thrust thyself upon my private matters," replied Foster; "but thou wert ever

"You shall have no cause to say so, unless you spurn my courtesy," said Michael Lambourne; "but if so, keep

thee well from me, Sir Knight, as the romance has it. I will either share your counsels or traverse them; for I

"Well," said Anthony Foster, "since thou dost leave me so fair a choice, I will rather be thy friend than thine

enemy. Thou art right; I CAN prefer thee to the service of a patron who has enough of means to make us

both, and an hundred more. And, to say truth, thou art well qualified for his service. Boldness and dexterity

he demandsthe justicebooks bear witness in thy favour; no starting at scruples in his service why, who

ever suspected thee of a conscience? an assurance he must have who would follow a courtierand thy brow

is as impenetrable as a Milan visor. There is but one thing I would fain see amended in thee."

"And what is that, my most precious friend Anthony?" replied Lambourne; "for I swear by the pillow of the

"Why, you gave a sample of it even now," said Foster. "Your speech twangs too much of the old stamp, and

you garnish it ever and anon with singular oaths, that savour of Papistrie. Besides, your exterior man is

altogether too deboshed and irregular to become one of his lordship's followers, since he has a reputation to

keep up in the eye of the world. You must somewhat reform your dress, upon a more grave and composed

fashion; wear your cloak on both shoulders, and your falling band unrumpled and well starched. You must

enlarge the brim of your beaver, and diminish the superfluity of your trunkhose; go to church, or, which will

be better, to meeting, at least once a month; protest only upon your faith and conscience; lay aside your

swashing look, and never touch the hilt of your sword but when you would draw the carnal weapon in good

"By this light, Anthony, thou art mad," answered Lambourne, "and hast described rather the gentlemanusher

to a puritan's wife, than the follower of an ambitious courtier! Yes, such a thing as thou wouldst make of me

should wear a book at his girdle instead of a poniard, and might just be suspected of manhood enough to

squire a proud damecitizen to the lecture at Saint Antonlin's, and quarrel in her cause with any flatcapped

threadmaker that would take the wall of her. He must ruffle it in another sort that would walk to court in a

"Oh, content you, sir," replied Foster, "there is a change since you knew the English world; and there are

those who can hold their way through the boldest courses, and the most secret, and yet never a swaggering

"That is to say," replied Lambourne, "they are in a trading copartnery, to do the devil's business without

mentioning his name in the firm? Well, I will do my best to counterfeit, rather than lose ground in this new

world, since thou sayest it is grown so precise. But, Anthony, what is the name of this nobleman, in whose

"Aha! Master Michael, are you there with your bears?" said Foster, with a grim smile; "and is this the

knowledge you pretend of my concernments? How know you now there is such a person IN RERUM

"Thou put a jape on me, thou soddenbrained gull?" answered Lambourne, nothing daunted. "Why, dark and

muddy as thou think'st thyself, I would engage in a day's space to sec as clear through thee and thy

concernments, as thou callest them, as through the filthy horn of an old stable lantern."

At this moment their conversation was interrupted by a scream from the next apartment.

"By the holy Cross of Abingdon," exclaimed Anthony Foster, forgetting his Protestantism in his alarm, "I am

So saying, he rushed into the apartment whence the scream issued, followed by Michael Lambourne. But to

account for the sounds which interrupted their conversation, it is necessary to recede a little way in our

It has been already observed, that when Lambourne accompanied Foster into the library, they left Tressilian

alone in the ancient parlour. His dark eye followed them forth of the apartment with a glance of contempt, a

part of which his mind instantly transferred to himself, for having stooped to be even for a moment their

familiar companion. "These are the associates, Amy"it was thus he communed with himself"to which

thy cruel levitythine unthinking and most unmerited falsehood, has condemned him of whom his friends

once hoped far other things, and who now scorns himself, as he will be scorned by others, for the baseness he

stoops to for the love of thee! But I will not leave the pursuit of thee, once the object of my purest and most

devoted affection, though to me thou canst henceforth be nothing but a thing to weep over. I will save thee

from thy betrayer, and from thyself; I will restore thee to thy parentto thy God. I cannot bid the bright star

A slight noise in the apartment interrupted his reverie. He looked round, and in the beautiful and

richlyattired female who entered at that instant by a sidedoor he recognized the object of his search. The

first impulse arising from this discovery urged him to conceal his face with the collar of his cloak, until he

should find a favourable moment of making himself known. But his purpose was disconcerted by the young

lady (she was not above eighteen years old), who ran joyfully towards him, and, pulling him by the cloak,

said playfully, "Nay, my sweet friend, after I have waited for you so long, you come not to my bower to play

the masquer. You are arraigned of treason to true love and fond affection, and you must stand up at the bar

"Alas, Amy!" said Tressilian, in a low and melancholy tone, as he suffered her to draw the mantle from his

face. The sound of his voice, and still more the unexpected sight of his face, changed in an instant the lady's

playful mood. She staggered back, turned as pale as death, and put her hands before her face. Tressilian was

himself for a moment much overcome, but seeming suddenly to remember the necessity of using an

opportunity which might not again occur, he said in a low tone, "Amy, fear me not."

"Why should I fear you?" said the lady, withdrawing her hands from her beautiful face, which was now

covered with crimson, "Why should I fear you, Master Tressilian?or wherefore have you intruded

"Your dwelling, Amy!" said Tressilian. "Alas! is a prison your dwelling?a prison guarded by one of the

"This house is mine," said Amy"mine while I choose to inhabit it. If it is my pleasure to live in seclusion,

"Your father, maiden," answered Tressilian, "your brokenhearted father, who dispatched me in quest of you

with that authority which he cannot exert in person. Here is his letter, written while he blessed his pain of

"So ill," answered Tressilian, "that even your utmost haste may not restore him to health; but all shall be

instantly prepared for your departure, the instant you yourself will give consent."

"Tressilian," answered the lady, "I cannot, I must not, I dare not leave this place. Go back to my fathertell

him I will obtain leave to see him within twelve hours from hence. Go back, Tressiliantell him I am well, I

am happyhappy could I think he was so; tell him not to fear that I will come, and in such a manner that all

the grief Amy has given him shall be forgotten the poor Amy is now greater than she dare name. Go, good

TressilianI have injured thee too, but believe me I have power to heal the wounds I have caused. I robbed

you of a childish heart, which was not worthy of you, and I can repay the loss with honours and

"Do you say this to me, Amy?do you offer me pageants of idle ambition, for the quiet peace you have

robbed me of!But be it so I came not to upbraid, but to serve and to free you. You cannot disguise it from

meyou are a prisoner. Otherwise your kind heartfor it was once a kind heartwould have been already

at your father's bedside.Come, poor, deceived, unhappy maiden! all shall be forgotall shall be

forgiven. Fear not my importunity for what regarded our contractit was a dream, and I have awaked. But

comeyour father yet livescome, and one word of affection, one tear of penitence, will efface the

"Have I not already said, Tressilian," replied she, "that I will surely come to my father, and that without

further delay than is necessary to discharge other and equally binding duties?Go, carry him the news; I

"Permission!permission to visit your father on his sickbed, perhaps on his deathbed!" repeated

Tressilian, impatiently; "and permission from whom? From the villain, who, under disguise of friendship,

"Do him no slander, Tressilian! He whom thou speakest of wears a sword as sharp as thinesharper, vain

man; for the best deeds thou hast ever done in peace or war were as unworthy to be named with his, as thy

obscure rank to match itself with the sphere he moves in.Leave me! Go, do mine errand to my father; and

"Amy," replied Tressilian calmly, "thou canst not move me by thy reproaches. Tell me one thing, that I may

bear at least one ray of comfort to my aged friend:this rank of his which thou dost boastdost thou share

"Stop thy base, unmannered tongue!" said the lady; "to no question that derogates from my honour do I deign

"You have said enough in refusing to reply," answered Tressilian; "and mark me, unhappy as thou art, I am

armed with thy father's full authority to command thy obedience, and I will save thee from the slavery of sin

"Menace no violence here!" exclaimed the lady, drawing back from him, and alarmed at the determination

expressed in his look and manner; "threaten me not, Tressilian, for I have means to repel force."

"But not, I trust, the wish to use them in so evil a cause?" said Tressilian. "With thy willthine

uninfluenced, free, and natural will, Amy, thou canst not choose this state of slavery and dishonour. Thou

hast been bound by some spellentrapped by some deceitart now detained by some compelled vow. But

thus I break the charmAmy, in the name of thine excellent, thy broken hearted father, I command thee to

As he spoke he advanced and extended his arm, as with the purpose of laying hold upon her. But she shrunk

back from his grasp, and uttered the scream which, as we before noticed, brought into the apartment

The latter exclaimed, as soon as he entered, "Fire and fagot! what have we here?" Then addressing the lady,

in a tone betwixt entreaty and command, he added, "Uds precious! madam, what make you here out of

bounds? Retireretirethere is life and death in this matter.And you, friend, whoever you may be, leave

this houseout with you, before my dagger's hilt and your costard become acquainted.Draw, Mike, and

"Not I, on my soul," replied Lambourne; "he came hither in my company, and he is safe from me by cutter's

law, at least till we meet again.But hark ye, my Cornish comrade, you have brought a Cornish flaw of

wind with you hither, a hurricanoe as they call it in the Indies. Make yourself scarcedepartvanishor

we'll have you summoned before the Mayor of Halgaver, and that before Dudman and Ramhead meet." [Two

"Away, base groom!" said Tressilian."And you, madam, fare you wellwhat life lingers in your father's

He departed, the lady saying faintly as he left the room, "Tressilian, be not rashsay no scandal of me."

"Here is proper gear," said Foster. "I pray you go to your chamber, my lady, and let us consider how this is to

"Nay, but you must, fair lady," replied Foster; "excuse my freedom, but, by blood and nails, this is no time to

strain courtesiesyou MUST go to your chamber.Mike, follow that meddling coxcomb, and, as you

desire to thrive, see him safely clear of the premises, while I bring this headstrong lady to reason. Draw thy

"I'll follow him," said Michael Lambourne, "and see him fairly out of Flanders; but for hurting a man I have

drunk my morning's draught withal, 'tis clean against my conscience." So saying, he left the apartment.

Tressilian, meanwhile, with hasty steps, pursued the first path which promised to conduct him through the

wild and overgrown park in which the mansion of Foster was situated. Haste and distress of mind led his

steps astray, and instead of taking the avenue which led towards the village, he chose another, which, after he

had pursued it for some time with a hasty and reckless step, conducted him to the other side of the demesne,

Tressilian paused an instant. It was indifferent to him by what road he left a spot now so odious to his

recollections; but it was probable that the postern door was locked, and his retreat by that pass rendered

"I must make the attempt, however," he said to himself; "the only means of reclaiming this lostthis

miserablethis still most lovely and most unhappy girl, must rest in her father's appeal to the broken laws of

As Tressilian, thus conversing with himself, approached to try some means of opening the door, or climbing

over it, he perceived there was a key put into the lock from the outside. It turned round, the bolt revolved, and

a cavalier, who entered, muffled in his ridingcloak, and wearing a slouched hat with a drooping feather,

stood at once within four yards of him who was desirous of going out. They exclaimed at once, in tones of

"What make you here?" was the stern question put by the stranger to Tressilian, when the moment of surprise

was past"what make you here, where your presence is neither expected nor desired?"

"Nay, Varney," replied Tressilian, "what make you here? Are you come to triumph over the innocence you

have destroyed, as the vulture or carrioncrow comes to batten on the lamb whose eyes it has first plucked

out? Or are you come to encounter the merited vengeance of an honest man? Draw, dog, and defend thyself!"

Tressilian drew his sword as he spoke, but Varney only laid his hand on the hilt of his own, as he replied,

"Thou art mad, Tressilian. I own appearances are against me; but by every oath a priest can make or a man

can swear, Mistress Amy Robsart hath had no injury from me. And in truth I were somewhat loath to hurt

"I have heard thee say so, Varney," replied Tressilian; "but now, methinks, I would fain have some better

"That shall not be lacking, if blade and hilt be but true to me," answered Varney; and drawing his sword with

the right hand, he threw his cloak around his left, and attacked Tressilian with a vigour which, for a moment,

seemed to give him the advantage of the combat. But this advantage lasted not long. Tressilian added to a

spirit determined on revenge a hand and eye admirably well adapted to the use of the rapier; so that Varney,

finding himself hard pressed in his turn, endeavoured to avail himself of his superior strength by closing with

his adversary. For this purpose, he hazarded the receiving one of Tressilian's passes in his cloak, wrapped as

it was around his arm, and ere his adversary could, extricate his rapier thus entangled, he closed with him,

shortening his own sword at the same time, with the purpose of dispatching him. But Tressilian was on his

guard, and unsheathing his poniard, parried with the blade of that weapon the homethrust which would

otherwise have finished the combat, and, in the struggle which followed, displayed so much address, as might

have confirmed, the opinion that he drew his origin from Cornwall whose natives are such masters in the art

of wrestling, as, were the games of antiquity revived, might enable them to challenge all Europe to the ring.

Varney, in his illadvised attempt, received a fall so sudden and violent that his sword flew several paces

from his hand and ere he could recover his feet, that of his antagonist was; pointed to his throat.

"Give me the instant means of relieving the victim of thy treachery," said Tressilian, "or take the last look of

And while Varney, too confused or too sullen to reply, made a sudden effort to arise, his adversary drew back

his arm, and would have executed his threat, but that the blow was arrested by the grasp of Michael

Lambourne, who, directed by the clashing of swords had come up just in time to save the life of Varney,

"Come, come, comrade;" said Lambourne, "here is enough done and more than enough; put up your fox and

"Off, abject!" said Tressilian, striking himself free of Lambourne's grasp; "darest thou come betwixt me and

"Abject! abject!" repeated Lambourne; "that shall be answered with cold steel whenever a bowl of sack has

washed out memory of the morning's draught that we had together. In the meanwhile, do you see,

He spoke truth, for Varney had taken the opportunity to regain his weapon, and Tressilian perceived it was

madness to press the quarrel further against such odds. He took his purse from his side, and taking out two

gold nobles, flung them to Lambourne. "There, caitiff, is thy morning wage; thou shalt not say thou hast been

my guide unhired.Varney, farewell! we shall meet where there are none to come betwixt us." So saying, he

Varney seemed to want the inclination, or perhaps the power (for his fall had been a severe one), to follow his

retreating enemy. But he glared darkly as he disappeared, and then addressed Lambourne. "Art thou a

"Here is a broad piece for thee. Follow yonder fellow, and see where he takes earth, and bring me word up to

the mansionhouse here. Cautious and silent, thou knave, as thou valuest thy throat."

"Enough said," replied Lambourne; "I can draw on a scent as well as a sleuthhound."

"Begone, then," said Varney, sheathing his rapier; and, turning his back on Michael Lambourne, he walked

slowly towards the house. Lambourne stopped but an instant to gather the nobles which his late companion

had flung towards him so unceremoniously, and muttered to himself, while he put them upon his purse along

with the gratuity of Varney, "I spoke to yonder gulls of Eldorado. By Saint Anthony, there is no Eldorado for

men of our stamp equal to bonny Old England! It rains nobles, by Heaventhey lie on the grass as thick as

dewdropsyou may have them for gathering. And if I have not my share of such glittering dewdrops, may

Antony Foster was still engaged in debate with his fair guest, who treated with scorn every entreaty and

request that she would retire to her own apartment, when a whistle was heard at the entrancedoor of the

"We are fairly sped now," said Foster; "yonder is thy lord's signal, and what to say about the disorder which

has happened in this household, by my conscience, I know not. Some evil fortune dogs the heels of that

unhanged rogue Lambourne, and he has 'scaped the gallows against every chance, to come back and be the

"Peace, sir," said the lady, "and undo the gate to your master. My lord! my dear lord!" she then exclaimed,

hastening to the entrance of the apartment; then added, with a voice expressive of disappointment, "Pooh! it

"Ay, madam," said Varney, entering and saluting the lady with a respectful obeisance, which she returned

with a careless mixture of negligence and of displeasure, "it is but Richard Varney; but even the first grey

cloud should be acceptable, when it lightens in the east, because it announces the approach of the blessed

"How! comes my lord hither tonight?" said the lady, in joyful yet startled agitation; and Anthony Foster

caught up the word, and echoed the question. Varney replied to the lady, that his lord purposed to attend her;

and would have proceeded with some compliment, when, running to the door of the parlour, she called aloud,

"JanetJanet! come to my tiringroom instantly." Then returning to Varney, she asked if her lord sent any

"This letter, honoured madam," said he, taking from his bosom a small parcel wrapped in scarlet silk, "and

with it a token to the Queen of his Affections." With eager speed the lady hastened to undo the silken string

which surrounded the little packet, and failing to unloose readily the knot with which it was secured, she

again called loudly on Janet, "Bring me a knifescissors aught that may undo this envious knot!"

"May not my poor poniard serve, honoured madam?" said Varney, presenting a small dagger of exquisite

"No, sir," replied the lady, rejecting the instrument which he offered"steel poniard shall cut no truelove

"It has cut many, however," said Anthony Foster, half aside, and looking at Varney. By this time the knot was

disentangled without any other help than the neat and nimble fingers of Janet, a simplyattired pretty maiden,

the daughter of Anthony Foster, who came running at the repeated call of her mistress. A necklace of orient

pearl, the companion of a perfumed billet, was now hastily produced from the packet. The lady gave the one,

after a slight glance, to the charge of her attendant, while she read, or rather devoured, the contents of the

"Surely, lady," said Janet, gazing with admiration at the neck string of pearls, "the daughters of Tyre wore

no fairer neck jewels than these. And then the posy, 'For a neck that is fairer'each pearl is worth a

"Each word in this dear paper is worth the whole string, my girl. But come to my tiringroom, girl; we must

be brave, my lord comes hither tonight.He bids me grace you, Master Varney, and to me his wish is a

law. I bid you to a collation in my bower this afternoon; and you, too, Master Foster. Give orders that all is

fitting, and that suitable preparations be made for my lord's reception tonight." With these words she left the

"She takes state on her already," said Varney, "and distributes the favour of her presence, as if she were

already the partner of his dignity. Well, it is wise to practise beforehand the part which fortune prepares us to

playthe young eagle must gaze at the sun ere he soars on strong wing to meet it."

"If holding her head aloft," said Foster, "will keep her eyes from dazzling, I warrant you the dame will not

stoop her crest. She will presently soar beyond reach of my whistle, Master Varney. I promise you, she holds

"It is thine own fault, thou sullen, uninventive companion," answered Varney, "who knowest no mode of

control save downright brute force. Canst thou not make home pleasant to her, with music and toys? Canst

thou not make the outofdoors frightful to her, with tales of goblins? Thou livest here by the churchyard,

and hast not even wit enough to raise a ghost, to scare thy females into good discipline."

"Speak not thus, Master Varney," said Foster; "the living I fear not, but I trifle not nor toy with my dead

neighbours of the churchyard. I promise you, it requires a good heart to live so near it. Worthy Master

Holdforth, the afternoon's lecturer of Saint Antonlin's, had a sore fright there the last time he came to visit

"Hold thy superstitious tongue," answered Varney; "and while thou talkest of visiting, answer me, thou

"Tressilian!" answered Foster, "what know I of Tressilian? I never heard his name."

"Why, villain, it was the very Cornish chough to whom old Sir Hugh Robsart destined his pretty Amy; and

hither the hotbrained fool has come to look after his fair runaway. There must be some order taken with

him, for he thinks he hath wrong, and is not the mean hind that will sit down with it. Luckily he knows

nought of my lord, but thinks he has only me to deal with. But how, in the fiend's name, came he hither?"

"And who is Mike Lambourne?" demanded Varney. "By Heaven! thou wert best set up a bush over thy door,

and invite every stroller who passes by to see what thou shouldst keep secret even from the sun and air."

"Ay! ay! this is a courtlike requital of my service to you, Master Richard Varney," replied Foster. "Didst thou

not charge me to seek out for thee a fellow who had a good sword and an unscrupulous conscience? and was I

not busying myself to find a fit manfor, thank Heaven, my acquaintance lies not amongst such

companionswhen, as Heaven would have it, this tall fellow, who is in all his dualities the very flashing

knave thou didst wish, came hither to fix acquaintance upon me in the plenitude of his impudence; and I

admitted his claim, thinking to do you a pleasure. And now see what thanks I get for disgracing myself by

"And did he," said Varney, "being such a fellow as thyself, only lacking, I suppose, thy present humour of

hypocrisy, which lies as thin over thy hard, ruffianly heart as gold lacquer upon rusty irondid he, I say,

"They came together, by Heaven!" said Foster; "and Tressilian to speak Heaven's truthobtained a

moment's interview with our pretty moppet, while I was talking apart with Lambourne."

"Improvident villain! we are both undone," said Varney. "She has of late been casting many a backward look

to her father's halls, whenever her lordly lover leaves her alone. Should this preaching fool whistle her back

"No fear of that, my master," replied Anthony Foster; "she is in no mood to stoop to his lure, for she yelled

"That is good. Canst thou not get from thy daughter an inkling of what passed between them, good Foster?"

"I tell you plain, Master Varney," said Foster, "my daughter shall not enter our purposes or walk in our paths.

They may suit me well enough, who know how to repent of my misdoings; but I will not have my child's soul

committed to peril either for your pleasure or my lord's. I may walk among snares and pitfalls myself,

"Why, thou suspicious fool, I were as averse as thou art that thy babyfaced girl should enter into my plans,

or walk to hell at her father's elbow. But indirectly thou mightst gain some intelligence of her?"

"And so I did, Master Varney," answered Foster; "and she said her lady called out upon the sickness of her

"Good!" replied Varney; "that is a hint worth catching, and I will work upon it. But the country must be rid of

this Tressilian. I would have cumbered no man about the matter, for I hate him like strong poisonhis

presence is hemlock to meand this day I had been rid of him, but that my foot slipped, when, to speak

truth, had not thy comrade yonder come to my aid, and held his hand, I should have known by this time

"And you can speak thus of such a risk!" said Foster. "You keep a stout heart, Master Varney. For me, if I did

not hope to live many years, and to have time for the great work of repentance, I would not go forward with

"Oh! thou shalt live as long as Methuselah," said Varney, "and amass as much wealth as Solomon; and thou

shalt repent so devoutly, that thy repentance shall be more famous than thy villainyand that is a bold word.

But for all this, Tressilian must be looked after. Thy ruffian yonder is gone to dog him. It concerns our

"Ay, ay," said Foster sullenly, "this it is to be leagued with one who knows not even so much of Scripture, as

that the labourer is worthy of his hire. I must, as usual, take all the trouble and risk."

"Risk! and what is the mighty risk, I pray you?" answered Varney. "This fellow will come prowling again

about your demesne or into your house, and if you take him for a housebreaker or a parkbreaker, is it not

most natural you should welcome him with cold steel or hot lead? Even a mastiff will pull down those who

"Ay, I have a mastiff's work and a mastiff's wage among you," said Foster. "Here have you, Master Varney,

secured a good freehold estate out of this old superstitious foundation; and I have but a poor lease of this

"Ay, and thou wouldst fain convert thy leasehold into a copyhold the thing may chance to happen,

Anthony Foster, if thou dost good service for it. But softly, good Anthonyit is not the lending a room or

two of this old house for keeping my lord's pretty paroquetnay, it is not the shutting thy doors and

windows to keep her from flying off that may deserve it. Remember, the manor and tithes are rated at the

clear annual value of seventynine pounds five shillings and fivepence halfpenny, besides the value of the

wood. Come, come, thou must be conscionable; great and secret service may deserve both this and a better

thing. And now let thy knave come and pluck off my boots. Get us some dinner, and a cup of thy best wine. I

must visit this mavis, brave in apparel, unruffled in aspect, and gay in temper."

They parted and at the hour of noon, which was then that of dinner, they again met at their meal, Varney

gaily dressed like a courtier of the time, and even Anthony Foster improved in appearance, as far as dress

This alteration did not escape Varney. Then the meal was finished, the cloth removed, and they were left to

their private discourse"Thou art gay as a goldfinch, Anthony," said Varney, looking at his host; "methinks,

thou wilt whistle a jig anon. But I crave your pardon, that would secure your ejection from the congregation

of the zealous botchers, the purehearted weavers, and the sanctified bakers of Abingdon, who let their ovens

"To answer you in the spirit, Master Varney," said Foster, "were excuse the parableto fling sacred and

precious things before swine. So I will speak to thee in the language of the world, which he who is king of the

"Say what thou wilt, honest Tony," replied Varney; "for be it according to thine absurd faith, or according to

thy most villainous practice, it cannot choose but be rare matter to qualify this cup of Alicant. Thy

conversation is relishing and poignant, and beats caviare, dried neat'stongue, and all other provocatives that

"Well, then, tell me," said Anthony Foster, "is not our good lord and master's turn better served, and his

antechamber more suitably filled, with decent, Godfearing men, who will work his will and their own profit

quietly, and without worldly scandal, than that he should be manned, and attended, and followed by such

open debauchers and ruffianly swordsmen as Tidesly, Killigrew, this fellow Lambourne, whom you have put

me to seek out for you, and other such, who bear the gallows in their face and murder in their right

"Oh, content you, good Master Anthony Foster," answered Varney; "he that flies at all manner of game must

keep all kinds of hawks, both short and longwinged. The course my lord holds is no easy one, and he must

stand provided at all points with trusty retainers to meet each sort of service. He must have his gay courtier,

like myself, to ruffle it in the presencechamber, and to lay hand on hilt when any speaks in disparagement of

"Ay," said Foster, "and to whisper a word for him into a fair lady's ear, when he may not approach her

"Then," said Varney, going on without appearing to notice the interruption, "he must have his

lawyersdeep, subtle pioneers to draw his contracts, his precontracts, and his post contracts, and to

find the way to make the most of grants of churchlands, and commons, and licenses for monopoly. And he

must have physicians who can spice a cup or a caudle. And he must have his cabalists, like Dec and Allan,

for conjuring up the devil. And he must have ruffling swordsmen, who would fight the devil when he is

raised and at the wildest. And above all, without prejudice to others, he must have such godly, innocent,

puritanic souls as thou, honest Anthony, who defy Satan, and do his work at the same time."

"You would not say, Master Varney," said Foster, "that our good lord and master, whom I hold to be fulfilled

in all nobleness, would use such base and sinful means to rise, as thy speech points at?"

"Tush, man," said Varney, "never look at me with so sad a brow. You trap me notnor am I in your power,

as your weak brain may imagine, because I name to you freely the engines, the springs, the screws, the tackle,

and braces, by which great men rise in stirring times. Sayest thou our good lord is fulfilled of all nobleness?

Amen, and so be ithe has the more need to have those about him who are unscrupulous in his service, and

who, because they know that his fall will overwhelm and crush them, must wager both blood and brain, soul

and body, in order to keep him aloft; and this I tell thee, because I care not who knows it."

"You speak truth, Master Varney," said Anthony Foster. "He that is head of a party is but a boat on a wave,

that raises not itself, but is moved upward by the billow which it floats upon."

"Thou art metaphorical, honest Anthony," replied Varney; "that velvet doublet hath made an oracle of thee.

We will have thee to Oxford to take the degrees in the arts. And, in the meantime, hast thou arranged all the

matters which were sent from London, and put the western chambers into such fashion as may answer my

"They may serve a king on his bridalday," said Anthony; "and I promise you that Dame Amy sits in them

"'Tis the better, good Anthony," answered Varney; "we must found our future fortunes on her good liking."

"We build on sand then," said Anthony Foster; "for supposing that she sails away to court in all her lord's

dignity and authority, how is she to look back upon me, who am her jailor as it were, to detain her here

against her will, keeping her a caterpillar on an old wall, when she would fain be a painted butterfly in a court

"Fear not her displeasure, man," said Varney. "I will show her all thou hast done in this matter was good

service, both to my lord and her; and when she chips the eggshell and walks alone, she shall own we have

"Look to yourself, Master Varney," said Foster, "you may misreckon foully in this matter. She gave you but a

frosty reception this morning, and, I think, looks on you, as well as me, with an evil eye."

"You mistake her, Fosteryou mistake her utterly. To me she is bound by all the ties which can secure her

to one who has been the means of gratifying both her love and ambition. Who was it that took the obscure

Amy Robsart, the daughter of an impoverished and dotard knightthe destined bride of a moonstruck,

moping enthusiast, like Edmund Tressilian, from her lowly fates, and held out to her in prospect the brightest

fortune in England, or perchance in Europe? Why, man, it was I as I have often told theethat found

opportunity for their secret meetings. It was I who watched the wood while he beat for the deer. It was I who,

to this day, am blamed by her family as the companion of her flight; and were I in their neighbourhood,

would be fain to wear a shirt of better stuff than Holland linen, lest my ribs should be acquainted with

Spanish steel. Who carried their letters?I. Who amused the old knight and Tressilian?I. Who planned

her escape?it was I. It was I, in short, Dick Varney, who pulled this pretty little daisy from its lowly nook,

"Ay, Master Varney," said Foster; "but it may be she thinks that had the matter remained with you, the flower

had been stuck so slightly into the cap, that the first breath of a changeable breeze of passion had blown the

"She should consider," said Varney, smiling, "the true faith I owed my lord and master prevented me at first

from counselling marriage; and yet I did counsel marriage when I saw she would not be satisfied without

"Still she has you at feud on another score," said Foster; "and I tell it you that you may look to yourself in

time. She would not hide her splendour in this dark lantern of an old monastic house, but would fain shine a

"Very natural, very right," answered Varney; "but what have I to do with that?she may shine through horn

"She deems that you have an oar upon that side of the boat, Master Varney," replied Foster, "and that you can

pull it or no, at your good pleasure. In a word, she ascribes the secrecy and obscurity in which she is kept to

your secret counsel to my lord, and to my strict agency; and so she loves us both as a sentenced man loves his

"She must love us better ere she leave this place, Anthony," answered Varney. "If I have counselled for

weighty reasons that she remain here for a season, I can also advise her being brought forth in the full blow of

her dignity. But I were mad to do so, holding so near a place to my lord's person, were she mine enemy. Bear

this truth in upon her as occasion offers, Anthony, and let me alone for extolling you in her ear, and exalting

you in her opinionKA ME, KA THEEit is a proverb all over the world. The lady must know her friends,

and be made to judge of the power they have of being her enemies; meanwhile, watch her strictly, but with all

the outward observance that thy rough nature will permit. 'Tis an excellent thing that sullen look and

bulldog humour of thine; thou shouldst thank God for it, and so should my lord, for when there is aught

harsh or hardnatured to be done, thou dost it as if it flowed from thine own natural doggedness, and not

from orders, and so my lord escapes the scandal.But, harksome one knocks at the gate. Look out at the

"It is he whom we spoke of before dinner," said Foster, as he looked through the casement; "it is Michael

"Oh, admit him, by all means," said the courtier; "he comes to give some account of his guest; it imports us

much to know the movements of Edmund Tressilian.Admit him, I say, but bring him not hither; I will

Foster left the room, and the courtier, who remained behind, paced the parlour more than once in deep

thought, his arms folded on his bosom, until at length he gave vent to his meditations in broken words, which

we have somewhat enlarged and connected, that his soliloquy may be intelligible to the reader.

"'Tis true," he said, suddenly stopping, and resting his right hand on the table at which they had been sitting,

"this base churl hath fathomed the very depth of my fear, and I have been unable to disguise it from him. She

loves me notI would it were as true that I loved not her! Idiot that I was, to move her in my own behalf,

when wisdom bade me be a true broker to my lord! And this fatal error has placed me more at her discretion

than a wise man would willingly be at that of the best piece of painted Eve's flesh of them all. Since the hour

that my policy made so perilous a slip, I cannot look at her without fear, and hate, and fondness, so strangely

mingled, that I know not whether, were it at my choice, I would rather possess or ruin her. But she must not

leave this retreat until I am assured on what terms we are to stand. My lord's interestand so far it is mine

own, for if he sinks I fall in his traindemands concealment of this obscure marriage; and besides, I will not

lend her my arm to climb to her chair of state, that she may set her foot on my neck when she is fairly seated.

I must work an interest in her, either through love or through fear; and who knows but I may yet reap the

sweetest and best revenge for her former scorn?that were indeed a masterpiece of courtlike art! Let me but

once be her counselkeeperlet her confide to me a secret, did it but concern the robbery of a linnet's nest,

and, fair Countess, thou art mine own!" He again paced the room in silence, stopped, filled and drank a cup of

wine, as if to compose the agitation of his mind, and muttering, "Now for a close heart and an open and

[This verse is the commencement of the ballad already quoted, as what suggested the novel.]

Four apartments; which, occupied the western side of the old quadrangle at Cumnor Place, had been fitted up

with extraordinary splendour. This had been the work of several days prior to that on which our story opened.

Workmen sent from London, and not permitted to leave the premises until the work was finished, had

converted the apartments in that side of the building from the dilapidated appearance of a dissolved monastic

house into the semblance of a royal palace. A mystery was observed in all these arrangements: the workmen

came thither and returned by night, and all measures were taken to prevent the prying curiosity of the

villagers from observing or speculating upon the changes which were taking place in the mansion of their

once indigent but now wealthy neighbour, Anthony Foster. Accordingly, the secrecy desired was so far

preserved, that nothing got abroad but vague and uncertain reports, which were received and repeated, but

On the evening of which we treat, the new and highlydecorated suite of rooms were, for the first time,

illuminated, and that with a brilliancy which might have been visible halfadozen miles off, had not oaken

shutters, carefully secured with bolt and padlock, and mantled with long curtains of silk and of velvet, deeply

fringed with gold, prevented the slightest gleam of radiance front being seen without.

The principal apartments, as we have seen, were four in number, each opening into the other. Access was

given to them by a large scale staircase, as they were then called, of unusual length and height, which had its

landingplace at the door of an antechamber, shaped somewhat like a gallery. This apartment the abbot had

used as an occasional councilroom, but it was now beautifully wainscoted with dark, foreign wood of a

brown colour, and bearing a high polish, said to have been brought from the Western Indies, and to have been

wrought in London with infinite difficulty and much damage to the tools of the workmen. The dark colour of

this finishing was relieved by the number of lights in silver sconces which hung against the walls, and by six

large and richlyframed pictures, by the first masters of the age. A massy oaken table, placed at the lower end

of the apartment, served to accommodate such as chose to play at the then fashionable game of shovelboard;

and there was at the other end an elevated gallery for the musicians or minstrels, who might be summoned to

From this antechamber opened a banquetingroom of moderate size, but brilliant enough to dazzle the eyes

of the spectator with the richness of its furniture. The walls, lately so bare and ghastly, were now clothed with

hangings of skyblue velvet and silver; the chairs were of ebony, richly carved, with cushions corresponding

to the hangings; and the place of the silver sconces which enlightened the antechamber was supplied by a

huge chandelier of the same precious metal. The floor was covered with a Spanish footcloth, or carpet, on

which flowers and fruits were represented in such glowing and natural colours, that you hesitated to place the

foot on such exquisite workmanship. The table, of old English oak, stood ready covered with the finest linen;

and a large portable courtcupboard was placed with the leaves of its embossed foldingdoors displayed,

showing the shelves within, decorated with a full display of plate and porcelain. In the midst of the table

stood a saltcellar of Italian workmanshipa beautiful and splendid piece of plate about two feet high,

moulded into a representation of the giant Briareus, whose hundred hands of silver presented to the guests

The third apartment was called the withdrawingroom. It was hung with the finest tapestry, representing the

fall of Phaeton; for the looms of Flanders were now much occupied on classical subjects. The principal seat

of this apartment was a chair of state, raised a step or two from the floor, and large enough to contain two

persons. It was surmounted by a canopy, which, as well as the cushions, sidecurtains, and the very footcloth,

was composed of crimson velvet, embroidered with seedpearl. On the top of the canopy were two coronets,

resembling those of an earl and countess. Stools covered with velvet, and some cushions disposed in the

Moorish fashion, and ornamented with Arabesque needlework, supplied the place of chairs in this

apartment, which contained musical instruments, embroidery frames, and other articles for ladies' pastime.

Besides lesser lights, the withdrawingroom was illuminated by four tall torches of virgin wax, each of which

was placed in the grasp of a statue, representing an armed Moor, who held in his left arm a round buckler of

silver, highly polished, interposed betwixt his breast and the light, which was thus brilliantly reflected as

The sleeping chamber belonging to this splendid suite of apartments was decorated in a taste less showy, but

not less rich, than had been displayed in the others. Two silver lamps, fed with perfumed oil, diffused at once

a delicious odour and a trembling twilightseeming shimmer through the quiet apartment. It was carpeted so

thick that the heaviest step could not have been heard, and the bed, richly heaped with down, was spread with

an ample coverlet of silk and gold; from under which peeped forth cambric sheets and blankets as white as

the lambs which yielded the fleece that made them. The curtains were of blue velvet, lined with crimson silk,

deeply festooned with gold, and embroidered with the loves of Cupid and Psyche. On the toilet was a

beautiful Venetian mirror, in a frame of silver filigree, and beside it stood a gold possetdish to contain the

night draught. A pair of pistols and a dagger, mounted with gold, were displayed near the head of the bed,

being the arms for the night, which were presented to honoured guests, rather, it may be supposed, in the way

of ceremony than from any apprehension of danger. We must not omit to mention, what was more to the

credit of the manners of the time, that in a small recess, illuminated by a taper, were disposed two hassocks of

velvet and gold, corresponding with the bed furniture, before a desk of carved ebony. This recess had

formerly been the private oratory of the abbot; but the crucifix was removed, and instead there were placed

on the desk, two Books of Common Prayer, richly bound, and embossed with silver. With this enviable

sleeping apartment, which was so far removed from every sound save that of the wind sighing among the

oaks of the park, that Morpheus might have coveted it for his own proper repose, corresponded two

wardrobes, or dressingrooms as they are now termed, suitably furnished, and in a style of the same

magnificence which we have already described. It ought to be added, that a part of the building in the

adjoining wing was occupied by the kitchen and its offices, and served to accommodate the personal

attendants of the great and wealthy nobleman, for whose use these magnificent preparations had been made.

The divinity for whose sake this temple had been decorated was well worthy the cost and pains which had

been bestowed. She was seated in the withdrawingroom which we have described, surveying with the

pleased eye of natural and innocent vanity the splendour which had been so suddenly created, as it were, in

her honour. For, as her own residence at Cumnor Place formed the cause of the mystery observed in all the

preparations for opening these apartments, it was sedulously arranged that, until she took possession of them,

she should have no means of knowing what was going forward in that part of the ancient building, or of

exposing herself to be seen by the workmen engaged in the decorations. She had been, therefore, introduced

on that evening to a part of the mansion which she had never yet seen, so different from all the rest that it

appeared, in comparison, like an enchanted palace. And when she first examined and occupied these splendid

rooms, it was with the wild and unrestrained joy of a rustic beauty who finds herself suddenly invested with a

splendour which her most extravagant wishes had never imagined, and at the same time with the keen feeling

of an affectionate heart, which knows that all the enchantment that surrounds her is the work of the great

The Countess Amy, thereforefor to that rank she was exalted by her private but solemn union with

England's proudest Earlhad for a time flitted hastily from room to room, admiring each new proof of her

lover and her bridegroom's taste, and feeling that admiration enhanced as she recollected that all she gazed

upon was one continued proof of his ardent and devoted affection. "How beautiful are these hangings! How

natural these paintings, which seem to contend with life! How richly wrought is that plate, which looks as if

all the galleons of Spain had been intercepted on the broad seas to furnish it forth! And oh, Janet!" she

exclaimed repeatedly to the daughter of Anthony Foster, the close attendant, who, with equal curiosity, but

somewhat less ecstatic joy, followed on her mistress's footsteps "oh, Janet! how much more delightful to

think that all these fair things have been assembled by his love, for the love of me! and that this

eveningthis very evening, which grows darker every instant, I shall thank him more for the love that has

"The Lord is to be thanked first," said the pretty Puritan, "who gave thee, lady, the kind and courteous

husband whose love has done so much for thee. I, too, have done my poor share. But if you thus run wildly

from room to room, the toil of my crisping and my curling pins will vanish like the frostwork on the

"Thou sayest true, Janet," said the young and beautiful Countess, stopping suddenly from her tripping race of

enraptured delight, and looking at herself from head to foot in a large mirror, such as she had never before

seen, and which, indeed, had few to match it even in the Queen's palace"thou sayest true, Janet!" she

answered, as she saw, with pardonable selfapplause, the noble mirror reflect such charms as were seldom

presented to its fair and polished surface; "I have more of the milkmaid than the countess, with these cheeks

flushed with haste, and all these brown curls, which you laboured to bring to order, straying as wild as the

tendrils of an unpruned vine. My falling ruff is chafed too, and shows the neck and bosom more than is

modest and seemly. Come, Janet; we will practise statewe will go to the withdrawingroom, my good girl,

and thou shalt put these rebel locks in order, and imprison within lace and cambric the bosom that beats too

They went to the withdrawing apartment accordingly, where the Countess playfully stretched herself upon the

pile of Moorish cushions, half sitting, half reclining, half wrapt in her own thoughts, half listening to the

While she was in this attitude, and with a corresponding expression betwixt listlessness and expectation on

her fine and intelligent features, you might have searched sea and land without finding anything half so

expressive or half so lovely. The wreath of brilliants which mixed with her darkbrown hair did not match in

lustre the hazel eye which a lightbrown eyebrow, pencilled with exquisite delicacy, and long eyelashes of

the same colour, relieved and shaded. The exercise she had just taken, her excited expectation and gratified

vanity, spread a glow over her fine features, which had been sometimes censured (as beauty as well as art has

her minute critics) for being rather too pale. The milkwhite pearls of the necklace which she wore, the same

which she had just received as a truelove token from her husband, were excelled in purity by her teeth, and

by the colour of her skin, saving where the blush of pleasure and self satisfaction had somewhat stained the

neck with a shade of light crimson."Now, have done with these busy fingers, Janet," she said to her

handmaiden, who was still officiously employed in bringing her hair and her dress into order"have done, I

say. I must see your father ere my lord arrives, and also Master Richard Varney, whom my lord has highly in

"Oh, do not do so, good my lady!" replied Janet; "leave him to God, who punishes the wicked in His own

time; but do not you cross Varney's path, for so thoroughly hath he my lord's ear, that few have thriven who

"And from whom had you this, my most righteous Janet?" said the Countess; "or why should I keep terms

with so mean a gentleman as Varney, being as I am, wife to his master and patron?"

"Nay, madam," replied Janet Foster, "your ladyship knows better than I; but I have heard my father say he

would rather cross a hungry wolf than thwart Richard Varney in his projects. And he has often charged me to

"Thy father said well, girl, for thee," replied the lady, "and I dare swear meant well. It is a pity, though, his

face and manner do little match his true purposefor I think his purpose may be true."

"Doubt it not, my lady," answered Janet"doubt not that my father purposes well, though he is a plain man,

"I will not doubt it, girl, were it only for thy sake; and yet he has one of those faces which men tremble when

they look on. I think even thy mother, Janetnay, have done with that poking ironcould hardly look

"If it were so, madam," answered Janet Foster, "my mother had those who could keep her in honourable

countenance. Why, even you, my lady, both trembled and blushed when Varney brought the letter from my

"You are bold, damsel," said the Countess, rising from the cushions on which she sat half reclined in the arms

of her attendant. "Know that there are causes of trembling which have nothing to do with fear.But, Janet,"

she added, immediately relapsing into the goodnatured and familiar tone which was natural to her, "believe

me, I will do what credit I can to your father, and the rather that you, sweetheart, are his child. Alas! alas!"

she added, a sudden sadness passing over her fine features, and her eyes filling with tears, "I ought the rather

to hold sympathy with thy kind heart, that my own poor father is uncertain of my fate, and they say lies sick

and sorrowful for my worthless sake! But I will soon cheer himthe news of my happiness and

advancement will make him young again. And that I may cheer him the sooner"she wiped her eyes as she

spoke"I must be cheerful myself. My lord must not find me insensible to his kindness, or sorrowful, when

he snatches a visit to his recluse, after so long an absence. Be merry, Janet; the night wears on, and my lord

must soon arrive. Call thy father hither, and call Varney also. I cherish resentment against neither; and though

I may have some room to be displeased with both, it shall be their own fault if ever a complaint against them

Janet Foster obeyed her mistress; and in a few minutes after, Varney entered the withdrawingroom with the

graceful ease and unclouded front of an accomplished courtier, skilled, under the veil of external politeness,

to disguise his own feelings and to penetrate those of others. Anthony Foster plodded into the apartment after

him, his natural gloomy vulgarity of aspect seeming to become yet more remarkable, from his clumsy attempt

to conceal the mixture of anxiety and dislike with which he looked on her, over whom he had hitherto

exercised so severe a control, now so splendidly attired, and decked with so many pledges of the interest

which she possessed in her husband's affections. The blundering reverence which he made, rather AT than

TO the Countess, had confession in it. It was like the reverence which the criminal makes to the judge, when

he at once owns his guilt and implores mercywhich is at the same time an impudent and embarrassed

attempt at defence or extenuation, a confession of a fault, and an entreaty for lenity.

Varney, who, in right of his gentle blood, had pressed into the room before Anthony Foster, knew better what

The Countess greeted him indeed with an appearance of cordiality, which seemed a complete amnesty for

whatever she might have to complain of. She rose from her seat, and advanced two steps towards him,

holding forth her hand as she said, "Master Richard Varney, you brought me this morning such welcome

tidings, that I fear surprise and joy made me neglect my lord and husband's charge to receive you with

"I am unworthy to touch it," said Varney, dropping on one knee, "save as a subject honours that of a prince."

He touched with his lips those fair and slender fingers, so richly loaded with rings and jewels; then rising,

with graceful gallantry, was about to hand her to the chair of state, when she said, "No, good Master Richard

Varney, I take not my place there until my lord himself conducts me. I am for the present but a disguised

Countess, and will not take dignity on me until authorized by him whom I derive it from."

"I trust, my lady," said Foster, "that in doing the commands of my lord your husband, in your restraint and so

forth, I have not incurred your displeasure, seeing that I did but my duty towards your lord and mine; for

Heaven, as holy writ saith, hath given the husband supremacy and dominion over the wifeI think it runs so,

"I receive at this moment so pleasant a surprise, Master Foster," answered the Countess, "that I cannot but

excuse the rigid fidelity which secluded me from these apartments, until they had assumed an appearance so

"Ay lady," said Foster, "it hath cost many a fair crown; and that more need not be wasted than is absolutely

necessary, I leave you till my lord's arrival with good Master Richard Varney, who, as I think, hath somewhat

to say to you from your most noble lord and husband.Janet, follow me, to see that all be in order."

"No, Master Foster," said the Countess, "we will your daughter remains here in our apartmentout of

Foster made his clumsy reverence, and departed, with an aspect which seemed to grudge the profuse expense

which had been wasted upon changing his house from a bare and ruinous grange to an Asiastic palace. When

he was gone, his daughter took her embroidery frame, and went to establish herself at the bottom of the

apartment; while Richard Varney, with a profoundly humble courtesy, took the lowest stool he could find,

and placing it by the side of the pile of cushions on which the Countess had now again seated herself, sat with

"I thought, Master Varney," said the Countess, when she saw he was not likely to open the conversation, "that

you had something to communicate from my lord and husband; so at least I understood Master Foster, and

therefore I removed my waitingmaid. If I am mistaken, I will recall her to my side; for her needle is not so

absolutely perfect in tent and crossstitch, but that my superintendence is advisable."

"Lady," said Varney, "Foster was partly mistaken in my purpose. It was not FROM but OF your noble

husband, and my approved and most noble patron, that I am led, and indeed bound, to speak."

"The theme is most welcome, sir," said the Countess, "whether it be of or from my noble husband. But be

"Briefly then, madam," replied Varney, "and boldly, for my argument requires both haste and courageyou

"Nothing that concerns me, lady," Varney replied with humility. "But, think you, honoured madam, that your

"And wherefore should he not? To me alone was Tressilian's visit embarrassing and painful, for he brought

"Of your father's illness, madam!" answered Varney. "It must have been sudden thenvery sudden; for the

messenger whom I dispatched, at my lord's instance, found the good knight on the hunting field, cheering his

beagles with his wonted jovial field cry. I trust Tressilian has but forged this news. He hath his reasons,

"You do him injustice, Master Varney," replied the Countess, with animation"you do him much injustice.

He is the freest, the most open, the most gentle heart that breathes. My honourable lord ever excepted, I know

"I crave your pardon, madam," said Varney, "I meant the gentleman no injusticeI knew not how nearly his

cause affected you. A man may, in some circumstances, disguise the truth for fair and honest purpose; for

were it to be always spoken, and upon all occasions, this were no world to live in."

"You have a courtly conscience, Master Varney," said the Countess, "and your veracity will not, I think,

interrupt your preferment in the world, such as it is. But touching Tressilian I must do him justice, for I

have done him wrong, as none knows better than thou. Tressilian's conscience is of other mouldthe world

thou speakest of has not that which could bribe him from the way of truth and honour; and for living in it

with a soiled fame, the ermine would as soon seek to lodge in the den of the foul polecat. For this my father

loved him; for this I would have loved himif I could. And yet in this case he had what seemed to him,

unknowing alike of my marriage and to whom I was united, such powerful reasons to withdraw me from this

place, that I well trust he exaggerated much of my father's indisposition, and that thy better news may be the

"Believe me they are, madam," answered Varney. "I pretend not to be a champion of that same naked virtue

called truth, to the very outrance. I can consent that her charms be hidden with a veil, were it but for

decency's sake. But you must think lower of my head and heart than is due to one whom my noble lord

deigns to call his friend, if you suppose I could wilfully and unnecessarily palm upon your ladyship a

"Master Varney," said the Countess, "I know that my lord esteems you, and holds you a faithful and a good

pilot in those seas in which he has spread so high and so venturous a sail. Do not suppose, therefore, I meant

hardly by you, when I spoke the truth in Tressilian's vindication. I am as you well know, country bred, and

like plain rustic truth better than courtly compliment; but I must change my fashions with my sphere, I

"True, madam," said Varney, smiling; "and though you speak now in jest, it will not be amiss that in earnest

your present speech had some connection with your real purpose. A courtdametake the most noble, the

most virtuous, the most unimpeachable that stands around our Queen's thronewould, for example, have

shunned to speak the truth, or what she thought such, in praise of a discarded suitor, before the dependant and

"And wherefore," said the Countess, colouring impatiently, "should I not do justice to Tressilian's worth,

"And with the same openness," said Varney, "your ladyship will this night tell my noble lord your husband

that Tressilian has discovered your place of residence, so anxiously concealed from the world, and that he has

"Unquestionably," said the Countess. "It will be the first thing I tell him, together with every word that

Tressilian said and that I answered. I shall speak my own shame in this, for Tressilian's reproaches, less just

than he esteemed them, were not altogether unmerited. I will speak, therefore, with pain, but I will speak, and

"Your ladyship will do your pleasure," answered Varney; "but methinks it were as well, since nothing calls

for so frank a disclosure, to spare yourself this pain, and my noble lord the disquiet, and Master Tressilian,

since belike he must be thought of in the matter, the danger which is like to ensue."

"I can see nought of all these terrible consequences," said the lady composedly, "unless by imputing to my

noble lord unworthy thoughts, which I am sure never harboured in his generous heart."

"Far be it from me to do so," said Varney. And then, after a moment's silence, he added, with a real or

affected plainness of manner, very different from his usual smooth courtesy, "Come, madam, I will show you

that a courtier dare speak truth as well as another, when it concerns the weal of those whom he honours and

regards, ay, and although it may infer his own danger." He waited as if to receive commands, or at least

permission, to go on; but as the lady remained silent, he proceeded, but obviously with caution. "Look around

you," he said, "noble lady, and observe the barriers with which this place is surrounded, the studious mystery

with which the brightest jewel that England possesses is secluded from the admiring gaze. See with what

rigour your walks are circumscribed. and your movement restrained at the beck of yonder churlish Foster.

"My lord's pleasure," answered the Countess; "and I am bound to seek no other motive."

"His pleasure it is indeed," said Varney; "and his pleasure arises out of a love worthy of the object which

inspires it. But he who possesses a treasure, and who values it, is oft anxious, in proportion to the value he

"What needs all this talk, Master Varney?" said the lady, in reply. "You would have me believe that my noble

"It is," replied the lady, "to speak the truth to my lord at all timesto hold up my mind and my thoughts

before him as pure as that polished mirrorso that when he looks into my heart, he shall only see his own

"I am mute, madam answered Varney; "and as I have no reason to grieve for Tressilian, who would have my

heart's blood were he able, I shall reconcile myself easily to what may befall the gentleman in consequence of

your frank disclosure of his having presumed to intrude upon your solitude. You, who know my lord so much

"Nay, if I could think myself the cause of Tressilian's ruin," said the Countess, "I who have already

occasioned him so much distress, I might be brought to be silent. And yet what will it avail, since he was seen

by Foster, and I think by some one else? No, no, Varney, urge it no more. I will tell the whole matter to my

lord; and with such pleading for Tressilian's folly, as shall dispose my lord's generous heart rather to serve

"Your judgment, madam," said Varney, "is far superior to mine, especially as you may, if you will, prove the

ice before you step on it, by mentioning Tressilian's name to my lord, and observing how he endures it. For

Foster and his attendant, they know not Tressilian by sight, and I can easily give them some reasonable

The lady paused for an instant, and then replied, "If, Varney, it be indeed true that Foster knows not as yet

that the man he saw was Tressilian, I own I were unwilling he should learn what nowise concerns him. He

bears himself already with austerity enough, and I wish him not to be judge or privycouncillor in my

"Tush," said Varney, "what has the surly groom to do with your ladyship's concerns?no more, surely, than

the bandog which watches his courtyard. If he is in aught distasteful to your ladyship, I have interest enough

"Master Varney," said the Countess, "let us drop this theme. When I complain of the attendants whom my

lord has placed around me, it must be to my lord himself.Hark! I hear the trampling of horse. He comes!

"I cannot think it is he," said Varney; "or that you can hear the tread of his horse through the closelymantled

"But, madam!but, madam!" exclaimed Varney anxiously, and still placing himself in her way, "I trust that

what I have spoken in humble duty and service will not be turned to my ruin? I hope that my faithful advice

"Content thee, mancontent thee!" said the Countess, "and quit my skirtyou are too bold to detain me.

At this moment the foldingdoors flew wide open, and a man of majestic mien, muffled in the folds of a long

There was some little displeasure and confusion on the Countess's brow, owing to her struggle with Varney's

pertinacity; but it was exchanged for an expression of the purest joy and affection, as she threw herself into

the arms of the noble stranger who entered, and clasping him to her bosom, exclaimed, "At lengthat length

Varney discreetly withdrew as his lord entered, and Janet was about to do the same, when her mistress signed

to her to remain. She took her place at the farther end of the apartment, and continued standing, as if ready for

Meanwhile the Earl, for he was of no inferior rank, returned his lady's caress with the most affectionate

"Nay," she said, "but I will unmantle you. I must see if you have kept your word to me, and come as the great

"Thou art like the rest of the world, Amy," said the Earl, suffering her to prevail in the playful contest; "the

jewels, and feathers, and silk are more to them than the man whom they adorn many a poor blade looks

"But so cannot men say of thee, thou noble Earl," said his lady, as the cloak dropped on the floor, and showed

him dressed as princes when they ride abroad; "thou art the good and welltried steel, whose inly worth

deserves, yet disdains, its outward ornaments. Do not think Amy can love thee better in this glorious garb

than she did when she gave her heart to him who wore the russetbrown cloak in the woods of Devon."

"And thou too," said the Earl, as gracefully and majestically he led his beautiful Countess towards the chair

of state which was prepared for them both"thou too, my love, hast donned a dress which becomes thy rank,

The lady cast a sidelong glance upon the great mirror as they passed it by, and then said, "I know not how it

is, but I think not of my own person while I look at the reflection of thine. Sit thou there," she said, as they

approached the chair of state, "like a thing for men to worship and to wonder at."

"Not so," said the Countess; "I will sit on this footstool at thy feet, that I may spell over thy splendour, and

And with a childish wonder, which her youth and rustic education rendered not only excusable but becoming,

mixed as it was with a delicate show of the most tender conjugal affection, she examined and admired from

head to foot the noble form and princely attire of him who formed the proudest ornament of the court of

England's Maiden Queen, renowned as it was for splendid courtiers, as well as for wise counsellors.

Regarding affectionately his lovely bride, and gratified by her unrepressed admiration, the dark eye and noble

features of the Earl expressed passions more gentle than the commanding and aspiring look which usually sat

upon his broad forehead, and in the piercing brilliancy of his dark eye; and he smiled at the simplicity which

dictated the questions she put to him concerning the various ornaments with which he was decorated.

"The embroidered strap, as thou callest it, around my knee," he said, "is the English Garter, an ornament

which kings are proud to wear. See, here is the star which belongs to it, and here the Diamond George, the

jewel of the order. You have heard how King Edward and the Countess of Salisbury"

"Oh, I know all that tale," said the Countess, slightly blushing, "and how a lady's garter became the proudest

"Even so," said the Earl; "and this most honourable Order I had the good hap to receive at the same time with

three most noble associates, the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis of Northampton, and the Earl of Rutland. I was

the lowest of the four in rankbut what then? he that climbs a ladder must begin at the first round."

"But this other fair collar, so richly wrought, with some jewel like a sheep hung by the middle attached to it,

"This collar," said the Earl, "with its double fusilles interchanged with these knobs, which are supposed to

present flintstones sparkling with fire, and sustaining the jewel you inquire about, is the badge of the noble

Order of the Golden Fleece, once appertaining to the House of Burgundy it hath high privileges, my Amy,

belonging to it, this most noble Order; for even the King of Spain himself, who hath now succeeded to the

honours and demesnes of Burgundy, may not sit in judgment upon a knight of the Golden Fleece, unless by

"And is this an Order belonging to the cruel King of Spain?" said the Countess. "Alas! my noble lord, that

you will defile your noble English breast by bearing such an emblem! Bethink you of the most unhappy

Queen Mary's days, when this same Philip held sway with her in England, and of the piles which were built

for our noblest, and our wisest, and our most truly sanctified prelates and divinesand will you, whom men

call the standard bearer of the true Protestant faith, be contented to wear the emblem and mark of such a

"Oh, content you, my love," answered the Earl; "we who spread our sails to gales of court favour cannot

always display the ensigns we love the best, or at all times refuse sailing under colours which we like not.

Believe me, I am not the less good Protestant, that for policy I must accept the honour offered me by Spain,

in admitting me to this his highest order of knighthood. Besides, it belongs properly to Flanders; and Egmont,

"Nay, my lord, you know your own path best," replied the Countess. "And this other collar, to what country

"To a very poor one, my love," replied the Earl; "this is the Order of Saint Andrew, revived by the last James

of Scotland. It was bestowed on me when it was thought the young widow of France and Scotland would

gladly have wedded an English baron; but a free coronet of England is worth a crown matrimonial held at the

The Countess paused, as if what the Earl last said had excited some painful but interesting train of thought;

"And now, loveliest, your wish is gratified, and you have seen your vassal in such of his trim array as accords

with riding vestments; for robes of state and coronets are only for princely halls."

"Well, then," said the Countess, "my gratified wish has, as usual, given rise to a new one."

"I wished to see my Earl visit this obscure and secret bower," said the Countess, "in all his princely array; and

now, methinks I long to sit in one of his princely halls, and see him enter dressed in sober russet, as when he

"That is a wish easily granted," said the Earl"the sober russet shall be donned tomorrow, if you will."

"But shall I," said the lady, "go with you to one of your castles, to see how the richness of your dwelling will

"Why, Amy," said the Earl, looking around, "are not these apartments decorated with sufficient splendour? I

gave the most unbounded order, and, methinks, it has been indifferently well obeyed; but if thou canst tell me

"Nay, my lord, now you mock me," replied the Countess; "the gaiety of this rich lodging exceeds my

imagination as much as it does my desert. But shall not your wife, my loveat least one day soonbe

surrounded with the honour which arises neither from the toils of the mechanic who decks her apartment, nor

from the silks and jewels with which your generosity adorns her, but which is attached to her place among the

"One day?" said her husband. "Yes, Amy, my love, one day this shall surely happen; and, believe me, thou

canst not wish for that day more fondly than I. With what rapture could I retire from labours of state, and

cares and toils of ambition, to spend my life in dignity and honour on my own broad domains, with thee, my

lovely Amy, for my friend and companion! But, Amy, this cannot yet be; and these dear but stolen interviews

"But WHY can it not be?" urged the Countess, in the softest tones of persuasion"why can it not

immediately take placethis more perfect, this uninterrupted union, for which you say you wish, and which

the laws of God and man alike command? Ah! did you but desire it half as much as you say, mighty and

"Amy," he said, "you speak of what you understand not. We that toil in courts are like those who climb a

mountain of loose sand we dare make no halt until some projecting rock affords us a secure footing and

restingplace. If we pause sooner, we slide down by our own weight, an object of universal derision. I stand

high, but I stand not secure enough to follow my own inclination. To declare my marriage were to be the

artificer of my own ruin. But, believe me, I will reach a point, and that speedily, when I can do justice to thee

and to myself. Meantime, poison not the bliss of the present moment, by desiring that which cannot at present

be, Let me rather know whether all here is managed to thy liking. How does Foster bear himself to you?in

"He reminds me sometimes of the necessity of this privacy," answered the lady, with a sigh; "but that is

reminding me of your wishes, and therefore I am rather bound to him than disposed to blame him for it."

"I have told you the stern necessity which is upon us," replied the Earl. "Foster is, I note, somewhat sullen of

mood; but Varney warrants to me his fidelity and devotion to my service. If thou hast aught, however, to

"Oh, I have nought to complain of," answered the lady, "so he discharges his task with fidelity to you; and his

daughter Janet is the kindest and best companion of my solitudeher little air of precision sits so well upon

"Is she indeed?" said the Earl. "She who gives you pleasure must not pass unrewarded.Come hither,

Janet, who, as we already noticed, had discreetly retired to some distance, that her presence might be no

check upon the private conversation of her lord and lady, now came forward; and as she made her reverential

curtsy, the Earl could not help smiling at the contrast which the extreme simplicity of her dress, and the prim

demureness of her looks, made with a very pretty countenance and a pair of black eyes, that laughed in spite

"I am bound to you, pretty damsel," said the Earl, "for the contentment which your service hath given to this

lady." As he said this, he took from his finger a ring of some price, and offered it to Janet Foster, adding,

"I am well pleased, my lord," answered Janet demurely, "that my poor service hath gratified my lady, whom

no one can draw nigh to without desiring to please; but we of the precious Master Holdforth's congregation

seek not, like the gay daughters of this world, to twine gold around our fingers, or wear stones upon our

"Oh, what! you are a grave professor of the precise sisterhood, pretty Mistress Janet," said the Earl, "and I

think your father is of the same congregation in sincerity? I like you both the better for it; for I have been

prayed for, and wished well to, in your congregations. And you may the better afford the lack of ornament,

Mistress Janet, because your fingers are slender, and your neck white. But here is what neither Papist nor

Puritan, latitudinarian nor precisian, ever boggles or makes mouths at. E'en take it, my girl, and employ it as

"I would not accept this gold either," said Janet, "but that I hope to find a use for it which will bring a

"Even please thyself, pretty Janet," said the Earl, "and I shall be well satisfied. And I prithee let them hasten

"I have bidden Master Varney and Master Foster to sup with us, my lord," said the Countess, as Janet retired

"What you do ever must have so, my sweet Amy," replied her husband; "and I am the better pleased thou hast

done them this grace, because Richard Varney is my sworn man, and a close brother of my secret council;

"I had a boon to beg of thee, and a secret to tell thee, my dear lord," said the Countess, with a faltering accent.

"Let both be for tomorrow, my love," replied the Earl. "I see they open the foldingdoors into the

banquetingparlour, and as I have ridden far and fast, a cup of wine will not be unacceptable."

So saying he led his lovely wife into the next apartment, where Varney and Foster received them with the

deepest reverences, which the first paid after the fashion of the court, and the second after that of the

congregation. The Earl returned their salutation with the negligent courtesy of one long used to such homage;

while the Countess repaid it with a punctilious solicitude, which showed it was not quite so familiar to her.

The banquet at which the company seated themselves corresponded in magnificence with the splendour of the

apartment in which it was served up, but no domestic gave his attendance. Janet alone stood ready to wait

upon the company; and, indeed, the board was so well supplied with all that could be desired, that little or no

assistance was necessary. The Earl and his lady occupied the upper end of the table, and Varney and Foster

sat beneath the salt, as was the custom with inferiors. The latter, overawed perhaps by society to which he

was altogether unused, did not utter a single syllable during the repast; while Varney, with great tact and

discernment, sustained just so much of the conversation as, without the appearance of intrusion on his part,

prevented it from languishing, and maintained the goodhumour of the Earl at the highest pitch. This man

was indeed highly qualified by nature to discharge the part in which he found himself placed, being discreet

and cautious on the one hand, and, on the other, quick, keenwitted, and imaginative; so that even the

Countess, prejudiced as she was against him on many accounts, felt and enjoyed his powers of conversation,

and was more disposed than she had ever hitherto found herself to join in the praises which the Earl lavished

on his favourite. The hour of rest at length arrived, the Earl and Countess retired to their apartment, and all

Early on the ensuing morning, Varney acted as the Earl's chamberlain as well as his master of horse, though

the latter was his proper office in that magnificent household, where knights and gentlemen of good descent

were well contented to hold such menial situations, as nobles themselves held in that of the sovereign. The

duties of each of these charges were familiar to Varney, who, sprung from an ancient but somewhat decayed

family, was the Earl's page during his earlier and more obscure fortunes, and, faithful to him in adversity, had

afterwards contrived to render himself no less useful to him in his rapid and splendid advance to fortune; thus

establishing in him an interest resting both on present and past services, which rendered him an almost

"Help me to do on a plainer ridingsuit, Varney," said the Earl, as he laid aside his morninggown, flowered

with silk and lined with sables, "and put these chains and fetters there" (pointing to the collars of the various

Orders which lay on the table) "into their place of securitymy neck last night was wellnigh broke with the

weight of them. I am half of the mind that they shall gall me no more. They are bonds which knaves have

"Faith, my good lord," said his attendant, "I think fetters of gold are like no other fettersthey are ever the

"For all that, Varney," replied his master, "I am wellnigh resolved they shall bind me to the court no longer.

What can further service and higher favour give me, beyond the high rank and large estate which I have

already secured? What brought my father to the block, but that he could not bound his wishes within right

and reason? I have, you know, had mine own ventures and mine own escapes. I am wellnigh resolved to

"Nay, my lord," said Varney, "be not angry with me. If your lordship is happy in a lady so rarely lovely that,

in order to enjoy her company with somewhat more freedom, you are willing to part with all you have

hitherto lived for, some of your poor servants may be sufferers; but your bounty hath placed me so high, that

I shall ever have enough to maintain a poor gentleman in the rank befitting the high office he has held in your

"Yet you seem discontented when I propose throwing up a dangerous game, which may end in the ruin of

"I, my lord?" said Varney; "surely I have no cause to regret your lordship's retreat! It will not be Richard

Varney who will incur the displeasure of majesty, and the ridicule of the court, when the stateliest fabric that

ever was founded upon a prince's favour melts away like a morning frostwork. I would only have you

yourself to be assured, my lord, ere you take a step which cannot be retracted, that you consult your fame and

"Speak on, then, Varney," said the Earl; "I tell thee I have determined nothing, and will weigh all

"Well, then, my lord," replied Varney, "we will suppose the step taken, the frown frowned, the laugh laughed,

and the moan moaned. You have retired, we will say, to some one of your most distant castles, so far from

court that you hear neither the sorrow of your friends nor the glee of your enemies, We will suppose, too, that

your successful rival will be satisfied (a thing greatly to be doubted) with abridging and cutting away the

branches of the great tree which so long kept the sun from him, and that he does not insist upon tearing you

up by the roots. Well; the late prime favourite of England, who wielded her general's staff and controlled her

parliaments, is now a rural baron, hunting, hawking, drinking fat ale with country esquires, and mustering his

"Nay, my lord, you must give me leave to conclude my picture. Sussex governs Englandthe Queen's

health failsthe succession is to be settleda road is opened to ambition more splendid than ambition ever

dreamed of. You hear all this as you sit by the hob, under the shade of your hallchimney. You then begin to

think what hopes you have fallen from, and what insignificance you have embraced; and all that you might

"I say, Varney," said the Earl, "no more of this. I said not that the step, which my own ease and comfort

would urge me to, was to be taken hastily, or without due consideration to the public safety. Bear witness to

me, Varney; I subdue my wishes of retirement, not because I am moved by the call of private ambition, but

that I may preserve the position in which I may best serve my country at the hour of need.Order our horses

presently; I will wear, as formerly, one of the livery cloaks, and ride before the portmantle. Thou shalt be

master for the day, Varneyneglect nothing that can blind suspicion. We will to horse ere men are stirring. I

will but take leave of my lady, and be ready. I impose a restraint on my own poor heart, and wound one yet

Having said this in a melancholy but firm accent, he left the dressing apartment.

"I am glad thou art gone," thought Varney, "or, practised as I am in the follies of mankind, I had laughed in

the very face of thee! Thou mayest tire as thou wilt of thy new bauble, thy pretty piece of painted Eve's flesh

there, I will not be thy hindrance. But of thine old bauble, ambition, thou shalt not tire; for as you climb the

hill, my lord, you must drag Richard Varney up with you, and if he can urge you to the ascent he means to

profit by, believe me he will spare neither whip nor spur, and for you, my pretty lady, that would be Countess

outright, you were best not thwart my courses, lest you are called to an old reckoning on a new score. 'Thou

shalt be master,' did he say? By my faith, he may find that he spoke truer than he is aware of; and thus he

who, in the estimation of so many wisejudging men, can match Burleigh and Walsingham in policy, and

Sussex in war, becomes pupil to his own menialand all for a hazel eye and a little cunning red and white,

and so falls ambition. And yet if the charms of mortal woman could excuse a man's politic pate for becoming

bewildered, my lord had the excuse at his right hand on this blessed evening that has last passed over us.

Welllet things roll as they may, he shall make me great, or I will make myself happy; and for that softer

piece of creation, if she speak not out her interview with Tressilian, as well I think she dare not, she also must

traffic with me for concealment and mutual support, in spite of all this scorn. I must to the stables. Well, my

lord, I order your retinue now; the time may soon come that my master of the horse shall order mine own.

What was Thomas Cromwell but a smith's son? and he died my lordon a scaffold, doubtless, but that, too,

was in character. And what was Ralph Sadler but the clerk of Cromwell? and he has gazed eighteen fair

In the meanwhile the Earl had reentered the bedchamber, bent on taking a hasty farewell of the lovely

Countess, and scarce daring to trust himself in private with her, to hear requests again urged which he found

it difficult to parry, yet which his recent conversation with his master of horse had determined him not to

He found her in a white cymar of silk lined with furs, her little feet unstockinged and hastily thrust into

slippers; her unbraided hair escaping from under her midnight coif, with little array but her own loveliness,

rather augmented than diminished by the grief which she felt at the approaching moment of separation.

"Now, God be with thee, my dearest and loveliest!" said the Earl, scarce tearing himself from her embrace,

yet again returning to fold her again and again in his arms, and again bidding farewell, and again returning to

kiss and bid adieu once more. "The sun is on the verge of the blue horizonI dare not stay. Ere this I should

Such were the words with which at length he strove to cut short their parting interview. "You will not grant

my request, then?" said the Countess. "Ah, false knight! did ever lady, with bare foot in slipper, seek boon of

"Anything, Amy, anything thou canst ask I will grant," answered the Earl"always excepting," he said, "that

"Nay," said the Countess, "I urge not my wish to be acknowledged in the character which would make me the

envy of Englandas the wife, that is, of my brave and noble lord, the first as the most fondly beloved of

English nobles. Let me but share the secret with my dear father! Let me but end his misery on my unworthy

"They say?" asked the Earl hastily; "who says? Did not Varney convey to Sir Hugh all we dare at present tell

him concerning your happiness and welfare? and has he not told you that the good old knight was following,

with good heart and health, his favourite and wonted exercise. Who has dared put other thoughts into your

"Oh, no one, my lord, no one," said the Countess, something alarmed at the tone, in which the question was

put; "but yet, my lord, I would fain be assured by mine own eyesight that my father is well."

"Be contented, Amy; thou canst not now have communication with thy father or his house. Were it not a deep

course of policy to commit no secret unnecessarily to the custody of more than must needs be, it were

sufficient reason for secrecy that yonder Cornish man, yonder Trevanion, or Tressilian, or whatever his name

is, haunts the old knight's house, and must necessarily know whatever is communicated there."

"My lord," answered the Countess, "I do not think it so. My father has been long noted a worthy and

honourable man; and for Tressilian, if we can pardon ourselves the ill we have wrought him, I will wager the

coronet I am to share with you one day that he is incapable of returning injury for injury."

"I will not trust him, however, Amy," said her husband"by my honour, I will not trust him, I would rather

"And why, my lord?" said the Countess, though she shuddered slightly at the tone of determination in which

"Madam," replied the Earl, "my will ought to be a sufficient reason. If you desire more, consider how this

Tressilian is leagued, and with whom. He stands high in the opinion of this Radcliffe, this Sussex, against

whom I am barely able to maintain my ground in the opinion of our suspicious mistress; and if he had me at

such advantage, Amy, as to become acquainted with the tale of our marriage, before Elizabeth were fitly

prepared, I were an outcast from her grace for evera bankrupt at once in favour and in fortune, perhaps, for

she hath in her a touch of her father Henrya victim, and it may be a bloody one, to her offended and

"But why, my lord," again urged his lady, "should you deem thus injuriously of a man of whom you know so

little? What you do know of Tressilian is through me, and it is I who assure you that in no circumstances will

be betray your secret. If I did him wrong in your behalf, my lord, I am now the more concerned you should

do him justice. You are offended at my speaking of him, what would you say had I actually myself seen

"If you had," replied the Earl, "you would do well to keep that interview as secret as that which is spoken in a

confessional. I seek no one's ruin; but he who thrusts himself on my secret privacy were better look well to

his future walk. The bear [The Leicester cognizance was the ancient device adopted by his father, when Earl

"You are ill, my love," said the Earl, supporting her in his arms. "Stretch yourself on your couch again; it is

but an early day for you to leave it. Have you aught else, involving less than my fame, my fortune, and my

"Nothing, my lord and love," answered the Countess faintly; "something there was that I would have told

"Reserve it till our next meeting, my love," said the Earl fondly, and again embracing her; "and barring only

those requests which I cannot and dare not grant, thy wish must be more than England and all its

Thus saying, he at length took farewell. At the bottom of the staircase he received from Varney an ample

livery cloak and slouched hat, in which he wrapped himself so as to disguise his person and completely

conceal his features. Horses were ready in the courtyard for himself and Varney; for one or two of his train,

intrusted with the secret so far as to know or guess that the Earl intrigued with a beautiful lady at that

mansion, though her name and duality were unknown to them, had already been dismissed overnight.

Anthony Foster himself had in hand the rein of the Earl's palfrey, a stout and able nag for the road; while his

old servingman held the bridle of the more showy and gallant steed which Richard Varney was to occupy in

As the Earl approached, however, Varney advanced to hold his master's bridle, and to prevent Foster from

paying that duty to the Earl which he probably considered as belonging to his own office. Foster scowled at

an interference which seemed intended to prevent his paying his court to his patron, but gave place to Varney;

and the Earl, mounting without further observation, and forgetting that his assumed character of a domestic

threw him into the rear of his supposed master, rode pensively out of the quadrangle, not without waving his

hand repeatedly in answer to the signals which were made by the Countess with her kerchief from the

While his stately form vanished under the dark archway which led out of the quadrangle, Varney muttered,

"There goes fine policy the servant before the master!" then as he disappeared, seized the moment to speak

a word with Foster. "Thou look'st dark on me, Anthony," he said, "as if I had deprived thee of a parting nod

of my lord; but I have moved him to leave thee a better remembrance for thy faithful service. See here! a

purse of as good gold as ever chinked under a miser's thumb and forefinger. Ay, count them, lad," said he,

as Foster received the gold with a grim smile, "and add to them the goodly remembrance he gave last night to

"She shall have none on't," said Foster; "she shall return it. I know his dotage on one face is as brief as it is

"Why, Foster, thou art madthou dost not hope for such good fortune as that my lord should cast an eye on

Janet? Who, in the fiend's name, would listen to the thrush while the nightingale is singing?"

"Thrush or nightingale, all is one to the fowler; and, Master Varney, you can sound the quailpipe most

daintily to wile wantons into his nets. I desire no such devil's preferment for Janet as you have brought many

a poor maiden to. Dost thou laugh? I will keep one limb of my family, at least, from Satan's clutches, that

"Ay, or give it to thy keeping, Tony, which will serve as well," answered Varney; "but I have that to say

which is more serious. Our lord is returning to court in an evil humour for us."

"How meanest thou?" said Foster. "Is he tired already of his pretty toyhis plaything yonder? He has

"Not a whit, Tony," answered the master of the horse; "he dotes on her, and will forsake the court for her.

Then down go hopes, possessions, and safetychurchlands are resumed, Tony, and well if the holders be

"That were ruin," said Foster, his brow darkening with apprehensions; "and all this for a woman! Had it been

for his soul's sake, it were something; and I sometimes wish I myself could fling away the world that cleaves

"Thou art like enough to be so, Tony," answered Varney; "but I think the devil will give thee little credit for

thy compelled poverty, and so thou losest on all hands. But follow my counsel, and Cumnor Place shall be

thy copyhold yet. Say nothing of this Tressilian's visitnot a word until I give thee notice."

"Dull beast!" replied Varney. "In my lord's present humour it were the ready way to confirm him in his

resolution of retirement, should he know that his lady was haunted with such a spectre in his absence. He

would be for playing the dragon himself over his golden fruit, and then, Tony, thy occupation is ended. A

He turned his horse, struck him with the spurs, and rode off under the archway in pursuit of his lord.

"Would thy occupation were ended, or thy neck broken, damned pander!" said Anthony Foster. "But I must

follow his beck, for his interest and mine are the same, and he can wind the proud Earl to his will. Janet shall

give me those pieces though; they shall be laid out in some way for God's service, and I will keep them

separate in my strong chest, till I can fall upon a fitting employment for them. No contagious vapour shall

breathe on Janetshe shall remain pure as a blessed spirit, were it but to pray God for her father. I need her

prayers, for I am at a hard pass. Strange reports are abroad concerning my way of life. The congregation look

cold on me, and when Master Holdforth spoke of hypocrites being like a whited sepulchre, which within was

full of dead men's bones, methought he looked full at me. The Romish was a comfortable faith; Lambourne

spoke true in that. A man had but to follow his thrift by such ways as offeredtell his beads, hear a mass,

confess, and be absolved. These Puritans tread a harder and a rougher path; but I will tryI will read my

Varney, meantime, spurred after his lord, whom he found waiting for him at the postern gate of the park.

"You waste time, Varney," said the Earl, "and it presses. I must be at Woodstock before I can safely lay aside

"It is but two hours' brisk riding, my lord," said Varney. "For me, I only stopped to enforce your commands

of care and secrecy on yonder Foster, and to inquire about the abode of the gentleman whom I would promote

"He promises well, my lord," replied Varney ; "but if your lordship were pleased to ride on, I could go back

to Cumnor, and bring him to your lordship at Woodstock before you are out of bed."

"Why, I am asleep there, thou knowest, at this moment," said the Earl; "and I pray you not to spare

So saying, he gave his horse the spur, and proceeded on his journey, while Varney rode back to Cumnor by

the public road, avoiding the park. The latter alighted at the door of the bonny Black Bear, and desired to

speak with Master Michael Lambourne, That respectable character was not long of appearing before his new

"Thou hast lost the scent," said Varney, "of thy comrade Tressilian. I know it by thy bangdog visage. Is this

"Cogswounds!" said Lambourne, "there was never a trail so finely hunted. I saw him to earth at mine uncle's

herestuck to him like bees'waxsaw him at supperwatched him to his chamber, and, presto! he is

"This sounds like practice upon me, sir," replied Varney; "and if it proves so, by my soul you shall repent it!"

"Sir, the best hound will be sometimes at fault," answered Lambourne; "how should it serve me that this

fellow should have thus evanished? You may ask mine host, Giles Goslingask the tapster and hostlerask

Cicely, and the whole household, how I kept eyes on Tressilian while he was on foot. On my soul, I could not

be expected to watch him like a sick nurse, when I had seen him fairly abed in his chamber. That will be

Varney did, in fact, make some inquiry among the household, which confirmed the truth of Lambourne's

statement. Tressilian, it was unanimously agreed, had departed suddenly and unexpectedly, betwixt night and

"But I will wrong no one," said mine host; "he left on the table in his lodging the full value of his reckoning,

with some allowance to the servants of the house, which was the less necessary that he saddled his own

Thus satisfied of the rectitude of Lambourne's conduct, Varney began to talk to him upon his future

prospects, and the mode in which he meant to bestow himself, intimating that he understood from Foster he

"No," replied Lambourne; "but ever since I was ten years old, I have dreamt once a week that I was there, and

"It may be your own fault if your dream comes not true," said Varney. "Are you needy?"

"That is a sufficient answer, and an honest one," said Varney. "Know you aught of the requisites expected

"I have imagined them to myself, sir," answered Lambourne; "as, for example, a quick eye, a close mouth, a

"I cannot remember, sir, that its edge was ever overkeen," replied Lambourne. "When I was a youth, I had

some few whimsies; but I rubbed them partly out of my recollection on the rough grindstone of the wars, and

"In both East and West," answered the candidate for court service, "by both sea and land. I have served both

the Portugal and the Spaniard, both the Dutchman and the Frenchman, and have made war on our own

account with a crew of jolly fellows, who held there was no peace beyond the Line." [Sir Francis Drake,

Morgan, and many a bold buccaneer of those days, were, in fact, little better than pirates.]

"Thou mayest do me, and my lord, and thyself, good service," said Varney, after a pause. "But observe, I

"Did you not know the world," answered Lambourne, "it were my duty to say ay, without further

circumstance, and to swear to it with life and honour, and so forth. But as it seems to me that your worship is

one who desires rather honest truth than politic falsehood, I reply to you, that I can be faithful to the gallows'

foot, ay, to the loop that dangles from it, if I am well used and well recompensednot otherwise."

"To thy other virtues thou canst add, no doubt," said Varney, in a jeering tone, "the knack of seeming serious

"It would cost me nothing," said Lambourne, "to say yes; but, to speak on the square, I must needs say no. If

you want a hypocrite, you may take Anthony Foster, who, from his childhood, had some sort of phantom

haunting him, which he called religion, though it was that sort of godliness which always ended in being

"Well," replied Varney, "if thou hast no hypocrisy, hast thou not a nag here in the stable?"

"Ay, sir," said Lambourne, "that shall take hedge and ditch with my Lord Duke's best hunters. Then I made a

little mistake on Shooter's Hill, and stopped an ancient grazier whose pouches were better lined than his

brainpan, the bonny bay nag carried me sheer off in spite of the whole hue and cry."

"Saddle him then instantly, and attend me," said Varney. "Leave thy clothes and baggage under charge of

mine host; and I will conduct thee to a service, in which, if thou do not better thyself, the fault shall not be

"Brave and hearty!" said Lambourne, "and I am mounted in an instant.Knave, hostler, saddle my nag

without the loss of one second, as thou dost value the safety of thy noddle.Pretty Cicely, take half this

"Gogsnouns!" replied the father, "Cicely wants no such token from thee. Go away, Mike, and gather grace if

"Let me look at this Cicely of thine, mine host," said Varney; "I have heard much talk of her beauty."

"It is a sunburnt beauty," said mine host, "well qualified to stand out rain and wind, but little calculated to

please such critical gallants as yourself. She keeps her chamber, and cannot encounter the glance of such

"Well, peace be with her, my good host," answered Varney; "our horses are impatientwe bid you good

"You are rightfully right," replied mine host"you are, I say, fully right, my kinsman. Thou hast got a gay

horse; see thou light not unaware upon a halteror, if thou wilt needs be made immortal by means of a rope,

which thy purpose of following this gentleman renders not unlikely, I charge thee to find a gallows as far

The master of the horse and his new retainer mounted accordingly, leaving the landlord to conclude his

illomened farewell, to himself and at leisure; and set off together at a rapid pace, which prevented

conversation until the ascent of a steep sandy hill permitted them to resume it.

"You are contented, then," said Varney to his companion, "to take court service?"

"If I am to have a quick eye for my patron's interest, he must have a dull one towards my faults," said

"Ay," said Varney, "so they lie not so grossly open that he must needs break his shins over them."

"Agreed," said Lambourne. "Next, if I run down game, I must have the picking of the bones."

"That is but reason," replied Varney, "so that your betters are served before you."

"Good," said Lambourne; "and it only remains to be said, that if the law and I quarrel, my patron must bear

"Reason again," said Varney, "if the quarrel hath happened in your master's service."

"For the wage and so forth, I say nothing," proceeded Lambourne; "it is the secret guerdon that I must live

"Never fear," said Varney; "thou shalt have clothes and spending money to ruffle it with the best of thy

degree, for thou goest to a household where you have gold, as they say, by the eye."

"That jumps all with my humour," replied Michael Lambourne; "and it only remains that you tell me my

"But I mean," said Lambourne, "the name of the noble lord to whose service you are to prefer me."

"How, knave, art thou too good to call me master?" said Varney hastily; "I would have thee bold to others,

"I crave your worship's pardon," said Lambourne, "but you seemed familiar with Anthony Foster; now I am

"Thou art a shrewd knave, I see," replied Varney. "Mark meI do indeed propose to introduce thee into a

nobleman's household; but it is upon my person thou wilt chiefly wait, and upon my countenance that thou

wilt depend. I am his master of horse. Thou wilt soon know his nameit is one that shakes the council and

"By this light, a brave spell to conjure with," said Lambourne, "if a man would discover hidden treasures!"

"Used with discretion, it may prove so," replied Varney; "but markif thou conjure with it at thine own

The travellers then resumed the rapid rate of travelling which their discourse had interrupted, and soon

arrived at the Royal Park of Woodstock. This ancient possession of the crown of England was then very

different from what it had been when it was the residence of the fair Rosamond, and the scene of Henry the

Second's secret and illicit amours; and yet more unlike to the scene which it exhibits in the present day, when

Blenheim House commemorates the victory of Marlborough, and no less the genius of Vanbrugh, though

decried in his own time by persons of taste far inferior to his own. It was, in Elizabeth's time, an ancient

mansion in bad repair, which had long ceased to be honoured with the royal residence, to the great

impoverishment of the adjacent village. The inhabitants, however, had made several petitions to the Queen to

have the favour of the sovereign's countenance occasionally bestowed upon them; and upon this very

business, ostensibly at least, was the noble lord, whom we have already introduced to our readers, a visitor at

Varney and Lambourne galloped without ceremony into the courtyard of the ancient and dilapidated mansion,

which presented on that morning a scene of bustle which it had not exhibited for two reigns. Officers of the

Earl's household, liverymen and retainers, went and came with all the insolent fracas which attaches to their

profession. The neigh of horses and the baying of hounds were heard; for my lord, in his occupation of

inspecting and surveying the manor and demesne, was of course provided with the means of following his

pleasure in the chase or park, said to have been the earliest that was enclosed in England, and which was well

stocked with deer that had long roamed there unmolested. Several of the inhabitants of the village, in anxious

hope of a favourable result from this unwonted visit, loitered about the courtyard, and awaited the great man's

coming forth. Their attention was excited by the hasty arrival of Varney, and a murmur ran amongst them,

"The Earl's master of the horse!" while they hurried to bespeak favour by hastily unbonneting, and proffering

"Stand somewhat aloof, my masters!" said Varney haughtily, "and let the domestics do their office."

The mortified citizens and peasants fell back at the signal; while Lambourne, who had his eye upon his

superior's deportment, repelled the services of those who offered to assist him, with yet more

discourtesy"Stand back, Jack peasant, with a murrain to you, and let these knave footmen do their duty!"

While they gave their nags to the attendants of the household, and walked into the mansion with an air of

superiority which long practice and consciousness of birth rendered natural to Varney, and which Lambourne

endeavoured to imitate as well as he could, the poor inhabitants of Woodstock whispered to each other,

"Well aday! God save us from all such misproud princoxes! An the master be like the men, why, the fiend

"Silence, good neighbours!" said the bailiff, "keep tongue betwixt teeth; we shall know more byandby. But

never will a lord come to Woodstock so welcome as bluff old King Harry! He would horsewhip a fellow one

day with his own royal hand, and then fling him an handful of silver groats, with his own broad face on them,

"Ay, rest be with him!" echoed the auditors; "it will be long ere this Lady Elizabeth horsewhip any of us."

"There is no saying," answered the bailiff. "Meanwhile, patience, good neighbours, and let us comfort

Meanwhile, Varney, closely followed by his new dependant, made his way to the hall, where men of more

note and consequence than those left in the courtyard awaited the appearance of the Earl, who as yet kept his

chamber. All paid court to Varney, with more or less deference, as suited their own rank, or the urgency of

the business which brought them to his lord's levee. To the general question of, "When comes my lord forth,

Master Varney?" he gave brief answers, as, "See you not my boots? I am but just returned from Oxford, and

know nothing of it," and the like, until the same query was put in a higher tone by a personage of more

importance. "I will inquire of the chamberlain, Sir Thomas Copely," was the reply. The chamberlain,

distinguished by his silver key, answered that the Earl only awaited Master Varney's return to come down,

but that he would first speak with him in his private chamber. Varney, therefore, bowed to the company, and

There was a murmur of expectation which lasted a few minutes, and was at length hushed by the opening of

the foldingdoors at the upper end or the apartment, through which the Earl made his entrance, marshalled by

his chamberlain and the steward of his family, and followed by Richard Varney. In his noble mien and

princely features, men read nothing of that insolence which was practised by his dependants. His courtesies

were, indeed, measured by the rank of those to whom they were addressed, but even the meanest person

present had a share of his gracious notice. The inquiries which he made respecting the condition of the

manor, of the Queen's rights there, and of the advantages and disadvantages which might attend her

occasional residence at the royal seat of Woodstock, seemed to show that he had most earnestly investigated

the matter of the petition of the inhabitants, and with a desire to forward the interest of the place.

"Now the Lord love his noble countenance!" said the bailiff, who had thrust himself into the

presencechamber; "he looks somewhat pale. I warrant him he hath spent the whole night in perusing our

memorial. Master Toughyarn, who took six months to draw it up, said it would take a week to understand it;

The Earl then acquainted them that he should move their sovereign to honour Woodstock occasionally with

her residence during her royal progresses, that the town and its vicinity might derive, from her countenance

and favour, the same advantages as from those of her predecessors. Meanwhile, he rejoiced to be the

expounder of her gracious pleasure, in assuring them that, for the increase of trade and encouragement of the

worthy burgesses of Woodstock, her Majesty was minded to erect the town into a Staple for wool.

This joyful intelligence was received with the acclamations not only of the better sort who were admitted to

The freedom of the corporation was presented to the Earl upon knee by the magistrates of the place, together

with a purse of gold pieces, which the Earl handed to Varney, who, on his part, gave a share to Lambourne,

The Earl and his retinue took horse soon after to return to court, accompanied by the shouts of the inhabitants

of Woodstock, who made the old oaks ring with reechoing, "Long live Queen Elizabeth, and the noble Earl

of Leicester!" The urbanity and courtesy of the Earl even threw a gleam of popularity over his attendants, as

their haughty deportment had formerly obscured that of their master; and men shouted, "Long life to the Earl,

and to his gallant followers!" as Varney and Lambourne, each in his rank, rode proudly through the streets of

It becomes necessary to return to the detail of those circumstances which accompanied, and indeed

occasioned, the sudden disappearance of Tressilian from the sign of the Black Bear at Cumnor. It will be

recollected that this gentleman, after his rencounter with Varney, had returned to Giles Gosling's caravansary,

where he shut himself up in his own chamber, demanded pen, ink, and paper, and announced his purpose to

remain private for the day. In the evening he appeared again in the public room, where Michael Lambourne,

who had been on the watch for him, agreeably to his engagement to Varney, endeavoured to renew his

acquaintance with him, and hoped he retained no unfriendly recollection of the part he had taken in the

But Tressilian repelled his advances firmly, though with civility. "Master Lambourne," said he, "I trust I have

recompensed to your pleasure the time you have wasted on me. Under the show of wild bluntness which you

exhibit, I know you have sense enough to understand me, when I say frankly that the object of our temporary

acquaintance having been accomplished, we must be strangers to each other in future."

"VOTO!" said Lambourne, twirling his whiskers with one hand, and grasping the hilt of his weapon with the

"You would bear it with discretion, doubtless," interrupted Tressilian, "as you must do at any rate. You know

too well the distance that is betwixt us, to require me to explain myself further. Good evening."

So saying, he turned his back upon his former companion, and entered into discourse with the landlord.

Michael Lambourne felt strongly disposed to bully; but his wrath died away in a few incoherent oaths and

ejaculations, and he sank unresistingly under the ascendency which superior spirits possess over persons of

his habits and description. He remained moody and silent in a corner of the apartment, paying the most

marked attention to every motion of his late companion, against whom he began now to nourish a quarrel on

his own account, which he trusted to avenge by the execution of his new master Varney's directions. The hour

of supper arrived, and was followed by that of repose, when Tressilian, like others, retired to his sleeping

He had not been in bed long, when the train of sad reveries, which supplied the place of rest in his disturbed

mind, was suddenly interrupted by the jar of a door on its hinges, and a light was seen to glimmer in the

apartment. Tressilian, who was as brave as steel, sprang from his bed at this alarm, and had laid hand upon

his sword, when he was prevented from drawing it by a voice which said, "Be not too rash with your rapier,

At the same time, unshrouding the dark lantern, which had hitherto only emitted an indistinct glimmer, the

goodly aspect and figure of the landlord of the Black Bear was visibly presented to his astonished guest.

"What mummery is this, mine host?" said Tressilian. "Have you supped as jollily as last night, and so

mistaken your chamber? or is midnight a time for masquerading it in your guest's lodging?"

"Master Tressilian," replied mine host, "I know my place and my time as well as e'er a merry landlord in

England. But here has been my hangdog kinsman watching you as close as ever cat watched a mouse; and

here have you, on the other hand, quarrelled and fought, either with him or with some other person, and I fear

"Go to, thou art but a fool, man," said Tressilian. "Thy kinsman is beneath my resentment; and besides, why

"Oh, sir," replied the innkeeper, "there was a red spot on thy very cheekbone, which boded of a late brawl,

as sure as the conjunction of Mars and Saturn threatens misfortune; and when you returned, the buckles of

your girdle were brought forward, and your step was quick and hasty, and all things showed your hand and

"Well, good mine host, if I have been obliged to draw my sword," said Tressilian, "why should such a

circumstance fetch thee out of thy warm bed at this time of night? Thou seest the mischief is all over."

"Under favour, that is what I doubt. Anthony Foster is a dangerous man, defended by strong court patronage,

which hath borne him out in matters of very deep concernment. And, then, my kinsmanwhy, I have told

you what he is; and if these two old cronies have made up their old acquaintance, I would not, my worshipful

guest, that it should be at thy cost. I promise you, Mike Lambourne has been making very particular inquiries

at my hostler when and which way you ride. Now, I would have you think whether you may not have done or

"Thou art an honest man, mine host," said Tressilian, after a moment's consideration, "and I will deal frankly

with thee. If these men's malice is directed against meas I deny not but it mayit is because they are the

"You mean Master Richard Varney, do you not?" said the landlord; "he was at Cumnor Place yesterday, and

"Then, for God's sake, worshipful Master Tressilian," said honest Gosling, "look well to yourself. This

Varney is the protector and patron of Anthony Foster, who holds under him, and by his favour, some lease of

yonder mansion and the park. Varney got a large grant of the lands of the Abbacy of Abingdon, and Cumnor

Place amongst others, from his master, the Earl of Leicester. Men say he can do everything with him, though

I hold the Earl too good a nobleman to employ him as some men talk of. And then the Earl can do anything

(that is, anything right or fitting) with the Queen, God bless her! So you see what an enemy you have made to

"Uds precious, but it must be helped in some manner," said the host. "Richard Varneywhy, what between

his influence with my lord, and his pretending to so many old and vexatious claims in right of the abbot here,

men fear almost to mention his name, much more to set themselves against his practices. You may judge by

our discourses the last night. Men said their pleasure of Tony Foster, but not a word of Richard Varney,

though all men judge him to be at the bottom of yonder mystery about the pretty wench. But perhaps you

know more of that matter than I do; for women, though they wear not swords, are occasion for many a blade's

"I do indeed know more of that poor unfortunate lady than thou dost, my friendly host; and so bankrupt am I,

at this moment, of friends and advice, that I will willingly make a counsellor of thee, and tell thee the whole

"Good Master Tressilian," said the landlord, "I am but a poor innkeeper, little able to adjust or counsel such a

guest as yourself. But as sure as I have risen decently above the world, by giving good measure and

reasonable charges, I am an honest man; and as such, if I may not be able to assist you, I am, at least, not

capable to abuse your confidence. Say away therefore, as confidently as if you spoke to your father; and thus

far at least be certain, that my curiosityfor I will not deny that which belongs to my callingis joined to a

"I doubt it not, mine host," answered Tressilian; and while his auditor remained in anxious expectation, he

meditated for an instant how he should commence his narrative. "My tale," he at length said, "to be quite

intelligible, must begin at some distance back. You have heard of the battle of Stoke, my good host, and

perhaps of old Sir Roger Robsart, who, in that battle, valiantly took part with Henry VII., the Queen's

grandfather, and routed the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Geraldin and his wild Irish, and the Flemings whom the

"I remember both one and the other," said Giles Gosling; "it is sung of a dozen times a week on my

alebench below. Sir Roger Robsart of Devonoh, ay, 'tis him of whom minstrels sing to this hour,

'He was the flower of Stoke's red field, When Martin Swart on ground lay slain; In raging rout he never

[This verse, or something similar, occurs in a long ballad, or poem, on Flodden Field, reprinted by the late

Ay, and then there was Martin Swart I have heard my grandfather talk of, and of the jolly Almains whom he

commanded, with their slashed doublets and quaint hose, all frounced with ribands above the netherstocks.

'Martin Swart and his men, Saddle them, saddle them, Martin Swart and his men; Saddle them well.'"

[This verse of an old song actually occurs in an old play where the singer boasts, "Courteously I can both

"True, good mine hostthe day was long talked of; but if you sing so loud, you will awake more listeners

"I crave pardon, my worshipful guest," said mine host, "I was oblivious. When an old song comes across us

"Well, mine host, my grandfather, like some other Cornishmen, kept a warm affection to the House of York,

and espoused the quarrel of this Simnel, assuming the title of Earl of Warwick, as the county afterwards, in

great numbers, countenanced the cause of Perkin Warbeck, calling himself the Duke of York. My grandsire

joined Simnel's standard, and was taken fighting desperately at Stoke, where most of the leaders of that

unhappy army were slain in their harness. The good knight to whom he rendered himself, Sir Roger Robsart,

protected him from the immediate vengeance of the king, and dismissed him without ransom. But he was

unable to guard him from other penalties of his rashness, being the heavy fines by which he was

impoverished, according to Henry's mode of weakening his enemies. The good knight did what he might to

mitigate the distresses of my ancestor; and their friendship became so strict, that my father was bred up as the

sworn brother and intimate of the present Sir Hugh Robsart, the only son of Sir Roger, and the heir of his

honest, and generous, and hospitable temper, though not equal to him in martial achievements."

"I have heard of good Sir Hugh Robsart," interrupted the host, "many a time and oft; his huntsman and sworn

servant, Will Badger, hath spoken of him an hundred times in this very house. A jovial knight he is, and hath

loved hospitality and open housekeeping more than the present fashion, which lays as much gold lace on the

seams of a doublet as would feed a dozen of tall fellows with beef and ale for a twelvemonth, and let them

"If you have seen Will Badger, mine host," said Tressilian, "you have heard enough of Sir Hugh Robsart; and

therefore I will but say, that the hospitality you boast of hath proved somewhat detrimental to the estate of his

family, which is perhaps of the less consequence, as he has but one daughter to whom to bequeath it. And

here begins my share in the tale. Upon my father's death, now several years since, the good Sir Hugh would

willingly have made me his constant companion. There was a time, however, at which I felt the kind knight's

excessive love for fieldsports detained me from studies, by which I might have profited more; but I ceased

to regret the leisure which gratitude and hereditary friendship compelled me to bestow on these rural

avocations. The exquisite beauty of Mistress Amy Robsart, as she grew up from childhood to woman, could

not escape one whom circumstances obliged to be so constantly in her companyI loved her, in short, mine

"And crossed your true loves, no doubt?" said mine host. "It is the way in all such cases; and I judge it must

"The case was different, mine host. My suit was highly approved by the generous Sir Hugh Robsart; it was

"She was the more dangerous enemy of the two," said the innkeeper. "I fear me your suit proved a cold one."

"She yielded me her esteem," said Tressilian, "and seemed not unwilling that I should hope it might ripen into

a warmer passion. There was a contract of future marriage executed betwixt us, upon her father's intercession;

but to comply with her anxious request, the execution was deferred for a twelvemonth. During this period,

Richard Varney appeared in the country, and, availing himself of some distant family connection with Sir

Hugh Robsart, spent much of his time in his company, until, at length, he almost lived in the family."

"That could bode no good to the place he honoured with his residence," said Gosling.

"No, by the rood!" replied Tressilian. "Misunderstanding and misery followed his presence, yet so strangely

that I am at this moment at a loss to trace the gradations of their encroachment upon a family which had, till

then, been so happy. For a time Amy Robsart received the attentions of this man Varney with the indifference

attached to common courtesies; then followed a period in which she seemed to regard him with dislike, and

even with disgust; and then an extraordinary species of connection appeared to grow up betwixt them. Varney

dropped those airs of pretension and gallantry which had marked his former approaches; and Amy, on the

other hand, seemed to renounce the illdisguised disgust with which she had regarded them. They seemed to

have more of privacy and confidence together than I fully liked, and I suspected that they met in private,

where there was less restraint than in our presence. Many circumstances, which I noticed but little at the

timefor I deemed her heart as open as her angelic countenancehave since arisen on my memory, to

convince me of their private understanding. But I need not detail themthe fact speaks for itself. She

vanished from her father's house; Varney disappeared at the same time; and this very day I have seen her in

the character of his paramour, living in the house of his sordid dependant Foster, and visited by him, muffled,

"And this, then, is the cause of your quarrel? Methinks, you should have been sure that the fair lady either

"Mine host," answered Tressilian, "my fathersuch I must ever consider Sir Hugh Robsartsits at home

struggling with his grief, or, if so far recovered, vainly attempting to drown, in the practice of his

fieldsports, the recollection that he had once a daughtera recollection which ever and anon breaks from

him under circumstances the most pathetic. I could not brook the idea that he should live in misery, and Amy

in guilt; and I endeavoured toseek her out, with the hope of inducing her to return to her family. I have

found her, and when I have either succeeded in my attempt, or have found it altogether unavailing, it is my

"Be not so rash, good sir," replied Giles Gosling, "and cast not yourself away because a womanto be

briefIS a woman, and changes her lovers like her suit of ribands, with no better reason than mere fantasy.

And ere we probe this matter further, let me ask you what circumstances of suspicion directed you so truly to

"The last is the better chosen word, mine host," answered Tressilian; "and touching your question, the

knowledge that Varney held large grants of the demesnes formerly belonging to the monks of Abingdon

directed me to this neighbourhood; and your nephew's visit to his old comrade Foster gave me the means of

"And what is now your purpose, worthy sir?excuse my freedom in asking the question so broadly."

"I purpose, mine host," said Tressilian, "to renew my visit to the place of her residence tomorrow, and to

seek a more detailed communication with her than I have had today. She must indeed be widely changed

"Under your favour, Master Tressilian," said the landlord, "you can follow no such course. The lady, if I

"Then, marry, by what right or interest do you process a compulsory interference with her inclination,

disgraceful as it may be to herself and to her parents? Unless my judgment gulls me, those under whose

protection she has thrown herself would have small hesitation to reject your interference, even if it were that

of a father or brother; but as a discarded lover, you expose yourself to be repelled with the strong hand, as

well as with scorn. You can apply to no magistrate for aid or countenance; and you are hunting, therefore, a

shadow in water, and will only (excuse my plainness) come by ducking and danger in attempting to catch it."

"I will appeal to the Earl of Leicester," said Tressilian, "against the infamy of his favourite. He courts the

severe and strict sect of Puritans. He dare not, for the sake of his own character, refuse my appeal, even

although he were destitute of the principles of honour and nobleness with which fame invests him. Or I will

"Should Leicester," said the landlord, "be disposed to protect his dependant (as indeed he is said to be very

confidential with Varney), the appeal to the Queen may bring them both to reason. Her Majesty is strict in

such matters, and (if it be not treason to speak it) will rather, it is said, pardon a dozen courtiers for falling in

love with herself, than one for giving preference to another woman. Coragio then, my brave guest! for if thou

layest a petition from Sir Hugh at the foot of the throne, bucklered by the story of thine own wrongs, the

favourite Earl dared as soon leap into the Thames at the fullest and deepest, as offer to protect Varney in a

cause of this nature. But to do this with any chance of success, you must go formally to work; and, without

staying here to tilt with the master of horse to a privy councillor, and expose yourself to the dagger of his

cameradoes, you should hie you to Devonshire, get a petition drawn up for Sir Hugh Robsart, and make as

"You have spoken well, mine host," said Tressilian, "and I will profit by your advice, and leave you

"Nay, leave me tonight, sir, before tomorrow comes," said he landlord. "I never prayed for a guest's arrival

more eagerly than I do to have you safely gone, My kinsman's destiny is most like to be hanged for

something, but I would not that the cause were the murder of an honoured guest of mine. 'Better ride safe in

the dark,' says the proverb, 'than in daylight with a cut throat at your elbow.' Come, sir, I move you for your

"It is somewhat under a noble," said Tressilian, giving one to the host; "give the balance to pretty Cicely,

"They shall taste of your bounty, sir," said Gosling, "and you should taste of my daughter's lips in grateful

acknowledgment, but at this hour she cannot grace the porch to greet your departure."

"Do not trust your daughter too far with your guests, my good landlord," said Tressilian.

"Oh, sir, we will keep measure; but I wonder not that you are jealous of them all.May I crave to know with

"I own," said Tressilian, "it was angry as well as confused, and affords me little hope that she is yet awakened

"In that case, sir, I see not why you should play the champion of a wench that will none of you, and incur the

resentment of a favourite's favourite, as dangerous a monster as ever a knight adventurer encountered in the

"You do me wrong in the supposition, mine hostgross wrong," said Tressilian; "I do not desire that Amy

should ever turn thought upon me more. Let me but see her restored to her father, and all I have to do in

"A wiser resolution were to drink a cup of sack, and forget her," said the landlord. "But fiveandtwenty and

fifty look on those matters with different eyes, especially when one cast of peepers is set in the skull of a

young gallant, and the other in that of an old publican. I pity you, Master Tressilian, but I see not how I can

"Only thus far, mine host," replied Tressilian"keep a watch on the motions of those at the Place, which

thou canst easily learn without suspicion, as all men's news fly to the alebench; and be pleased to

communicate the tidings in writing to such person, and to no other, who shall bring you this ring as a special

"Nay, sir," said the landlord, "I desire no recompensebut it seems an unadvised course in me, being in a

public line, to connect myself in a matter of this dark and perilous nature. I have no interest in it."

"You, and every father in the land, who would have his daughter released from the snares of shame, and sin,

and misery, have an interest deeper than aught concerning earth only could create."

"Well, sir," said the host, "these are brave words; and I do pity from my soul the frankhearted old

gentleman, who has minished his estate in good housekeeping for the honour of his country, and now has his

daughter, who should be the stay of his age, and so forth, whisked up by such a kite as this Varney. And

though your part in the matter is somewhat of the wildest, yet I will e'en be a madcap for company, and help

you in your honest attempt to get back the good man's child, so far as being your faithful intelligencer can

serve. And as I shall be true to you, I pray you to be trusty to me, and keep my secret; for it were bad for the

custom of the Black Bear should it be said the bearwarder interfered in such matters. Varney has interest

enough with the justices to dismount my noble emblem from the post on which he swings so gallantly, to call

"Do not doubt my secrecy, mine host," said Tressilian; "I will retain, besides, the deepest sense of thy service,

and of the risk thou dost runremember the ring is my sure token. And now, farewell! for it was thy wise

"Follow me, then, Sir Guest," said the landlord, "and tread as gently as if eggs were under your foot, instead

By the aid of his dark lantern he conducted Tressilian, as soon as he had made himself ready for his journey,

through a long intricacy of passages, which opened to an outer court, and from thence to a remote stable,

where he had already placed his guest's horse. He then aided him to fasten on the saddle the small portmantle

which contained his necessaries, opened a postern door, and with a hearty shake of the hand, and a reiteration

of his promise to attend to what went on at Cumnor Place, he dismissed his guest to his solitary journey.

As it was deemed proper by the traveller himself, as well as by Giles Gosling, that Tressilian should avoid

being seen in the neighbourhood of Cumnor by those whom accident might make early risers, the landlord

had given him a route, consisting of various byways and lanes, which he was to follow in succession, and

which, all the turns and shortcuts duly observed, was to conduct him to the public road to Marlborough.

But, like counsel of every other kind, this species of direction is much more easily given than followed; and

what betwixt the intricacy of the way, the darkness of the night, Tressilian's ignorance of the country, and the

sad and perplexing thoughts with which he had to contend, his journey proceeded so slowly, that morning

found him only in the vale of Whitehorse, memorable for the defeat of the Danes in former days, with his

horse deprived of a forefoot shoe, an accident which threatened to put a stop to his journey by laming the

animal. The residence of a smith was his first object of inquiry, in which he received little satisfaction from

the dullness or sullenness of one or two peasants, early bound for their labour, who gave brief and indifferent

answers to his questions on the subject. Anxious, at length, that the partner of his journey should suffer as

little as possible from the unfortunate accident, Tressilian dismounted, and led his horse in the direction of a

little hamlet, where he hoped either to find or hear tidings of such an artificer as he now wanted. Through a

deep and muddy lane, he at length waded on to the place, which proved only an assemblage of five or six

miserable huts, about the doors of which one or two persons, whose appearance seemed as rude as that of

their dwellings, were beginning the toils of the day. One cottage, however, seemed of rather superior aspect,

and the old dame, who was sweeping her threshold, appeared something less rude than her neighbours. To

her Tressilian addressed the oftrepeated question, whether there was a smith in this neighbourhood, or any

place where he could refresh his horse? The dame looked him in the face with a peculiar expression as she

"To shoe my horse, good dame," answered Tressiliany: you may see that he has thrown a forefoot shoe."

"Master Holiday!" exclaimed the dame, without returning any direct answer"Master Herasmus Holiday,

"FAVETE LINGUIS," answered a voice from within;" I cannot now come forth, Gammer Sludge, being in

"Nay, but, good now, Master Holiday, come ye out, do ye. Here's a mon would to Wayland Smith, and I care

"QUID MIHI CUM CABALLO?" replied the man of learning from within; "I think there is but one wise man

And forth came the honest pedagogue, for such his dress bespoke him. A long, lean, shambling, stooping

figure was surmounted by a head thatched with lank, black hair somewhat inclining to grey. His features had

the cast of habitual authority, which I suppose Dionysius carried with him from the throne to the

schoolmaster's pulpit, and bequeathed as a legacy to all of the same profession, A black buckram cassock was

gathered at his middle with a belt, at which hung, instead of knife or weapon, a goodly leathern pen andink

case. His ferula was stuck on the other side, like Harlequin's wooden sword; and he carried in his hand the

On seeing a person of Tressilian's appearance, which he was better able to estimate than the country folks had

been, the schoolmaster unbonneted, and accosted him with, "SALVE, DOMINE. INTELLIGISNE

Tressilian mustered his learning to reply, "LINGUAE LATINAE HAUD PENITUS IGNARUS, VENIA

The Latin reply had upon the schoolmaster the effect which the mason's sign is said to produce on the

brethren of the trowel. He was at once interested in the learned traveller, listened with gravity to his story of a

tired horse and a lost shoe, and then replied with solemnity, "It may appear a simple thing, most worshipful,

to reply to you that there dwells, within a brief mile of these TUGURIA, the best FABER FERARIUS, the

most accomplished blacksmith, that ever nailed iron upon horse. Now, were I to say so, I warrant me you

"I should at least," said Tressilian, "have a direct answer to a plain question, which seems difficult to be

"It is a mere sending of a sinful soul to the evil un," said the old woman, "the sending a living creature to

"Peace, Gammer Sludge!" said the pedagogue; "PAUCA VERBA, Gammer Sludge; look to the furmity,

Gammer Sludge; CURETUR JENTACULUM, Gammer Sludge; this gentleman is none of thy gossips." Then

turning to Tressilian, he resumed his lofty tone, "And so, most worshipful, you would really think yourself

"Sir," replied Tressilian, "I should in that case have all that I want at presenta horse fit to carry me

forward;out of hearing of your learning." The last words he muttered to himself.

"O CAECA MENS MORTALIUM!" said the learned man "well was it sung by Junius Juvenalis,

"Learned Magister," said Tressilian, "your erudition so greatly exceeds my poor intellectual capacity that you

must excuse my seeking elsewhere for information which I can better understand."

"I pray, sir, let Quintilian be for the present, and answer, in a word and in English, if your learning can

condescend so far, whether there is any place here where I can have opportunity to refresh my horse until I

"Thus much courtesy, sir," said the schoolmaster, "I can readily render you, that although there is in this poor

hamlet (NOSTRA PAUPERA REGNA) no regular HOSPITIUM, as my namesake Erasmus calleth it, yet,

forasmuch as you are somewhat embued, or at least tinged, as it were, with good letters, I will use my interest

with the good woman of the house to accommodate you with a platter of furmityan wholesome food for

which I have found no Latin phraseyour horse shall have a share of the cowhouse, with a bottle of sweet

hay, in which the good woman Sludge so much abounds, that it may be said of her cow, FAENUM HABET

IN CORNU; and if it please you to bestow on me the pleasure of your company, the banquet shall cost you

NE SEMISSEM QUIDEM, so much is Gammer Sludge bound to me for the pains I have bestowed on the top

and bottom of her hopeful heir Dickie, whom I have painfully made to travel through the accidence."

"Now, God yield ye for it, Master Herasmus," said the good Gammer, "and grant that little Dickie may be the

better for his accident! And for the rest, if the gentleman list to stay, breakfast shall be on the board in the

wringing of a dishclout; and for horsemeat, and man's meat, I bear no such base mind as to ask a penny."

Considering the state of his horse, Tressilian, upon the whole, saw no better course than to accept the

invitation thus learnedly made and hospitably confirmed, and take chance that when the good pedagogue had

exhausted every topic of conversation, he might possibly condescend to tell him where he could find the

smith they spoke of. He entered the hut accordingly, and sat down with the learned Magister Erasmus

Holiday, partook of his furmity, and listened to his learned account of himself for a good half hour, ere he

could get him to talk upon any other topic, The reader will readily excuse our accompanying this man of

learning into all the details with which he favoured Tressilian, of which the following sketch may suffice.

He was born at Hogsnorton, where, according to popular saying, the pigs play upon the organ; a proverb

which he interpreted allegorically, as having reference to the herd of Epicurus, of which litter Horace

confessed himself a porker. His name of Erasmus he derived partly from his father having been the son of a

renowned washerwoman, who had held that great scholar in clean linen all the while he was at Oxford; a task

of some difficulty, as he was only possessed of two shirts, "the one," as she expressed herself, "to wash the

other," The vestiges of one of these CAMICIAE, as Master Holiday boasted, were still in his possession,

having fortunately been detained by his grandmother to cover the balance of her bill. But he thought there

was a still higher and overruling cause for his having had the name of Erasmus conferred on himnamely,

the secret presentiment of his mother's mind that, in the babe to be christened, was a hidden genius, which

should one day lead him to rival the fame of the great scholar of Amsterdam. The schoolmaster's surname led

him as far into dissertation as his Christian appellative. He was inclined to think that he bore the name of

Holiday QUASI LUCUS A NON LUCENDO, because he gave such few holidays to his school. "Hence,"

said he, "the schoolmaster is termed, classically, LUDI MAGISTER, because he deprives boys of their play."

And yet, on the other hand, he thought it might bear a very different interpretation, and refer to his own

exquisite art in arranging pageants, morrisdances, Mayday festivities, and suchlike holiday delights, for

which he assured Tressilian he had positively the purest and the most inventive brain in England; insomuch,

that his cunning in framing such pleasures had made him known to many honourable persons, both in country

and court, and especially to the noble Earl of Leicester. "And although he may now seem to forget me," he

said, "in the multitude of state affairs, yet I am well assured that, had he some pretty pastime to array for

entertainment of the Queen's Grace, horse and man would be seeking the humble cottage of Erasmus

Holiday. PARVO CONTENTUS, in the meanwhile, I hear my pupils parse and construe, worshipful sir, and

drive away my time with the aid of the Muses. And I have at all times, when in correspondence with foreign

scholars, subscribed myself Erasmus ab Die Fausto, and have enjoyed the distinction due to the learned under

that title: witness the erudite Diedrichus Buckerschockius, who dedicated to me under that title his treatise on

"Long may it be so, sir!" said the traveller; "but permit me to ask, in your own learned phrase, QUID HOC

"FESTINA LENTE," said the man of learning, "we will presently came to that point. You must know that

some two or three years past there came to these parts one who called himself Doctor Doboobie, although it

may be he never wrote even MAGISTER ARTIUM, save in right of his hungry belly. Or it may be, that if he

had any degrees, they were of the devil's giving; for he was what the vulgar call a white witch, a cunning

man, and such like.Now, good sir, I perceive you are impatient; but if a man tell not his tale his own way,

"Well, then, learned sir, take your way," answered Tressilian; "only let us travel at a sharper pace, for my

"Well, sir," resumed Erasmus Holiday, with the most provoking perseverance, "I will not say that this same

Demetrius for so he wrote himself when in foreign parts, was an actual conjurer, but certain it is that he

professed to be a brother of the mystical Order of the Rosy Cross, a disciple of Geber (EX NOMINE CUJUS

VENIT VERBUM VERNACULUM, GIBBERISH). He cured wounds by salving the weapon instead of the

sore; told fortunes by palmistry; discovered stolen goods by the sieve and shears; gathered the right maddow

and the male fern seed, through use of which men walk invisible; pretended some advances towards the

panacea, or universal elixir; and affected to convert good lead into sorry silver."

"In other words," said Tressilian, "he was a quacksalver and common cheat; but what has all this to do with

"With your worshipful patience," replied the diffusive man of letters, "you shall understand that

presentlyPATENTIA then, right worshipful, which word, according to our Marcus Tullius, is

'DIFFICILIUM RERUM DIURNA PERPESSIO.' This same Demetrius Doboobie, after dealing with the

country, as I have told you, began to acquire fame INTER MAGNATES, among the prime men of the land,

and there is likelihood he might have aspired to great matters, had not, according to vulgar fame (for I aver

not the thing as according with my certain knowledge), the devil claimed his right, one dark night, and flown

off with Demetrius, who was never seen or heard of afterwards. Now here comes the MEDULLA, the very

marrow, of my tale. This Doctor Doboobie had a servant, a poor snake, whom he employed in trimming his

furnace, regulating it by just measurecompounding his drugstracing his circlescajoling his patients,

ET SIC ET CAETERIS. Well, right worshipful, the Doctor being removed thus strangely, and in a way

which struck the whole country with terror, this poor Zany thinks to himself, in the words of Maro, 'UNO

AVULSO, NON DEFICIT ALTER;' and, even as a tradesman's apprentice sets himself up in his master's

shop when he is dead or hath retired from business, so doth this Wayland assume the dangerous trade of his

defunct master. But although, most worshipful sir, the world is ever prone to listen to the pretensions of such

unworthy men, who are, indeed, mere SALTIM BANQUI and CHARLATANI, though usurping the style

and skill of doctors of medicine, yet the pretensions of this poor Zany, this Wayland, were too gross to pass

on them, nor was there a mere rustic, a villager, who was not ready to accost him in the sense of Persius,

Wilt thou mix hellebore, who dost not know How many grains should to the mixture go? The art of medicine

Moreover, the evil reputation of the master, and his strange and doubtful end, or at least sudden

disappearance, prevented any, excepting the most desperate of men, to seek any advice or opinion from the

servant; wherefore, the poor vermin was likely at first to swarf for very hunger. But the devil that serves him,

since the death of Demetrius or Doboobie, put him on a fresh device. This knave, whether from the

inspiration of the devil, or from early education, shoes horses better than e'er a man betwixt us and Iceland;

and so he gives up his practice on the bipeds, the twolegged and unfledged species called mankind, and

"Indeed! and where does he lodge all this time?" said Tressilian. "And does he shoe horses well? Show me

The interruption pleased not the Magister, who exclaimed, "O CAECA MENS MORTALIUM!though, by

the way, I used that quotation before. But I would the classics could afford me any sentiment of power to stop

those who are so willing to rush upon their own destruction. Hear but, I pray you, the conditions of this man,"

said he, in continuation, "ere you are so willing to place yourself within his danger"

"A' takes no money for a's work," said the dame, who stood by, enraptured as it were with the line words and

learned apophthegms which glided so fluently from her erudite inmate, Master Holiday. But this interruption

"Peace," said he, "Gammer Sludge; know your place, if it be your will. SUFFLAMINA, Gammer Sludge, and

allow me to expound this matter to our worshipful guest.Sir," said he, again addressing Tressilian, "this old

woman speaks true, though in her own rude style; for certainly this FABER FERRARIUS, or blacksmith,

"And that is a sure sign he deals with Satan," said Dame Sludge; "since no good Christian would ever refuse

"The old woman hath touched it again," said the pedagogue; "REM ACU TETIGITshe hath pricked it with

her needle's point. This Wayland takes no money, indeed; nor doth he show himself to any one."

"And can this madman, for such I hold him," said the traveller, "know aught like good skill of his trade?"

"Oh, sir, in that let us give the devil his dueMulciber himself, with all his Cyclops, could hardly amend

him. But assuredly there is little wisdom in taking counsel or receiving aid from one who is but too plainly in

"I must take my chance of that, good Master Holiday," said Tressilian, rising; "and as my horse must now

have eaten his provender, I must needs thank you for your good cheer, and pray you to show me this man's

"Ay, ay, do ye show him, Master Herasmus," said the old dame, who was, perhaps, desirous to get her house

"DO MANUS," said the Magister, "I submittaking the world to witness, that I have possessed this

honourable gentleman with the full injustice which he has done and shall do to his own soul, if he becomes

thus a trinketer with Satan. Neither will I go forth with our guest myself, but rather send my

"Under your favour, not so," answered the old woman; "you may peril your own soul, if you list, but my son

shall budge on no such errand. And I wonder at you, Dominie Doctor, to propose such a piece of service for

"Nay, my good Gammer Sludge," answered the preceptor, "Ricardus shall go but to the top of the hill, and

indicate with his digit to the stranger the dwelling of Wayland Smith. Believe not that any evil can come to

him, he having read this morning, fasting, a chapter of the Septuagint, and, moreover, having had his lesson

"Ay," said his mother, "and I have sewn a sprig of witch's elm in the neck of un's doublet, ever since that foul

"And as he goes oft (as I hugely suspect) towards this conjurer for his own pastime, he may for once go

thither, or near it, to pleasure us, and to assist this stranger.ERGO, HEUS RICARDE! ADSIS, QUAESO,

The pupil, thus affectionately invoked, at length came stumbling into the room; a queer, shambling, illmade

urchin, who, by his stunted growth, seemed about twelve or thirteen years old, though he was probably, in

reality, a year or two older, with a carroty pate in huge disorder, a freckled, sunburnt visage, with a snub

nose, a long chin, and two peery grey eyes, which had a droll obliquity of vision, approaching to a squint,

though perhaps not a decided one. It was impossible to look at the little man without some disposition to

laugh, especially when Gammer Sludge, seizing upon and kissing him, in spite of his struggling and kicking

"RICARDE," said the preceptor, "you must forthwith (which is PROFECTO) set forth so far as the top of the

"A proper errand of a morning," said the boy, in better language than Tressilian expected; "and who knows

"Ay, marry may un," said Dame Sludge; "and you might have thought twice, Master Domine, ere you sent

my dainty darling on arrow such errand. It is not for such doings I feed your belly and clothe your back, I

"PshawNUGAE, good Gammer Sludge," answered the preceptor; "I ensure you that Satan, if there be

Satan in the case, shall not touch a thread of his garment; for Dickie can say his PATER with the best, and

"Ay, and I, as I said before, have sewed a sprig of the mountain ash into his collar," said the good woman,

"which will avail more than your clerkship, I wus; but for all that, it is ill to seek the devil or his mates

"My good boy," said Tressilian, who saw, from a grotesque sneer on Dickie's face, that he was more likely to

act upon his own bottom than by the instructions of his elders, "I will give thee a silver groat, my pretty

The boy gave him a knowing sidelook, which seemed to promise acquiescence, while at the same time he

exclaimed, "I be your guide to Wayland Smith's! Why, man, did I not say that the devil might fly off with me,

just as the kite there" (looking to the window) "is flying off with one of grandam's chicks?"

"The kite! the kite!" exclaimed the old woman in return, and forgetting all other matters in her alarm,

"Now for it," said the urchin to Tressilian; "snatch your beaver, get out your horse, and have at the silver

"Tarry yourself," said Dickie, "and think what answer you are to make to granny for sending me post to the

The teacher, aware of the responsibility he was incurring, bustled up in great haste to lay hold of the urchin

and to prevent his departure; but Dickie slipped through his fingers, bolted from the cottage, and sped him to

the top of a neighbouring rising ground, while the preceptor, despairing, by welltaught experience, of

recovering his pupil by speed of foot, had recourse to the most honied epithets the Latin vocabulary affords to

persuade his return. But to MI ANIME, CORCULUM MEUM, and all such classical endearments, the truant

turned a deaf ear, and kept frisking on the top of the rising ground like a goblin by moonlight, making signs

The traveller lost no time in getting out his horse and departing to join his elvish guide, after halfforcing on

the poor, deserted teacher a recompense for the entertainment he had received, which partly allayed that

terror he had for facing the return of the old lady of the mansion. Apparently this took place soon afterwards;

for ere Tressilian and his guide had proceeded far on their journey, they heard the screams of a cracked

female voice, intermingled with the classical objurgations of Master Erasmus Holiday. But Dickie Sludge,

equally deaf to the voice of maternal tenderness and of magisterial authority, skipped on unconsciously

before Tressilian, only observing that "if they cried themselves hoarse, they might go lick the honeypot, for

"Are we far from the dwelling of this smith, my pretty lad?" said Tressilian to his young guide.

"How is it you call me?" said the boy, looking askew at him with his sharp, grey eyes.

"No; but were you with my grandam and Dominie Holiday, you might sing chorus to the old song of

"Because," answered the ugly urchin, "you are the only three ever called me pretty lad. Now my grandam

does it because she is parcel blind by age, and whole blind by kindred; and my master, the poor Dominie,

does it to curry favour, and have the fullest platter of furmity and the warmest seat by the fire. But what you

"Thou art a sharp wag at least, if not a pretty one. But what do thy playfellows call thee?"

"Hobgoblin," answered the boy readily; "but for all that, I would rather have my own ugly viznomy than any

"Me fear him!" answered the boy. "If he were the devil folk think him, I would not fear him; but though there

is something queer about him, he's no more a devil than you are, and that's what I would not tell to every

"Because you are another guess gentleman than those we see here every day," replied Dickie; "and though I

am as ugly as sin, I would not have you think me an ass, especially as I may have a boon to ask of you one

"Oh, if I were to ask it just now," said the boy, "you would deny it me; but I will wait till we meet at court."

"Ay, ay, that's just like the rest of them," replied the boy. "I warrant me, you think, what should such an

illfavoured, scrambling urchin do at court? But let Richard Sludge alone; I have not been cock of the roost

"E'en what they like," replied Dickie; "the one has her chickens to reckon, and the other has his boys to whip.

I would have given them the candle to hold long since, and shown this trumpery hamlet a fair pair of heels,

but that Dominie promises I should go with him to bear share in the next pageant he is to set forth, and they

"Oh, at some castle far in the north," answered his guide"a world's breadth from Berkshire. But our old

Dominie holds that they cannot go forward without him; and it may be he is right, for he has put in order

many a fair pageant. He is not half the fool you would take him for, when he gets to work he understands;

and so he can spout verses like a playactor, when, God wot, if you set him to steal a goose's egg, he would

"And you are to play a part in his next show?" said Tressilian, somewhat interested by the boy's boldness of

"In faith," said Richard Sludge, in answer, "he hath so promised me; and if he break his word, it will be the

worse for him, for let me take the bit between my teeth, and turn my head downhill, and I will shake him off

with a fall that may harm his bones. And I should not like much to hurt him neither," said he, "for the

tiresome old fool has painfully laboured to teach me all he could. But enough of thathere are we at

"You jest, my little friend," said Tressilian; "here is nothing but a bare moor, and that ring of stones, with a

"Ay, and that great flat stone in the midst, which lies across the top of these uprights," said the boy, "is

"What do you mean by such folly?" said the traveller, beginning to be angry with the boy, and vexed with

"Why," said Dickie, with a grin, "you must tie your horse to that upright stone that has the ring in't, and then

you must whistle three times, and lay me down your silver groat on that other flat stone, walk out of the

circle, sit down on the west side of that little thicket of bushes, and take heed you look neither to right nor to

left for ten minutes, or so long as you shall hear the hammer clink, and whenever it ceases, say your prayers

for the space you could tell a hundredor count over a hundred, which will do as welland then come into

"My money gone to a certainty!" said Tressilian; "but as for the restHark ye, my lad, I am not your

schoolmaster, but if you play off your waggery on me, I will take a part of his task off his hands, and punish

"Ay, when you catch me!" said the boy; and presently took to his heels across the heath, with a velocity

which baffled every attempt of Tressilian to overtake him, loaded as he was with his heavy boots. Nor was it

the least provoking part of the urchin's conduct, that he did not exert his utmost speed, like one who finds

himself in danger, or who is frightened, but preserved just such a rate as to encourage Tressilian to continue

the chase, and then darted away from him with the swiftness of the wind, when his pursuer supposed he had

nearly run him down, doubling at the same time, and winding, so as always to keep near the place from which

This lasted until Tressilian, from very weariness, stood still, and was about to abandon the pursuit with a

hearty curse on the illfavoured urchin, who had engaged him in an exercise so ridiculous. But the boy, who

had, as formerly, planted himself on the top of a hillock close in front, began to clap his long, thin hands,

point with his skinny fingers, and twist his wild and ugly features into such an extravagant expression of

laughter and derision, that Tressilian began half to doubt whether he had not in view an actual hobgoblin.

Provoked extremely, yet at the same time feeling an irresistible desire to laugh, so very odd were the boy's

grimaces and gesticulations, the Cornishman returned to his horse, and mounted him with the purpose of

The boy no sooner saw him mount his horse, than he holloed out to him that, rather than he should spoil his

whitefooted nag, he would come to him, on condition he would keep his fingers to himself.

"I will make no conditions with thee, thou ugly varlet!" said Tressilian; "I will have thee at my mercy in a

"Aha, Master Traveller," said the boy, "there is a marsh hard by would swallow all the horses of the Queen's

guard. I will into it, and see where you will go then. You shall hear the bittern bump, and the wilddrake

Tressilian looked out, and, from the appearance of the ground behind the hillock, believed it might be as the

boy said, and accordingly determined to strike up a peace with so lightfooted and readywitted an enemy.

"Come down," he said, "thou mischievous brat! Leave thy mopping and mowing, and, come hither.

The boy answered his invitation with the utmost confidence, and danced down from his stance with a galliard

sort of step, keeping his eye at the same time fixed on Tressilian's, who, once more dismounted, stood with

his horse's bridle in his hand, breathless, and half exhausted with his fruitless exercise, though not one drop of

moisture appeared on the freckled forehead of the urchin, which looked like a piece of dry and discoloured

"And tell me," said Tressilian, "why you use me thus, thou mischievous imp? or what your meaning is by

telling me so absurd a legend as you wished but now to put on me? Or rather show me, in good earnest, this

smith's forge, and I will give thee what will buy thee apples through the whole winter."

"Were you to give me an orchard of apples," said Dickie Sludge, "I can guide thee no better than I have done.

Lay down the silver token on the flat stonewhistle three timesthen come sit down on the western side of

the thicket of gorse. I will sit by you, and give you free leave to wring my head off, unless you hear the smith

"I may be tempted to take thee at thy word," said Tressilian, "if you make me do aught half so ridiculous for

your own mischievous sport; however, I will prove your spell. Here, then, I tie my horse to this upright stone.

"Ay, but thou must whistle louder than an unfledged ousel," said the boy, as Tressilian, having laid down his

money, and half ashamed of the folly he practised, made a careless whistle"you must whistle louder than

that, for who knows where the smith is that you call for? He may be in the King of France's stables for what I

"Man or devil," said Dickie, "I see that I must summon him for you;" and therewithal he whistled sharp and

shrill, with an acuteness of sound that almost thrilled through Tressilian's brain. "That is what I call

whistling," said he, after he had repeated the signal thrice; "and now to cover, to cover, or Whitefoot will not

Tressilian, musing what the upshot of this mummery was to be, yet satisfied there was to be some serious

result, by the confidence with which the boy had put himself in his power, suffered himself to be conducted

to that side of the little thicket of gorse and brushwood which was farthest from the circle of stones, and there

sat down; and as it occurred to him that, after all, this might be a trick for stealing his horse, he kept his hand

"Now, hush and listen," said Dickie, in a low whisper; "you will soon hear the tack of a hammer that was

never forged of earthly iron, for the stone it was made of was shot from the moon." And in effect Tressilian

did immediately hear the light stroke of a hammer, as when a farrier is at work. The singularity of such a

sound, in so very lonely a place, made him involuntarily start; but looking at the boy, and discovering, by the

arch malicious expression of his countenance, that the urchin saw and enjoyed his slight tremor, he became

convinced that the whole was a concerted stratagem, and determined to know by whom, or for what purpose,

Accordingly, he remained perfectly quiet all the time that the hammer continued to sound, being about the

space usually employed in fixing a horseshoe. But the instant the sound ceased, Tressilian, instead of

interposing the space of time which his guide had required, started up with his sword in his hand, ran round

the thicket, and confronted a man in a farrier's leathern apron, but otherwise fantastically attired in a

bearskin dressed with the fur on, and a cap of the same, which almost hid the sooty and begrimed features of

the wearer. "Come back, come back!" cried the boy to Tressilian, "or you will be torn to pieces; no man lives

that looks on him." In fact, the invisible smith (now fully visible) heaved up his hammer, and showed

But when the boy observed that neither his own entreaties nor the menaces of the farrier appeared to change

Tressilian's purpose, but that, on the contrary, he confronted the hammer with his drawn sword, he exclaimed

to the smith in turn, "Wayland, touch him not, or you will come by the worse!the gentleman is a true

"So thou hast betrayed me, Flibbertigibbet?" said the smith; "it shall be the worse for thee!"

"Be who thou wilt," said Tressilian, "thou art in no danger from me, so thou tell me the meaning of this

The smith, however, turning to Tressilian, exclaimed, in a threatening tone, "Who questions the Keeper of the

Crystal Castle of Light, the Lord of the Green Lion, the Rider of the Red Dragon? Hence!avoid thee, ere I

summon Talpack with his fiery lance, to quell, crush, and consume!" These words he uttered with violent

"Peace, thou vile cozener, with thy gipsy cant!" replied Tressilian scornfully, "and follow me to the next

"Peace, I pray thee, good Wayland!" said the boy. "Credit me, the swaggering vein will not pass here; you

"I think, worshipful sir," said the smith, sinking his hammer, and assuming a more gentle and submissive tone

of voice, "that when so poor a man does his day's job, he might be permitted to work it out after his own

fashion. Your horse is shod, and your farrier paidwhat need you cumber yourself further than to mount and

"Nay, friend, you are mistaken," replied Tressilian; "every man has a right to take the mask from the face of a

cheat and a juggler; and your mode of living raises suspicion that you are both."

"If you are so determined; sir," said the smith, "I cannot help myself save by force, which I were unwilling to

use towards you, Master Tressilian; not that I fear your weapon, but because I know you to be a worthy, kind,

and wellaccomplished gentleman, who would rather help than harm a poor man that is in a strait."

"Well said, Wayland," said the boy, who had anxiously awaited the issue of their conference. "But let us to

thy den, man, for it is ill for thy health to stand here talking in the open air."

"Thou art right, Hobgoblin," replied the smith; and going to the little thicket of gorse on the side nearest to

the circle, and opposite to that at which his customer had so lately crouched, he discovered a trapdoor

curiously covered with bushes, raised it, and, descending into the earth, vanished from their eyes.

Notwithstanding Tressilian's curiosity, he had some hesitation at following the fellow into what might be a

den of robbers, especially when he heard the smith's voice, issuing from the bowels of the earth, call out,

"Have you seen enough of Wayland Smith now?" whispered the urchin to Tressilian, with an arch sneer, as if

"Not yet," said Tressilian firmly; and shaking off his momentary irresolution, he descended into the narrow

staircase, to which the entrance led, and was followed by Dickie Sludge, who made fast the trapdoor behind

him, and thus excluded every glimmer of daylight. The descent, however, was only a few steps, and led to a

level passage of a few yards' length, at the end of which appeared the reflection of a lurid and red light.

Arrived at this point, with his drawn sword in his hand, Tressilian found that a turn to the left admitted him

and Hobgoblin, who followed closely, into a small, square vault, containing a smith's forge, glowing with

charcoal, the vapour of which filled the apartment with an oppressive smell, which would have been

altogether suffocating, but that by some concealed vent the smithy communicated with the upper air. The

light afforded by the red fuel, and by a lamp suspended in an iron chain, served to show that, besides an anvil,

bellows, tongs, hammers, a quantity of readymade horseshoes, and other articles proper to the profession

of a farrier, there were also stoves, alembics, crucibles, retorts, and other instruments of alchemy. The

grotesque figure of the smith, and the ugly but whimsical features of the boy, seen by the gloomy and

imperfect light of the charcoal fire and the dying lamp, accorded very well with all this mystical apparatus,

and in that age of superstition would have made some impression on the courage of most men.

But nature had endowed Tressilian with firm nerves, and his education, originally good, had been too

sedulously improved by subsequent study to give way to any imaginary terrors; and after giving a glance

around him, he again demanded of the artist who he was, and by what accident he came to know and address

"Your worship cannot but remember," said the smith, "that about three years since, upon Saint Lucy's Eve,

there came a travelling juggler to a certain hall in Devonshire, and exhibited his skill before a worshipful

knight and a fair company.I see from your worship's countenance, dark as this place is, that my memory

"Thou hast said enough," said Tressilian, turning away, as wishing to hide from the speaker the painful train

"The juggler," said the smith, "played his part so bravely that the clowns and clownlike squires in the

company held his art to be little less than magical; but there was one maiden of fifteen, or thereby, with the

fairest face I ever looked upon, whose rosy cheek grew pale, and her bright eyes dim, at the sight of the

"I mean your worship no offence," said the fellow; "but I have cause to remember how, to relieve the young

maiden's fears, you condescended to point out the mode in which these deceptions were practised, and to

baffle the poor juggler by laying bare the mysteries of his art, as ably as if you had been a brother of his

order.She was indeed so fair a maiden that, to win a smile of her, a man might well"

"Not a word more of her, I charge thee!" said Tressilian. "I do well remember the night you speak ofone of

"She is gone, then," said the smith, interpreting after his own fashion the sigh with which Tressilian uttered

these words"she is gone, young, beautiful, and beloved as she was!I crave your worship's pardonI

should have hammered on another theme. I see I have unwarily driven the nail to the quick."

This speech was made with a mixture of rude feeling which inclined Tressilian favourably to the poor artisan,

of whom before he was inclined to judge very harshly. But nothing can so soon attract the unfortunate as real

"I think," proceeded Tressilian, after a minute's silence, "thou wert in those days a jovial fellow, who could

keep a company merry by song, and tale, and rebeck, as well as by thy juggling trickswhy do I find thee a

laborious handicraftsman, plying thy trade in so melancholy a dwelling and under such extraordinary

"My story is not long," said the artist, "but your honour had better sit while you listen to it." So saying, he

approached to the fire a threefooted stool, and took another himself; while Dickie Sludge, or Flibbertigibbet,

as he called the boy, drew a cricket to the smith's feet, and looked up in his face with features which, as

illuminated by the glow of the forge, seemed convulsed with intense curiosity. "Thou too," said the smith to

him, "shalt learn, as thou well deservest at my hand, the brief history of my life; and, in troth, it were as well

tell it thee as leave thee to ferret it out, since Nature never packed a shrewder wit into a more ungainly

casket.Well, sir, if my poor story may pleasure you, it is at your command, But will you not taste a stoup

"Speak not of it," said Tressilian, "but go on with thy story, for my leisure is brief."

"You shall have no cause to rue the delay," said the smith, "for your horse shall be better fed in the meantime

With that the artist left the vault, and returned after a few minutes' interval. Here, also, we pause, that the

"I was bred a blacksmith, and knew my art as well as e'er a blackthumbed, leathernaproned, swartfaced

knave of that noble mystery. But I tired of ringing hammertunes on iron stithies, and went out into the

world, where I became acquainted with a celebrated juggler, whose fingers had become rather too stiff for

legerdemain, and who wished to have the aid of an apprentice in his noble mystery. I served him for six

years, until I was master of my tradeI refer myself to your worship, whose judgment cannot be disputed,

"It was not long after I had performed at Sir Hugh Robsart's, in your worship's presence," said the artist, "that

I took myself to the stage, and have swaggered with the bravest of them all, both at the Black Bull, the Globe,

the Fortune, and elsewhere; but I know not howapples were so plenty that year that the lads in the

twopenny gallery never took more than one bite out of them, and threw the rest of the pippin at whatever

actor chanced to be on the stage. So I tired of itrenounced my half share in the company, gave my foil to

my comrade, my buskins to the wardrobe, and showed the theatre a clean pair of heels."

"I became," said the smith, "half partner, half domestic to a man of much skill and little substance, who

"Something beyond that, let me hope, my good Master Tressilian," replied the artist; "and yet to say truth, our

practice was of an adventurous description, and the pharmacy which I had acquired in my first studies for the

benefit of horses was frequently applied to our human patients. But the seeds of all maladies are the same;

and if turpentine, tar, pitch, and beefsuet, mingled with turmerick, gummastick, and one bead of garlick,

can cure the horse that hath been grieved with a nail, I see not but what it may benefit the man that hath been

pricked with a sword. But my master's practice, as well as his skill, went far beyond mine, and dealt in more

dangerous concerns. He was not only a bold, adventurous practitioner in physic, but also, if your pleasure so

chanced to be, an adept who read the stars, and expounded the fortunes of mankind, genethliacally, as he

called it, or otherwise. He was a learned distiller of simples, and a profound chemistmade several efforts to

fix mercury, and judged himself to have made a fair hit at the philosopher's stone. I have yet a programme of

his on that subject, which, if your honour understandeth, I believe you have the better, not only of all who

He gave Tressilian a scroll of parchment, bearing at top and bottom, and down the margin, the signs of the

seven planets, curiously intermingled with talismanical characters and scraps of Greek and Hebrew. In the

midst were some Latin verses from a cabalistical author, written out so fairly, that even the gloom of the

place did not prevent Tressilian from reading them. The tenor of the original ran as follows:

"Si fixum solvas, faciasque volare solutum, Et volucrem figas, facient te vivere tutum; Si pariat ventum, valet

"I protest to you," said Tressilian, "all I understand of this jargon is that the last words seem to mean 'Catch

"That," said the smith, "is the very principle that my worthy friend and master, Doctor Doboobie, always

acted upon; until, being besotted with his own imaginations, and conceited of his high chemical skill, he

began to spend, in cheating himself, the money which he had acquired in cheating others, and either

discovered or built for himself, I could never know which, this secret elaboratory, in which he used to seclude

himself both from patients and disciples, who doubtless thought his long and mysterious absences from his

ordinary residence in the town of Farringdon were occasioned by his progress in the mystic sciences, and his

intercourse with the invisible world. Me also he tried to deceive; but though I contradicted him not, he saw

that I knew too much of his secrets to be any longer a safe companion. Meanwhile, his name waxed

famousor rather infamous, and many of those who resorted to him did so under persuasion that he was a

sorcerer. And yet his supposed advance in the occult sciences drew to him the secret resort of men too

powerful to be named, for purposes too dangerous to be mentioned. Men cursed and threatened him, and

bestowed on me, the innocent assistant of his studies, the nickname of the Devil's footpost, which procured

me a volley of stones as soon as ever I ventured to show my face in the street of the village. At length my

master suddenly disappeared, pretending to me that he was about to visit his elaboratory in this place, and

forbidding me to disturb him till two days were past. When this period had elapsed, I became anxious, and

resorted to this vault, where I found the fires extinguished and the utensils in confusion, with a note from the

learned Doboobius, as he was wont to style himself, acquainting me that we should never meet again,

bequeathing me his chemical apparatus, and the parchment which I have just put into your hands, advising

me strongly to prosecute the secret which it contained, which would infallibly lead me to the discovery of the

"Worshipful sir, no," replied the smith; "for, being by nature cautious, and suspicious from knowing with

whom I had to do, I made so many perquisitions before I ventured even to light a fire, that I at length

discovered a small barrel of gunpowder, carefully hid beneath the furnace, with the purpose, no doubt, that as

soon as I should commence the grand work of the transmutation of metals, the explosion should transmute

the vault and all in it into a heap of ruins, which might serve at once for my slaughterhouse and my grave.

This cured me of alchemy, and fain would I have returned to the honest hammer and anvil; but who would

bring a horse to be shod by the Devil's post? Meantime, I had won the regard of my honest Flibbertigibbet

here, he being then at Farringdon with his master, the sage Erasmus Holiday, by teaching him a few secrets,

such as please youth at his age; and after much counsel together, we agreed that, since I could get no practice

in the ordinary way, I should try how I could work out business among these ignorant boors, by practising

upon their silly fears; and, thanks to Flibbertigibbet, who hath spread my renown, I have not wanted custom.

But it is won at too great risk, and I fear I shall be at length taken up for a wizard; so that I seek but an

opportunity to leave this vault, when I can have the protection of some worshipful person against the fury of

"And art thou," said Tressilian, "perfectly acquainted with the roads in this country?"

"I could ride them every inch by midnight," answered Wayland Smith, which was the name this adept had

"Pardon me," replied Wayland; "I have as good a tit as ever yeoman bestrode; and I forgot to say it was the

best part of the mediciner's legacy to me, excepting one or two of the choicest of his medical secrets, which I

"Get thyself washed and shaved, then," said Tressilian; "reform thy dress as well as thou canst, and fling

away these grotesque trappings; and, so thou wilt be secret and faithful, thou shalt follow me for a short time,

till thy pranks here are forgotten. Thou hast, I think, both address and courage, and I have matter to do that

Wayland Smith eagerly embraced the proposal, and protested his devotion to his new master. In a very few

minutes he had made so great an alteration in his original appearance, by change of dress, trimming his beard

and hair, and so forth, that Tressilian could not help remarking that he thought he would stand in little need of

"My debtors would not pay me money," said Wayland, shaking his head; "but my creditors of every kind

would be less easily blinded. And, in truth, I hold myself not safe, unless under the protection of a gentleman

So saying, he led the way out of the cavern. He then called loudly for Hobgoblin, who, after lingering for an

instant, appeared with the horse furniture, when Wayland closed and sedulously covered up the trapdoor,

observing it might again serve him at his need, besides that the tools were worth somewhat. A whistle from

the owner brought to his side a nag that fed quietly on the common, and was accustomed to the signal.

While he accoutred him for the journey, Tressilian drew his own girths tighter, and in a few minutes both

"You are going to leave me, then, my old playfellow," said the boy; "and there is an end of all our game at

bopeep with the cowardly lubbards whom I brought hither to have their broad footed nags shed by the

"It is even so," said Wayland Smith, "the best friends must part, Flibbertigibbet; but thou, my boy, art the

"Well, I bid thee not farewell," said Dickie Sludge, "for you will be at these revels, I judge, and so shall I; for

if Dominie Holiday take me not thither, by the light of day, which we see not in yonder dark hole, I will take

"Nay, now you would make a child, a common child of me, and tell me of the risk of walking without

leadingstrings. But before you are a mile from these stones, you shall know by a sure token that I have more

of the hobgoblin about me than you credit; and I will so manage that, if you take advantage, you may profit

"What dost thou mean, boy?" said Tressilian; but Flibbertigibbet only answered with a grin and a caper, and

bidding both of them farewell, and, at the same time, exhorting them to make the best of their way from the

place, he set them the example by running homeward with the same uncommon velocity with which he had

"It is in vain to chase him," said Wayland Smith; "for unless your worship is expert in larkhunting, we

should never catch hold of himand besides, what would it avail? Better make the best of our way hence, as

They mounted their horses accordingly, and began to proceed at a round pace, as soon as Tressilian had

After they had trotted nearly a mile, Tressilian could not help observing to his companion that his horse felt

"Are you avised of that?" said Wayland Smith, smiling. "That is owing to a little secret of mine. I mixed that

with an handful of oats which shall save your worship's heels the trouble of spurring these six hours at least.

"No more than the mare's milk; which foaled him," answered the artist, and was proceeding to dilate on the

excellence of his recipe when he was interrupted by an explosion as loud and tremendous as the mine which

blows up the rampart of a beleaguered city. The horses started, and the riders were equally surprised. They

turned to gaze in the direction from which the thunderclap was heard, and beheld, just over the spot they

had left so recently, a huge pillar of dark smoke rising high into the clear, blue atmosphere. "My habitation is

gone to wreck," said Wayland, immediately conjecturing the cause of the explosion. "I was a fool to mention

the doctor's kind intentions towards my mansion before that limb of mischief, Flibbertigibbet; I might have

guessed he would long to put so rare a frolic into execution. But let us hasten on, for the sound will collect

So saying, he spurred his horse, and Tressilian also quickening his speed, they rode briskly forward.

"This, then, was the meaning of the little imp's token which he promised us?" said Tressilian. "Had we

"He would have given us warning," said the smith. "I saw him look back more than once to see if we were

off'tis a very devil for mischief, yet not an illnatured devil either. It were long to tell your honour how I

became first acquainted with him, and how many tricks he played me. Many a good turn he did me too,

especially in bringing me customers; for his great delight was to see them sit shivering behind the bushes

when they heard the click of my hammer. I think Dame Nature, when she lodged a double quantity of brains

in that misshapen head of his, gave him the power of enjoying other people's distresses, as she gave them the

"It may be so," said Tressilian; "those who find themselves severed from society by peculiarities of form, if

they do not hate the common bulk of mankind, are at least not altogether indisposed to enjoy their mishaps

"But Flibbertigibbet," answered Wayland, "hath that about him which may redeem his turn for mischievous

frolic; for he is as faithful when attached as he is tricky and malignant to strangers, and, as I said before, I

Tressilian pursued the conversation no further, and they continued their journey towards Devonshire without

further adventure, until they alighted at an inn in the town of Marlborough, since celebrated for having given

title to the greatest general (excepting one) whom Britain ever produced. Here the travellers received, in the

same breath, an example of the truth of two old proverbsnamely, that ILL NEWS FLY FAST, and that

The innyard was in a sort of combustion when they alighted; insomuch, that they could scarce get man or

boy to take care of their horses, so full were the whole household of some news which flew from tongue to

tongue, the import of which they were for some time unable to discover. At length, indeed, they found it

"What is the matter, say you, master?" answered, at length, the head hostler, in reply to Tressilian's repeated

questions."Why, truly, I scarce know myself. But here was a rider but now, who says that the devil hath

flown away with him they called Wayland Smith, that won'd about three miles from the Whitehorse of

Berkshire, this very blessed morning, in a flash of fire and a pillar of smoke, and rooted up the place he dwelt

in, near that old cockpit of upright stones, as cleanly as if it had all been delved up for a cropping."

"Why, then," said an old farmer, "the more is the pity; for that Wayland Smith (whether he was the devil's

crony or no I skill not) had a good notion of horses' diseases, and it's to be thought the bots will spread in the

country far and near, an Satan has not gien un time to leave his secret behind un."

"You may say that, Gaffer Grimesby," said the hostler in return; "I have carried a horse to Wayland Smith

"Did you see him?" said Dame Alison Crane, mistress of the inn bearing that sign, and deigning to term

HUSBAND the owner thereof, a meanlooking hopo'mythumb sort or person, whose halting gait, and

long neck, and meddling, henpecked insignificance are supposed to have given origin to the celebrated old

On this occasion he chirped out a repetition of his wife's question, "Didst see the devil, Jack Hostler, I say?"

"And what if I did see un, Master Crane?" replied Jack Hostler, for, like all the rest of the household, he paid

"Nay, nought, Jack Hostler," replied the pacific Master Crane; "only if you saw the devil, methinks I would

"You will know that one day, Master Crane," said his helpmate, "an ye mend not your manners, and mind

your business, leaving off such idle palabras.But truly, Jack Hostler, I should be glad to know myself what

"Why, dame," said the hostler, more respectfully, "as for what he was like I cannot tell, nor no man else, for

"And how didst thou get thine errand done," said Gaffer Grimesby, "if thou seedst him not?"

"Why, I had schoolmaster to write down ailment o' nag," said Jack Hostler; "and I went wi' the ugliest slip of

a boy for my guide as ever man cut out o' limetree root to please a child withal."

"And what was it?and did it cure your nag, Jack Hostler?" was uttered and echoed by all who stood

"Why, how can I tell you what it was?" said the hostler; "simply it smelled and tastedfor I did make bold to

put a pea's substance into my mouthlike hartshorn and savin mixed with vinegar; but then no hartshorn and

savin ever wrought so speedy a cure. And I am dreading that if Wayland Smith be gone, the bots will have

The pride of art, which is certainly not inferior in its influence to any other pride whatever, here so far

operated on Wayland Smith, that, notwithstanding the obvious danger of his being recognized, he could not

help winking to Tressilian, and smiling mysteriously, as if triumphing in the undoubted evidence of his

"E'en let it be so," said a grave man in black, the companion of Gaffer Grimesby; "e'en let us perish under the

"Very true," said Dame Crane; "and I marvel at Jack Hostler that he would peril his own soul to cure the

"Very true, mistress," said Jack Hostler, "but the nag was my master's; and had it been yours, I think ye

would ha' held me cheap enow an I had feared the devil when the poor beast was in such a taking. For the

rest, let the clergy look to it. Every man to his craft, says the proverbthe parson to the prayer book, and

"I vow," said Dame Crane, "I think Jack Hostler speaks like a good Christian and a faithful servant, who will

spare neither body nor soul in his master's service. However, the devil has lifted him in time, for a Constable

of the Hundred came hither this morning to get old Gaffer Pinniewinks, the trier of witches, to go with him to

the Vale of Whitehorse to comprehend Wayland Smith, and put him to his probation. I helped Pinniewinks to

sharpen his pincers and his pokingawl, and I saw the warrant from Justice Blindas."

"Poohpoohthe devil would laugh both at Blindas and his warrant, constable and witchfinder to boot,"

said old Dame Crank, the Papist laundress; "Wayland Smith's flesh would mind Pinniewinks' awl no more

than a cambric ruff minds a hot piccadilloeneedle. But tell me, gentlefolks, if the devil ever had such a hand

among ye, as to snatch away your smiths and your artists from under your nose, when the good Abbots of

Abingdon had their own? By Our Lady, no!they had their hallowed tapers; and their holy water, and their

relics, and what not, could send the foulest fiends apacking. Go ask a heretic parson to do the like. But ours

"Very true, Dame Crank," said the hostler; "so said Simpkins of Simonburn when the curate kissed his

"Silence, thou foulmouthed vermin," said Dame Crank; "is it fit for a heretic horseboy like thee to handle

"In troth no, dame," replied the man of oats; "and as you yourself are now no text for their handling, dame,

whatever may have been the case in your day, I think we had e'en better leave un alone."

At this last exchange of sarcasm, Dame Crank set up her throat, and began a horrible exclamation against

Jack Hostler, under cover of which Tressilian and his attendant escaped into the house.

They had no sooner entered a private chamber, to which Goodman Crane himself had condescended to usher

them, and dispatched their worthy and obsequious host on the errand of procuring wine and refreshment, than

"You see, sir," said he, addressing Tressilian, "that I nothing fabled in asserting that I possessed fully the

mighty mystery of a farrier, or mareschal, as the French more honourably term us. These doghostlers, who,

after all, are the better judges in such a case, know what credit they should attach to my medicaments. I call

you to witness, worshipful Master Tressilian, that nought, save the voice of calumny and the hand of

malicious violence, hath driven me forth from a station in which I held a place alike useful and honoured."

"I bear witness, my friend, but will reserve my listening," answered Tressilian, "for a safer time; unless,

indeed, you deem it essential to your reputation to be translated, like your late dwelling, by the assistance of a

flash of fire. For you see your best friends reckon you no better than a mere sorcerer."

"Now, Heaven forgive them," said the artist, "who confounded learned skill with unlawful magic! I trust a

man may be as skilful, or more so, than the best chirurgeon ever meddled with horseflesh, and yet may be

upon the matter little more than other ordinary men, or at the worst no conjurer."

"God forbid else!" said Tressilian. "But be silent just for the present, since here comes mine host with an

Everybody about the inn, Dame Crane herself included, had been indeed so interested and agitated by the

story they had heard of Wayland Smith, and by the new, varying, and more marvellous editions of the

incident which arrived from various quarters, that mine host, in his righteous determination to accommodate

his guests, had been able to obtain the assistance of none of his household, saving that of a little boy, a junior

"I wish," he said, apologizing to his guests, as he set down a flagon of sack, and promised some food

immediately"I wish the devil had flown away with my wife and my whole family instead of this Wayland

Smith, who, I daresay, after all said and done, was much less worthy of the distinction which Satan has done

"I hold opinion with you, good fellow," replied Wayland Smith; "and I will drink to you upon that argument."

"Not that I would justify any man who deals with the devil," said mine host, after having pledged Wayland in

a rousing draught of sack, "but thatsaw ye ever better sack, my masters?but that, I say, a man had better

deal with a dozen cheats and scoundrel fellows, such as this Wayland Smith, than with a devil incarnate, that

The poor fellow's detail of grievances was here interrupted by the shrill voice of his helpmate, screaming

from the kitchen, to which he instantly hobbled, craving pardon of his guests. He was no sooner gone than

Wayland Smith expressed, by every contemptuous epithet in the language, his utter scorn for a nincompoop

who stuck his head under his wife's apronstring; and intimated that, saving for the sake of the horses, which

required both rest and food, he would advise his worshipful Master Tressilian to push on a stage farther,

rather than pay a reckoning to such a meanspirited, crowtrodden, henpecked coxcomb, as Gaffer Crane.

The arrival of a large dish of good cowheel and bacon something soothed the asperity of the artist, which

wholly vanished before a choice capon, so delicately roasted that the lard frothed on it, said Wayland, like

Maydew on a lily; and both Gaffer Crane and his good dame became, in his eyes, very painstaking,

According to the manners of the times, the master and his attendant sat at the same table, and the latter

observed, with regret, how little attention Tressilian paid to his meal. He recollected, indeed, the pain he had

given by mentioning the maiden in whose company he had first seen him; but, fearful of touching upon a

topic too tender to be tampered with, he chose to ascribe his abstinence to another cause.

"This fare is perhaps too coarse for your worship," said Wayland, as the limbs of the capon disappeared

before his own exertions; "but had you dwelt as long as I have done in yonder dungeon, which Flibbertigibbet

has translated to the upper element, a place where I dared hardly broil my food, lest the smoke should be seen

"If you are pleased, friend," said Tressilian, "it is well. Nevertheless, hasten thy meal if thou canst, For this

Allowing, therefore, their horses no more rest than was absolutely necessary for them, they pursued their

journey by a forced march as far as Bradford, where they reposed themselves for the night.

The next morning found them early travellers. And, not to fatigue the reader with unnecessary particulars,

they traversed without adventure the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset, and about noon of the third day

after Tressilian's leaving Cumnor, arrived at Sir Hugh Robsart's seat, called Lidcote Hall, on the frontiers of

The ancient seat of Lidcote Hall was situated near the village of the same name, and adjoined the wild and

extensive forest of Exmoor, plentifully stocked with game, in which some ancient rights belonging to the

Robsart family entitled Sir Hugh to pursue his favourite amusement of the chase. The old mansion was a low,

venerable building, occupying a considerable space of ground, which was surrounded by a deep moat. The

approach and drawbridge were defended by an octagonal tower, of ancient brickwork, but so clothed with ivy

and other creepers that it was difficult to discover of what materials it was constructed. The angles of this

tower were each decorated with a turret, whimsically various in form and in size, and, therefore, very unlike

the monotonous stone pepperboxes which, in modern Gothic architecture, are employed for the same

purpose. One of these turrets was square, and occupied as a clockhouse. But the clock was now standing

still; a circumstance peculiarly striking to Tressilian, because the good old knight, among other harmless

peculiarities, had a fidgety anxiety about the exact measurement of time, very common to those who have a

great deal of that commodity to dispose of, and find it lie heavy upon their hands just as we see

shopkeepers amuse themselves with taking an exact account of their stock at the time there is least demand

The entrance to the courtyard of the old mansion lay through an archway, surmounted by the foresaid tower;

but the drawbridge was down, and one leaf of the ironstudded foldingdoors stood carelessly open.

Tressilian hastily rode over the drawbridge, entered the court, and began to call loudly on the domestics by

their names. For some time he was only answered by the echoes and the howling of the hounds, whose kennel

lay at no great distance from the mansion, and was surrounded by the same moat. At length Will Badger, the

old and favourite attendant of the knight, who acted alike as squire of his body and superintendent of his

sports, made his appearance. The stout, weatherbeaten forester showed great signs of joy when he

"Lord love you," he said, "Master Edmund, be it thou in flesh and fell? Then thou mayest do some good on

Sir Hugh, for it passes the wit of manthat is, of mine own, and the curate's, and Master Mumblazen'sto

"For worse in bodyno; he is much better," replied the domestic; "but he is clean mazed as it wereeats

and drinks as he was wontbut sleeps not, or rather wakes not, for he is ever in a sort of twilight, that is

neither sleeping nor waking. Dame Swineford thought it was like the dead palsy. But no, no, dame, said I, it

"He is clean and quite off his sports," said Will Badger; "hath neither touched backgammon or shovelboard,

nor looked on the big book of harrowtry wi' Master Mumblazen. I let the clock run down, thinking the

missing the bell might somewhat move himfor you know, Master Edmund, he was particular in counting

timebut he never said a word on't, so I may e'en set the old chime a towling again. I made bold to tread on

Bungay's tail too, and you know what a round rating that would ha' cost me once aday; but he minded the

poor tyke's whine no more than a madge howlet whooping down the chimneyso the case is beyond me."

"Thou shalt tell me the rest within doors, Will. Meanwhile, let this person be ta'en to the buttery, and used

"White art or black art, I would," said Will Badger, "that he had any art which could help us.Here, Tom

Butler, look to the man of art;and see that he steals none of thy spoons, lad," he added in a whisper to the

butler, who showed himself at a low window, "I have known as honest a faced fellow have art enough to do

He then ushered Tressilian into a low parlour, and went, at his desire, to see in what state his master was, lest

the sudden return of his darling pupil and proposed soninlaw should affect him too strongly. He returned

immediately, and said that Sir Hugh was dozing in his elbowchair, but that Master Mumblazen would

"But it is chance if he knows you," said the huntsman, "for he has forgotten the name of every hound in the

pack. I thought, about a week since, he had gotten a favourable turn. 'Saddle me old Sorrel,' said he suddenly,

after he had taken his usual nightdraught out of the great silver gracecup, 'and take the hounds to Mount

Hazelhurst tomorrow.' Glad men were we all, and out we had him in the morning, and he rode to cover as

usual, with never a word spoken but that the wind was south, and the scent would lie. But ere we had

uncoupled'the hounds, he began to stare round him, like a man that wakes suddenly out of a dreamturns

bridle, and walks back to Hall again, and leaves us to hunt at leisure by ourselves, if we listed."

"You tell a heavy tale, Will," replied Tressilian; "but God must help usthere is no aid in man."

"Then you bring us no news of young Mistress Amy? But what need I askyour brow tells the story. Ever I

hoped that if any man could or would track her, it must be you. All's over and lost now. But if ever I have that

Varney within reach of a flight shot, I will bestow a forked shaft on him; and that I swear by salt and bread."

As he spoke, the door opened, and Master Mumblazen appeareda withered, thin, elderly gentleman, with a

cheek like a winter apple, and his grey hair partly concealed by a small, high hat, shaped like a cone, or rather

like such a strawberrybasket as London fruiterers exhibit at their windows. He was too sententious a person

to waste words on mere salutation; so, having welcomed Tressilian with a nod and a shake of the hand, he

beckoned him to follow to Sir Hugh's great chamber, which the good knight usually inhabited. Will Badger

followed, unasked, anxious to see whether his master would be relieved from his state of apathy by the arrival

In a long, low parlour, amply furnished with implements of the chase, and with silvan trophies, by a massive

stone chimney, over which hung a sword and suit of armour somewhat obscured by neglect, sat Sir Hugh

Robsart of Lidcote, a man of large size, which had been only kept within moderate compass by the constant

use of violent exercise, It seemed to Tressilian that the lethargy, under which his old friend appeared to

labour, had, even during his few weeks' absence, added bulk to his personat least it had obviously

diminished the vivacity of his eye, which, as they entered, first followed Master Mumblazen slowly to a large

oaken desk, on which a ponderous volume lay open, and then rested, as if in uncertainty, on the stranger who

had entered along with him. The curate, a greyheaded clergyman, who had been a confessor in the days of

Queen Mary, sat with a book in his hand in another recess in the apartment. He, too, signed a mournful

greeting to Tressilian, and laid his book aside, to watch the effect his appearance should produce on the

As Tressilian, his own eyes filling fast with tears, approached more and more nearly to the father of his

betrothed bride, Sir Hugh's intelligence seemed to revive. He sighed heavily, as one who awakens from a

state of stupor; a slight convulsion passed over his features; he opened his arms without speaking a word,

"There is something left to live for yet," were the first words he uttered; and while he spoke, he gave vent to

his feelings in a paroxysm of weeping, the tears chasing each other down his sunburnt cheeks and long white

"I ne'er thought to have thanked God to see my master weep," said Will Badger; "but now I do, though I am

"I will ask thee no questions," said the old knight; "no questionsnone, Edmund. Thou hast not found

Tressilian was unable to reply otherwise than by putting his hands before his face.

"It is enoughit is enough. But do not thou weep for her, Edmund. I have cause to weep, for she was my

daughter; thou hast cause to rejoice, that she did not become thy wife.Great God! thou knowest best what

is good for us. It was my nightly prayer that I should see Amy and Edmund wedded,had it been granted, it

"Be comforted, my friend," said the curate, addressing Sir Hugh, "it cannot be that the daughter of all our

"Oh, no," replied Sir Hugh impatiently, "I were wrong to name broadly the base thing she is becomethere

is some new court name for it, I warrant me. It is honour enough for the daughter of an old Devonshire clown

to be the leman of a gay courtierof Varney tooof Varney, whose grandsire was relieved by my father,

when his fortune was broken, at the battle ofthe battle of where Richard was slainout on my

"The battle of Bosworth," said Master Mumblazen"stricken between Richard Crookback and Henry Tudor,

grandsire of the Queen that now is, PRIMO HENRICI SEPTIMI; and in the year one thousand four hundred

"Ay, even so," said the old knight; "every child knows it. But my poor head forgets all it should remember,

and remembers only what it would most willingly forget. My brain has been at fault, Tressilian, almost ever

"Your worship," said the good clergyman, "had better retire to your apartment, and try to sleep for a little

space. The physician left a composing draught; and our Great Physician has commanded us to use earthly

"True, true, old friend," said Sir Hugh; "and we will bear our trials manfullywe have lost but a

woman.See, Tressilian,"he drew from his bosom a long ringlet of glossy hair,"see this lock! I tell

thee, Edmund, the very night she disappeared, when she bid me good even, as she was wont, she hung about

my neck, and fondled me more than usual; and I, like an old fool, held her by this lock, until she took her

scissors, severed it, and left it in my handas all I was ever to see more of her!"

Tressilian was unable to reply, well judging what a complication of feelings must have crossed the bosom of

the unhappy fugitive at that cruel moment. The clergyman was about to speak, but Sir Hugh interrupted him.

"I know what you would say, Master Curate,After all, it is but a lock of woman's tresses; and by woman,

shame, and sin, and death came into an innocent world.And learned Master Mumblazen, too, can say

"True," said Sir Hugh, "and we will bear us, therefore, like men who have both mettle and wisdom in

us.Tressilian, thou art as welcome as if thou hadst brought better news. But we have spoken too long

drylipped.Amy, fill a cup of wine to Edmund, and another to me." Then instantly recollecting that he

called upon her who could not hear, he shook his head, and said to the clergyman, "This grief is to my

bewildered mind what the church of Lidcote is to our park: we may lose ourselves among the briers and

thickets for a little space, but from the end of each avenue we see the old grey steeple and the grave of my

Tressilian and the curate joined in urging the exhausted old man to lay himself to rest, and at length prevailed.

Tressilian remained by his pillow till he saw that slumber at length sunk down on him, and then returned to

consult with the curate what steps should be adopted in these unhappy circumstances.

They could not exclude from these deliberations Master Michael Mumblazen; and they admitted him the

more readily, that besides what hopes they entertained from his sagacity, they knew him to be so great a

friend to taciturnity, that there was no doubt of his keeping counsel. He was an old bachelor, of good family,

but small fortune, and distantly related to the House of Robsart; in virtue of which connection, Lidcote Hall

had been honoured with his residence for the last twenty years. His company was agreeable to Sir Hugh,

chiefly on account of his profound learning, which, though it only related to heraldry and genealogy, with

such scraps of history as connected themselves with these subjects, was precisely of a kind to captivate the

good old knight; besides the convenience which he found in having a friend to appeal to when his own

memory, as frequently happened, proved infirm and played him false concerning names and dates, which,

and all similar deficiencies, Master Michael Mumblazen supplied with due brevity and discretion. And,

indeed, in matters concerning the modern world, he often gave, in his enigmatical and heraldic phrase, advice

which was well worth attending to, or, in Will Badger's language, started the game while others beat the bush.

"We have had an unhappy time of it with the good knight, Master Edmund," said the curate. "I have not

suffered so much since I was torn away from my beloved flock, and compelled to abandon them to the

"In the name of Heaven," continued the curate, "tell us, has your time been better spent than ours, or have you

any news of that unhappy maiden, who, being for so many years the principal joy of this brokendown

house, is now proved our greatest unhappiness? Have you not at least discovered her place of residence?"

"Surely," said the clergyman; "it was a house of removal for the monks of Abingdon."

"Whose arms," said Master Michael, "I have seen over a stone chimney in the hall,a cross patonce betwixt

"There," said Tressilian, "this unhappy maiden resides, in company with the villain Varney. But for a strange

mishap, my sword had revenged all our injuries, as well as hers, on his worthless head."

"Thank God, that kept thine hand from bloodguiltiness, rash young man!" answered the curate. "Vengeance

is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay it. It were better study to free her from the villain's nets of infamy."

"It is in that I require your aid, my friends," said Tressilian. "I am resolved to accuse this villain, at the very

foot of the throne, of falsehood, seduction, and breach of hospitable laws. The Queen shall hear me, though

"Her Grace," said the curate, "hath set a comely example of continence to her subjects, and will doubtless do

justice on this inhospitable robber. But wert thou not better apply to the Earl of Leicester, in the first place,

for justice on his servant? If he grants it, thou dost save the risk of making thyself a powerful adversary,

which will certainly chance if, in the first instance, you accuse his master of the horse and prime favourite

"My mind revolts from your counsel," said Tressilian. "I cannot brook to plead my noble patron's cause the

unhappy Amy's cause before any one save my lawful Sovereign. Leicester, thou wilt say, is noble. Be it

so; he is but a subject like ourselves, and I will not carry my plaint to him, if I can do better. Still, I will think

on what thou hast said; but I must have your assistance to persuade the good Sir Hugh to make me his

commissioner and fiduciary in this matter, for it is in his name I must speak, and not in my own. Since she is

so far changed as to dote upon this empty profligate courtier, he shall at least do her the justice which is yet in

"Better she died CAELEBS and SINE PROLE," said Mumblazen, with more animation than he usually

expressed, "than part, PER PALE, the noble coat of Robsart with that of such a miscreant!"

"If it be your object, as I cannot question," said the clergyman, "to save, as much as is yet possible, the credit

of this unhappy young woman, I repeat, you should apply, in the first instance, to the Earl of Leicester. He is

as absolute in his household as the Queen in her kingdom, and if he expresses to Varney that such is his

"You are right, you are right!" said Tressilian eagerly, "and I thank you for pointing out what I overlooked in

my haste. I little thought ever to have besought grace of Leicester; but I could kneel to the proud Dudley, if

doing so could remove one shade of shame from this unhappy damsel. You will assist me then to procure the

"You must hold yourselves also in readiness to testify, in case you are called upon, the openhearted

hospitality which our good patron exercised towards this deceitful traitor, and the solicitude with which he

"At first," said the clergyman, "she did not, as it seemed to me, much affect his company; but latterly I saw

"I once came on them by chance," said the priest, "in the South wood, in a spring evening. Varney was

muffled in a russet cloak, so that I saw not his face. They separated hastily, as they heard me rustle amongst

"With neck REGUARDANT," said the herald. "And on the day of her flight, and that was on Saint Austen's

Eve, I saw Varney's groom, attired in his liveries, hold his master's horse and Mistress Amy's palfrey, bridled

"And now is she found mewed up in his secret place of retirement," said Tressilian. "The villain is taken in

the manner, and I well wish he may deny his crime, that I may thrust conviction down his false throat! But I

must prepare for my journey. Do you, gentlemen, dispose my patron to grant me such powers as are needful

"He is too hot," said the curate; "and I pray to God that He may grant him the patience to deal with Varney as

"Patience and Varney," said Mumblazen, "is worse heraldry than metal upon metal. He is more false than a

siren, more rapacious than a griffin, more poisonous than a wyvern, and more cruel than a lion rampant."

"Yet I doubt much," said the curate, "whether we can with propriety ask from Sir Hugh Robsart, being in his

present condition, any deed deputing his paternal right in Mistress Amy to whomsoever"

"Your reverence need not doubt that," said Will Badger, who entered as he spoke, "for I will lay my life he is

"Ay, Will," said the curate, "hast thou then so much confidence in Doctor Diddleum's draught?"

"Not a whit," said Will, "because master ne'er tasted a drop on't, seeing it was emptied out by the housemaid.

But here's a gentleman, who came attending on Master Tressilian, has given Sir Hugh a draught that is worth

twenty of yon un. I have spoken cunningly with him, and a better farrier or one who hath a more just notion

of horse and dog ailment I have never seen; and such a one would never be unjust to a Christian man."

"A farrier! you saucy groomand by whose authority, pray?" said the curate, rising in surprise and

"For authority, an it like your reverence, he had mine; and for warrant, I trust I have not been

fiveandtwenty years in this house without having right to warrant the giving of a draught to beast or

bodyI who can gie a drench, and a ball, and bleed, or blister, if need, to my very self."

The counsellors of the house of Robsart thought it meet to carry this information instantly to Tressilian, who

as speedily summoned before him Wayland Smith, and demanded of him (in private, however) by what

"Why," replied the artist, "your worship cannot but remember that I told you I had made more progress into

my master'sI mean the learned Doctor Doboobie'smystery than he was willing to own; and indeed half

of his quarrel and malice against me was that, besides that I got something too deep into his secrets, several

discerning persons, and particularly a buxom young widow of Abingdon, preferred my prescriptions to his."

"None of thy buffoonery, sir," said Tressilian sternly. "If thou hast trifled with usmuch more, if thou hast

done aught that may prejudice Sir Hugh Robsart's health, thou shalt find thy grave at the bottom of a

"I know too little of the great ARCANUM to convert the ore to gold," said Wayland firmly. "But truce to

your apprehensions, Master Tressilian. I understood the good knight's case from what Master William Badger

told me; and I hope I am able enough to administer a poor dose of mandragora, which, with the sleep that

must needs follow, is all that Sir Hugh Robsart requires to settle his distraught brains."

"Most fairly and honestly, as the event shall show," replied the artist. "What would it avail me to harm the

poor old man for whom you are interested?you, to whom I owe it that Gaffer Pinniewinks is not even now

rending my flesh and sinews with his accursed pincers, and probing every mole in my body with his

sharpened awl (a murrain on the hands which forged it!) in order to find out the witch's mark?I trust to

yoke myself as a humble follower to your worship's train, and I only wish to have my faith judged of by the

Wayland Smith was right in his prognostication. The sedative draught which his skill had prepared, and Will

Badger's confidence had administered, was attended with the most beneficial effects. The patient's sleep was

long and healthful, and the poor old knight awoke, humbled indeed in thought and weak in frame, yet a much

better judge of whatever was subjected to his intellect than he had been for some time past. He resisted for a

while the proposal made by his friends that Tressilian should undertake a journey to court, to attempt the

recovery of his daughter, and the redress of her wrongs, in so far as they might yet be repaired. "Let her go,"

he said; "she is but a hawk that goes down the wind; I would not bestow even a whistle to reclaim her." But

though he for some time maintained this argument, he was at length convinced it was his duty to take the part

to which natural affection inclined him, and consent that such efforts as could yet be made should be used by

Tressilian in behalf of his daughter. He subscribed, therefore, a warrant of attorney, such as the curate's skill

enabled him to draw up; for in those simple days the clergy were often the advisers of their flock in law as

All matters were prepared for Tressilian's second departure, within twentyfour hours after he had returned to

Lidcote Hall; but one material circumstance had been forgotten, which was first called to the remembrance of

Tressilian by Master Mumblazen. "You are going to court, Master Tressilian," said he; "you will please

remember that your blazonry must be ARGENT and ORno other tinctures will pass current." The remark

was equally just and embarrassing. To prosecute a suit at court, ready money was as indispensable even in the

golden days of Elizabeth as at any succeeding period; and it was a commodity little at the command of the

inhabitants of Lidcote Hall. Tressilian was himself poor; the revenues of good Sir Hugh Robsart were

consumed, and even anticipated, in his hospitable mode of living; and it was finally necessary that the herald

who started the doubt should himself solve it. Master Michael Mumblazen did so by producing a bag of

money, containing nearly three hundred pounds in gold and silver of various coinage, the savings of twenty

years, which he now, without speaking a syllable upon the subject, dedicated to the service of the patron

whose shelter and protection had given him the means of making this little hoard. Tressilian accepted it

without affecting a moment's hesitation, and a mutual grasp of the hand was all that passed betwixt them, to

express the pleasure which the one felt in dedicating his all to such a purpose, and that which the other

received from finding so material an obstacle to the success of his journey so suddenly removed, and in a

While Tressilian was making preparations for his departure early the ensuing morning, Wayland Smith

desired to speak with him, and, expressing his hope that he had been pleased with the operation of his

medicine in behalf of Sir Hugh Robsart, added his desire to accompany him to court. This was indeed what

Tressilian himself had several times thought of; for the shrewdness, alertness of understanding, and variety of

resource which this fellow had exhibited during the time they had travelled together, had made him sensible

that his assistance might be of importance. But then Wayland was in danger from the grasp of law; and of this

Tressilian reminded him, mentioning something, at the same time, of the pincers of Pinniewinks and the

"See you, sir!" said he, "I have changed my garb from that of a farrier to a servingman; but were it still as it

was, look at my moustaches. They now hang down; I will but turn them up, and dye them with a tincture that

He accompanied these words with the appropriate action, and in less than a minute, by setting up, his

moustaches and his hair, he seemed a different person from him that had but now entered the room. Still,

however, Tressilian hesitated to accept his services, and the artist became proportionably urgent.

"I owe you life and limb," he said, "and I would fain pay a part of the debt, especially as I know from Will

Badger on what dangerous service your worship is bound. I do not, indeed, pretend to be what is called a man

of mettle, one of those ruffling tearcats who maintain their master's quarrel with sword and buckler. Nay, I

am even one of those who hold the end of a feast better than the beginning of a fray. But I know that I can

serve your worship better, in such quest as yours, than any of these swordanddagger men, and that my

Tressilian still hesitated. He knew not much of this strange fellow, and was doubtful how far he could repose

in him the confidence necessary to render him a useful attendant upon the present emergency. Ere he had

come to a determination, the trampling of a horse was heard in the courtyard, and Master Mumblazen and

Will Badger both entered hastily into Tressilian's chamber, speaking almost at the same moment.

"Here is a servingman on the bonniest grey tit I ever see'd in my life," said Will Badger, who got the

start"having on his arm a silver cognizance, being a firedrake holding in his mouth a brickbat, under a

coronet of an Earl's degree," said Master Mumblazen, "and bearing a letter sealed of the same."

Tressilian took the letter, which was addressed "To the worshipful Master Edmund Tressilian, our loving

kinsmanThese ride, ride, ridefor thy life, for thy life, for thy life. "He then opened it, and found the

"We are at present so ill at ease, and otherwise so unhappily circumstanced, that we are desirous to have

around us those of our friends on whose lovingkindness we can most especially repose confidence; amongst

whom we hold our good Master Tressilian one of the foremost and nearest, both in good will and good

ability. We therefore pray you, with your most convenient speed, to repair to our poor lodging, at Sayes

Court, near Deptford, where we will treat further with you of matters which we deem it not fit to commit unto

writing. And so we bid you heartily farewell, being your loving kinsman to command, "RATCLIFFE, EARL

"Send up the messenger instantly, Will Badger," said Tressilian; and as the man entered the room, he

"Ill, Master Tressilian," was the messenger's reply, "and having therefore the more need of good friends

"But what is my lord's malady?" said Tressilian anxiously; I heard nothing of his being ill."

"I know not, sir," replied the man; "he is very ill at ease. The leeches are at a stand, and many of his

The man looked at Tressilian, as if to know whether he should answer these inquiries from a stranger, and

receiving a sign in the affirmative, he hastily enumerated gradual loss of strength, nocturnal perspiration, and

"I know how the disease is caused," said the artist, "and I know the cause. Your master has eaten of the

manna of Saint Nicholas. I know the cure toomy master shall not say I studied in his laboratory for

"How mean you?" said Tressilian, frowning; "we speak of one of the first nobles of England. Bethink you,

"God forbid!" said Wayland Smith. "I say that I know this disease, and can cure him. Remember what I did

Accordingly, hastily mentioning this new motive for his instant departure, though without alluding to either

the suspicions of Stevens, or the assurances of Wayland Smith, he took the kindest leave of Sir Hugh and the

family at Lidcote Hall, who accompanied him with prayers and blessings, and, attended by Wayland and the

Tressilian and his attendants pressed their route with all dispatch. He had asked the smith, indeed, when their

departure was resolved on, whether he would not rather choose to avoid Berkshire, in which he had played a

part so conspicuous? But Wayland returned a confident answer. He had employed the short interval they

passed at Lidcote Hall in transforming himself in a wonderful manner. His wild and overgrown thicket of

beard was now restrained to two small moustaches on the upper lip, turned up in a military fashion. A tailor

from the village of Lidcote (well paid) had exerted his skill, under his customer's directions, so as completely

to alter Wayland's outward man, and take off from his appearance almost twenty years of age. Formerly,

besmeared with soot and charcoal, overgrown with hair, and bent double with the nature of his labour,

disfigured too by his odd and fantastic dress, he seemed a man of fifty years old. But now, in a handsome suit

of Tressilian's livery, with a sword by his side and a buckler on his shoulder, he looked like a gay ruffling

servingman, whose age might be betwixt thirty and thirtyfive, the very prime of human life. His loutish,

savage looking demeanour seemed equally changed, into a forward, sharp, and impudent alertness of look

When challenged by Tressilian, who desired to know the cause of a metamorphosis so singular and so

absolute, Wayland only answered by singing a stave from a comedy, which was then new, and was supposed,

among the more favourable judges, to augur some genius on the part of the author. We are happy to preserve

Although Tressilian did not recollect the verses, yet they reminded him that Wayland had once been a stage

player, a circumstance which, of itself, accounted indifferently well for the readiness with which he could

assume so total a change of personal appearance. The artist himself was so confident of his disguise being

completely changed, or of his having completely changed his disguise, which may be the more correct mode

of speaking, that he regretted they were not to pass near his old place of retreat.

"I could venture," he said, "in my present dress, and with your worship's backing, to face Master Justice

Blindas, even on a day of Quarter Sessions; and I would like to know what is become of Hobgoblin, who is

like to play the devil in the world, if he can once slip the string, and leave his granny and his dominie.Ay,

and the scathed vault!" he said; "I would willingly have seen what havoc the explosion of so much

gunpowder has made among Doctor Demetrius Doboobie's retorts and phials. I warrant me, my fame haunts

the Vale of the Whitehorse long after my body is rotten; and that many a lout ties up his horse, lays down his

silver groat, and pipes like a sailor whistling in a calm for Wayland Smith to come and shoe his tit for him.

In this particular, indeed, Wayland proved a true prophet; and so easily do fables rise, that an obscure

tradition of his extraordinary practice in farriery prevails in the Vale of Whitehorse even unto this day; and

neither the tradition of Alfred's Victory, nor of the celebrated Pusey Horn, are better preserved in Berkshire

The haste of the travellers admitted their making no stay upon their journey, save what the refreshment of the

horses required; and as many of the places through which they passed were under the influence of the Earl of

Leicester, or persons immediately dependent on him, they thought it prudent to disguise their names and the

purpose of their journey. On such occasions the agency of Wayland Smith (by which name we shall continue

to distinguish the artist, though his real name was Lancelot Wayland) was extremely serviceable. He seemed,

indeed, to have a pleasure in displaying the alertness with which he could baffle investigation, and amuse

himself by putting the curiosity of tapsters and innkeepers on a false scent. During the course of their brief

journey, three different and inconsistent reports were circulated by him on their accountnamely, first, that

Tressilian was the Lord Deputy of Ireland, come over in disguise to take the Queen's pleasure concerning the

great rebel Rory Oge MacCarthy MacMahon; secondly, that the said Tressilian was an agent of Monsieur,

coming to urge his suit to the hand of Elizabeth; thirdly, that he was the Duke of Medina, come over,

Tressilian was angry, and expostulated with the artist on the various inconveniences, and, in particular, the

unnecessary degree of attention to which they were subjected by the figments he thus circulated; but he was

pacified (for who could be proof against such an argument?) by Wayland's assuring him that a general

importance was attached to his own (Tressilian's) striking presence, which rendered it necessary to give an

At length they approached the metropolis, where, owing to the more general recourse of strangers, their

appearance excited neither observation nor inquiry, and finally they entered London itself.

It was Tressilian's purpose to go down directly to Deptford, where Lord Sussex resided, in order to be near

the court, then held at Greenwich, the favourite residence of Elizabeth, and honoured as her birthplace. Still a

brief halt in London was necessary; and it was somewhat prolonged by the earnest entreaties of Wayland

"Take thy sword and buckler, and follow me, then," said Tressilian; "I am about to walk myself, and we will

This he said, because he was not altogether so secure of the fidelity of his new retainer as to lose sight of him

at this interesting moment, when rival factions at the court of Elizabeth were running so high. Wayland Smith

willingly acquiesced in the precaution, of which he probably conjectured the motive, but only stipulated that

his master should enter the shops of such chemists or apothecaries as he should point out, in walking through

Fleet Street, and permit him to make some necessary purchases. Tressilian agreed, and obeying the signal of

his attendant, walked successively into more than four or five shops, where he observed that Wayland

purchased in each only one single drug, in various quantities. The medicines which he first asked for were

readily furnished, each in succession, but those which he afterwards required were less easily supplied; and

Tressilian observed that Wayland more than once, to the surprise of the shopkeeper, returned the gum or herb

that was offered to him, and compelled him to exchange it for the right sort, or else went on to seek it

elsewhere. But one ingredient, in particular, seemed almost impossible to be found. Some chemists plainly

admitted they had never seen it; others denied that such a drug existed, excepting in the imagination of crazy

alchemists; and most of them attempted to satisfy their customer, by producing some substitute, which, when

rejected by Wayland, as not being what he had asked for, they maintained possessed, in a superior degree, the

selfsame qualities. In general they all displayed some curiosity concerning the purpose for which he wanted

it. One old, meagre chemist, to whom the artist put the usual question, in terms which Tressilian neither

understood nor could recollect, answered frankly, there was none of that drug in London, unless Yoglan the

"I thought as much," said Wayland. And as soon as they left the shop, he said to Tressilian, "I crave your

pardon, sir, but no artist can work without his tools. I must needs go to this Yoglan's; and I promise you, that

if this detains you longer than your leisure seems to permit, you shall, nevertheless, be well repaid by the use

I will make of this rare drug. Permit me," he added, "to walk before you, for we are now to quit the broad

Tressilian acquiesced, and, following the smith down a lane which turned to the left hand towards the river,

he found that his guide walked on with great speed, and apparently perfect knowledge of the town, through a

labyrinth of bystreets, courts, and blind alleys, until at length Wayland paused in the midst of a very narrow

lane, the termination of which showed a peep of the Thames looking misty and muddy, which background

was crossed saltierwise, as Mr. Mumblazen might have said, by the masts of two lighters that lay waiting for

the tide. The shop under which he halted had not, as in modern days, a glazed window, but a paltry canvas

screen surrounded such a stall as a cobbler now occupies, having the front open, much in the manner of a

fishmonger's booth of the present day. A little old smockfaced man, the very reverse of a Jew in

complexion, for he was very softhaired as well as beardless, appeared, and with many courtesies asked

Wayland what he pleased to want. He had no sooner named the drug, than the Jew started and looked

surprised. "And vat might your vorship vant vith that drug, which is not named, mein God, in forty years as I

"These questions it is no part of my commission to answer," said Wayland; "I only wish to know if you have

"Ay, mein God, for having it, that I have, and for selling it, I am a chemist, and sell every drug." So saying,

he exhibited a powder, and then continued, "But it will cost much moneys. Vat I ave cost its weight in

golday, gold wellrefinedI vilI say six times. It comes from Mount Sinai, where we had our blessed

"I do not know how often it is gathered on Mount Sinai," said Wayland, after looking at the drug offered him

with great disdain, "but I will wager my sword and buckler against your gaberdine, that this trash you offer

me, instead of what I asked for, may be had for gathering any day of the week in the castle ditch of Aleppo."

"You are a rude man," said the Jew; "and, besides, I ave no better than thator if I ave, I will not sell it

The artist made brief answer in a language of which Tressilian could not understand a word, and which

seemed to strike the Jew with the utmost astonishment. He stared upon Wayland like one who has suddenly

recognized some mighty hero or dreaded potentate, in the person of an unknown and unmarked stranger.

"Holy Elias!" he exclaimed, when he had recovered the first stunning effects of his surprise; and then passing

from his former suspicious and surly manner to the very extremity of obsequiousness, he cringed low to the

artist, and besought him to enter his poor house, to bless his miserable threshold by crossing it.

"Vill you not taste a cup vith the poor Jew, Zacharias Yoglan? Vill you Tokay ave?vill you Lachrymae

"You offend in your proffers," said Wayland; "minister to me in what I require of you, and forbear further

The rebuked Israelite took his bunch of keys, and opening with circumspection a cabinet which seemed more

strongly secured than the other cases of drugs and medicines amongst which it stood, he drew out a little

secret drawer, having a glass lid, and containing a small portion of a black powder. This he offered to

Wayland, his manner conveying the deepest devotion towards him, though an avaricious and jealous

expression, which seemed to grudge every grain of what his customer was about to possess himself, disputed

ground in his countenance with the obsequious deference which he desired it should exhibit.

The Jew pointed to those which lay ready for common use in the shop, but he did so with a puzzled

"They must be other than these," said Wayland sternly. "Know you not that holy things lose their virtue if

The Jew hung his head, took from a steelplated casket a pair of scales beautifully mounted, and said, as he

adjusted them for the artist's use, "With these I do mine own experimentone hair of the highpriest's beard

"It suffices," said the artist, and weighed out two drachms for himself of the black powder, which he very

carefully folded up, and put into his pouch with the other drugs. He then demanded the price of the Jew, who

"No priceno, nothing at all from such as you. But you will see the poor Jew again? you will look into his

laboratory, where, God help him, he hath dried himself to the substance of the withered gourd of Jonah, the

holy prophet. You will ave pity on him, and show him one little step on the great road?"

"Hush!" said Wayland, laying his finger mysteriously on his mouth; "it may be we shall meet again. Thou

hast already the SCHAHMAJM, as thine own Rabbis call itthe general creation; watch, therefore, and

pray, for thou must attain the knowledge of Alchahest Elixir Samech ere I may commune further with thee."

Then returning with a slight nod the reverential congees of the Jew, he walked gravely up the lane, followed

by his master, whose first observation on the scene he had just witnessed was, that Wayland ought to have

"I pay him?" said the artist. "May the foul fiend pay me if I do! Had it not been that I thought it might

displease your worship, I would have had an ounce or two of gold out of him, in exchange of the same just

"I advise you to practise no such knavery while waiting upon me," said Tressilian.

"Did I not say," answered the artist, "that for that reason alone I forbore him for the present?Knavery, call

you it? Why, yonder wretched skeleton hath wealth sufficient to pave the whole lane he lives in with dollars,

and scarce miss them out of his own iron chest; yet he goes mad after the philosopher's stone. And besides, he

would have cheated a poor servingman, as he thought me at first, with trash that was not worth a penny.

Match for match, quoth the devil to the collier; if his false medicine was worth my good crowns, my true

"It may be so, for aught I know," said Tressilian, "in dealing amongst Jews and apothecaries; but understand

that to have such tricks of legerdemain practised by one attending on me diminishes my honour, and that I

"I have, sir," replied Wayland; "and with these drugs will I, this very day, compound the true orvietan, that

noble medicine which is so seldom found genuine and effective within these realms of Europe, for want of

that most rare and precious drug which I got but now from Yoglan." [Orvietan, or Venice treacle, as it was

sometimes called, was understood to be a sovereign remedy against poison; and the reader must be contented,

for the time he peruses these pages, to hold the same opinion, which was once universally received by the

"But why not have made all your purchases at one shop?" said his master; "we have lost nearly an hour in

"Content you, sir," said Wayland. "No man shall learn my secret; and it would not be mine long, were I to

They now returned to their inn (the famous BellSavage); and while the Lord Sussex's servant prepared the

horses for their journey, Wayland, obtaining from the cook the service of a mortar, shut himself up in a

private chamber, where he mixed, pounded, and amalgamated the drugs which he had bought, each in its due

proportion, with a readiness and address that plainly showed him well practised in all the manual operations

By the time Wayland's electuary was prepared the horses were ready, and a short hour's riding brought them

to the present habitation of Lord Sussex, an ancient house, called Sayes Court, near Deptford, which had long

pertained to a family of that name, but had for upwards of a century been possessed by the ancient and

honourable family of Evelyn. The present representative of that ancient house took a deep interest in the Earl

of Sussex, and had willingly accommodated both him and his numerous retinue in his hospitable mansion.

Sayes Court was afterwards the residence of the celebrated Mr. Evelyn, whose "Silva" is still the manual of

British planters; and whose life, manners, and principles, as illustrated in his Memoirs, ought equally to be

Sayes Court was watched like a beleaguered fort; and so high rose the suspicions of the time, that Tressilian

and his attendants were stopped and questioned repeatedly by sentinels, both on foot and horseback, as they

approached the abode of the sick Earl. In truth, the high rank which Sussex held in Queen Elizabeth's favour,

and his known and avowed rivalry of the Earl of Leicester, caused the utmost importance to be attached to his

welfare; for, at the period we treat of, all men doubted whether he or the Earl of Leicester might ultimately

Elizabeth, like many of her sex, was fond of governing by factions, so as to balance two opposing interests,

and reserve in her own hand the power of making either predominate, as the interest of the state, or perhaps

as her own female caprice (for to that foible even she was not superior), might finally determine. To

finesseto hold the cardsto oppose one interest to anotherto bridle him who thought himself highest in

her esteem, by the fears he must entertain of another equally trusted, if not equally beloved, were arts which

she used throughout her reign, and which enabled her, though frequently giving way to the weakness of

The two nobles who at present stood as rivals in her favour possessed very different pretensions to share it;

yet it might be in general said that the Earl of Sussex had been most serviceable to the Queen, while Leicester

was most dear to the woman. Sussex was, according to the phrase of the times, a martialisthad done good

service in Ireland and in Scotland, and especially in the great northern rebellion, in 1569, which was quelled,

in a great measure, by his military talents. He was, therefore, naturally surrounded and looked up to by those

who wished to make arms their road to distinction. The Earl of Sussex, moreover, was of more ancient and

honourable descent than his rival, uniting in his person the representation of the FitzWalters, as well as of

the Ratcliffes; while the scutcheon of Leicester was stained by the degradation of his grandfather, the

oppressive minister of Henry VII., and scarce improved by that of his father, the unhappy Dudley, Duke of

Northumberland, executed on Tower Hill, August 22, 1553. But in person, features, and address, weapons so

formidable in the court of a female sovereign, Leicester had advantages more than sufficient to

counterbalance the military services, high blood, and frank bearing of the Earl of Sussex; and he bore, in the

eye of the court and kingdom, the higher share in Elizabeth's favour, though (for such was her uniform

policy) by no means so decidedly expressed as to warrant him against the final preponderance of his rival's

pretensions. The illness of Sussex therefore happened so opportunely for Leicester, as to give rise to strange

surmises among the public; while the followers of the one Earl were filled with the deepest apprehensions,

and those of the other with the highest hopes of its probable issue. Meanwhilefor in that old time men

never forgot the probability that the matter might be determined by length of swordthe retainers of each

noble flocked around their patron, appeared well armed in the vicinity of the court itself, and disturbed the ear

of the sovereign by their frequent and alarming debates, held even within the precincts of her palace. This

preliminary statement is necessary, to render what follows intelligible to the reader. [See Note 3. Leicester

On Tressilian's arrival at Sayes Court, he found the place filled with the retainers of the Earl of Sussex, and of

the gentlemen who came to attend their patron in his illness. Arms were in every hand, and a deep gloom on

every countenance, as if they had apprehended an immediate and violent assault from the opposite faction. In

the hall, however, to which Tressilian was ushered by one of the Earl's attendants, while another went to

inform Sussex of his arrival, he found only two gentlemen in waiting. There was a remarkable contrast in

their dress, appearance, and manners. The attire of the elder gentleman, a person as it seemed of quality and

in the prime of life, was very plain and soldierlike, his stature low, his limbs stout, his bearing ungraceful,

and his features of that kind which express sound common sense, without a grain of vivacity or imagination.

The younger, who seemed about twenty, or upwards, was clad in the gayest habit used by persons of quality

at the period, wearing a crimson velvet cloak richly ornamented with lace and embroidery, with a bonnet of

the same, encircled with a gold chain turned three times round it, and secured by a medal. His hair was

adjusted very nearly like that of some fine gentlemen of our own timethat is, it was combed upwards, and

made to stand as it were on end; and in his ears he wore a pair of silver earrings, having each a pearl of

considerable size. The countenance of this youth, besides being regularly handsome and accompanied by a

fine person, was animated and striking in a degree that seemed to speak at once the firmness of a decided and

the fire of an enterprising character, the power of reflection, and the promptitude of determination.

Both these gentlemen reclined nearly in the same posture on benches near each other; but each seeming

engaged in his own meditations, looked straight upon the wall which was opposite to them, without speaking

to his companion. The looks of the elder were of that sort which convinced the beholder that, in looking on

the wall, he saw no more than the side of an old hall hung around with cloaks, antlers, bucklers, old pieces of

armour, partisans, and the similar articles which were usually the furniture of such a place. The look of the

younger gallant had in it something imaginative; he was sunk in reverie, and it seemed as if the empty space

of air betwixt him and the wall were the stage of a theatre on which his fancy was mustering his own

DRAMATIS PERSONAE, and treating him with sights far different from those which his awakened and

At the entrance of Tressilian both started from their musing, and made him welcomethe younger, in

"Thou art welcome, Tressilian," said the youth. "Thy philosophy stole thee from us when this household had

objects of ambition to offer; it is an honest philosophy, since it returns thee to us when there are only dangers

"We fear the very worst," answered the elder gentleman, "and by the worst practice."

"What doth he with such attendants, then, as he hath about him?" said the younger gallant. "The man who

raises the devil may be honest, but he is answerable for the mischief which the fiend does, for all that."

"And is this all of you, my mates," inquired Tressilian, "that are about my lord in his utmost straits?"

"No, no," replied the elder gentleman, "there are Tracy, Markham, and several more; but we keep watch here

"And some," said the young man," are gone down to the Dock yonder at Deptford, to look out such a hull; as

they may purchase by clubbing their broken fortunes; and as soon as all is over, we will lay our noble lord in

a noble green grave, have a blow at those who have hurried him thither, if opportunity suits, and then sail for

"It may be," said Tressilian, "that I will embrace the same purpose, so soon as I have settled some business at

"Thou business at court!" they both exclaimed at once, "and thou make the Indian voyage!"

"Why, Tressilian," said the younger man, "art thou not wedded, and beyond these flaws of fortune, that drive

folks out to sea when their bark bears fairest for the haven? What has become of the lovely Indamira that

"Ay, stands it so with you?" said the youth, taking his hand very affectionately; "then, fear not I will again

touch the green wound. But it is strange as well as sad news. Are none of our fair and merry fellowship to

escape shipwreck of fortune and happiness in this sudden tempest? I had hoped thou wert in harbour, at least,

'What man that sees the ever whirling wheel Of Chance, the which all mortal things doth sway, But that

thereby doth find and plainly feel, How Mutability in them doth play Her cruel sports to many men's decay.'"

The elder gentleman had risen from his bench, and was pacing the hall with some impatience, while the

youth, with much earnestness and feeling, recited these lines. When he had done, the other wrapped himself

in his cloak, and again stretched himself down, saying, "I marvel, Tressilian, you will feed the lad in this silly

humour. If there were ought to draw a judgment upon a virtuous and honourable household like my lord's,

renounce me if I think not it were this piping, whining, childish trick of poetry, that came among us with

Master Walter Wittypate here and his comrades, twisting into all manner of uncouth and incomprehensible

forms of speech, the honest plain English phrase which God gave us to express our meaning withal."

"Blount believes," said his comrade, laughing, "the devil woo'd Eve in rhyme, and that the mystic meaning of

the Tree of Knowledge refers solely to the art of clashing rhymes and meting out hexameters." [See Note 4.

At this moment the Earl's chamberlain entered, and informed Tressilian that his lord required to speak with

He found Lord Sussex dressed, but unbraced, and lying on his couch, and was shocked at the alteration

disease had made in his person. The Earl received him with the most friendly cordiality, and inquired into the

state of his courtship. Tressilian evaded his inquiries for a moment, and turning his discourse on the Earl's

own health, he discovered, to his surprise, that the symptoms of his disorder corresponded minutely with

those which Wayland had predicated concerning it. He hesitated not, therefore, to communicate to Sussex the

whole history of his attendant, and the pretensions he set up to cure the disorder under which he laboured.

The Earl listened with incredulous attention until the name of Demetrius was mentioned, and then suddenly

called to his secretary to bring him a certain casket which contained papers of importance. "Take out from

thence," he said, "the declaration of the rascal cook whom we had under examination, and look heedfully if

The secretary turned to the passage at once, and read, "And said declarant, being examined, saith, That he

remembers having made the sauce to the said sturgeonfish, after eating of which the said noble Lord was

"Pass over his trash," said the Earl, "and see whether he had not been supplied with his materials by a

"It is even so," answered the secretary. "And he adds, he has not since seen the said Demetrius."

"This accords with thy fellow's story, Tressilian," said the Earl; "call him hither."

On being summoned to the Earl's presence, Wayland Smith told his former tale with firmness and

"It may be," said the Earl, "thou art sent by those who have begun this work, to end it for them; but bethink, if

"That were severe measure," said Wayland, "since the issue of medicine, and the end of life, are in God's

disposal. But I will stand the risk. I have not lived so long under ground to be afraid of a grave."

"Nay, if thou be'st so confident," said the Earl of Sussex, "I will take the risk too, for the learned can do

"That will I do presently," said Wayland; "but allow me to condition that, since I incur all the risk of this

While Wayland obeyed the Earl's commands, his servants, by the artist's direction, undressed their master,

"I warn you," he said, "that the first operation of this medicine will be to produce a heavy sleep, during which

time the chamber must be kept undisturbed, as the consequences may otherwise he fatal. I myself will watch

"And saving me also," said Tressilian. "I too am deeply interested in the effects of this potion."

"Be it so, good friend," said the Earl. "And now for our experiment; but first call my secretary and

"Bear witness," he continued, when these officers arrived"bear witness for me, gentlemen, that our

honourable friend Tressilian is in no way responsible for the effects which this medicine may produce upon

me, the taking it being my own free action and choice, in regard I believe it to be a remedy which God has

furnished me by unexpected means to recover me of my present malady. Commend me to my noble and

princely Mistress; and say that I live and die her true servant, and wish to all about her throne the same

singleness of heart and will to serve her, with more ability to do so than hath been assigned to poor Thomas

He then folded his hands, and seemed for a second or two absorbed in mental devotion, then took the potion

in his hand, and, pausing, regarded Wayland with a look that seemed designed to penetrate his very soul, but

which caused no anxiety or hesitation in the countenance or manner of the artist.

"Here is nothing to be feared," said Sussex to Tressilian, and swallowed the medicine without further

"I am now to pray your lordship," said Wayland, "to dispose yourself to rest as commodiously as you can;

and of you, gentlemen, to remain as still and mute as if you waited at your mother's deathbed."

The chamberlain and secretary then withdrew, giving orders that all doors should be bolted, and all noise in

the house strictly prohibited. Several gentlemen were voluntary watchers in the hall, but none remained in the

chamber of the sick Earl, save his groom of the chamber, the artist, and Tressilian.Wayland Smith's

predictions were speedily accomplished, and a sleep fell upon the Earl, so deep and sound that they who

watched his bedside began to fear that, in his weakened state, he might pass away without awakening from

his lethargy. Wayland Smith himself appeared anxious, and felt the temples of the Earl slightly, from time to

time, attending particularly to the state of his respiration, which was full and deep, but at the same time easy

There is no period at which men look worse in the eyes of each other, or feel more uncomfortable, than when

the first dawn of daylight finds them watchers. Even a beauty of the first order, after the vigils of a ball are

interrupted by the dawn, would do wisely to withdraw herself from the gaze of her fondest and most partial

admirers. Such was the pale, inauspicious, and ungrateful light which began to beam upon those who kept

watch all night in the hall at Sayes Court, and which mingled its cold, pale, blue diffusion with the red,

yellow, and smoky beams of expiring lamps and torches. The young gallant, whom we noticed in our last

chapter, had left the room for a few minutes, to learn the cause of a knocking at the outward gate, and on his

return was so struck with the forlorn and ghastly aspects of his companions of the watch that he exclaimed,

"Pity of my heart, my masters, how like owls you look! Methinks, when the sun rises, I shall see you flutter

off with your eyes dazzled, to stick yourselves into the next ivytod or ruined steeple."

Is this a time for jeering, when the manhood of England is perchance dying within a wall's breadth of thee?"

"Why, so thou didst, thou peevish fool," answered the youth; "thou didst lie on that bench even now, didst

thou not? But art thou not a hasty coxcomb to pick up a wry word so wrathfully? Nevertheless, loving and,

honouring my lord as truly as thou, or any one, I do say that, should Heaven take him from us, all England's

"And a good portion with thyself, Blount, and with stout Markham here, and Tracy, and all of us. But I am he

"Why, sirs," answered the youth, "ye are like goodly land, which bears no crop because it is not quickened by

manure; but I have that rising spirit in me which will make my poor faculties labour to keep pace with it. My

"I pray to God it does not drive thee mad," said Blount; "for my part, if we lose our noble lord, I bid adieu to

the court and to the camp both. I have five hundred foul acres in Norfolk, and thither will I, and change the

"O base transmutation!" exclaimed his antagonist; "thou hast already got the true rustic slouchthy

shoulders stoop, as if thine hands were at the stilts of the plough; and thou hast a kind of earthy smell about

thee, instead of being perfumed with essence, as a gallant and courtier should. On my soul, thou hast stolen

out to roll thyself on a hay mow! Thy only excuse will be to swear by thy hilts that the farmer had a fair

"I pray thee, Walter," said another of the company, "cease thy raillery, which suits neither time nor place, and

"Doctor Masters, physician to her Grace in ordinary, sent by her especial orders to inquire after the Earl's

"Ha! what?" exclaimed Tracy; "that was no slight mark of favour. If the Earl can but come through, he will

"Nay," replied Walter, "he is half way back to Greenwich by this time, and in high dudgeon."

"I refused him admittance as flatly, Blount, as you would refuse a penny to a blind beggaras obstinately,

"Why, in the fiend's name, didst thou trust him to go to the gate?" said Blount to Tracy.

"It suited his years better than mine," answered Tracy; "but he has undone us all now thoroughly. My lord

"Nor the means of making fortunes for his followers," said the young gallant, smiling

contemptuously;"there lies the sore point that will brook no handling. My good sirs, I sounded my

lamentations over my lord somewhat less loudly than some of you; but when the point comes of doing him

service, I will yield to none of you. Had this learned leech entered, think'st thou not there had been such a coil

betwixt him and Tressilian's mediciner, that not the sleeper only, but the very dead might have awakened? I

"And who is to take the blame of opposing the Queen's orders?" said Tracy; "for, undeniably, Doctor Masters

"Thus, then, off fly the dreams of court favour thou hast nourished," said Blount, "and despite all thy boasted

art and ambition, Devonshire will see thee shine a true younger brother, fit to sit low at the board, carve turn

about with the chaplain, look that the hounds be fed, and see the squire's girths drawn when he goes

"Not so," said the young man, colouring, "not while Ireland and the Netherlands have wars, and not while the

sea hath pathless waves. The rich West hath lands undreamed of, and Britain contains bold hearts to venture

on the quest of them. Adieu for a space, my masters. I go to walk in the court and look to the sentinels."

"The lad hath quicksilver in his veins, that is certain," said Blount, looking at Markham.

"He hath that both in brain and blood," said Markham, "which may either make or mar him. But in closing

the door against Masters, he hath done a daring and loving piece of service; for Tressilian's fellow hath ever

averred that to wake the Earl were death, and Masters would wake the Seven Sleepers themselves, if he

Morning was well advanced when Tressilian, fatigued and over watched, came down to the hall with the

joyful intelligence that the Earl had awakened of himself, that he found his internal complaints much

mitigated, and spoke with a cheerfulness, and looked round with a vivacity, which of themselves showed a

material and favourable change had taken place. Tressilian at the same time commanded the attendance of

one or two of his followers, to report what had passed during the night, and to relieve the watchers in the

When the message of the Queen was communicated to the Earl of Sussex, he at first smiled at the repulse

which the physician had received from his zealous young follower; but instantly recollecting himself, he

commanded Blount, his master of the horse, instantly to take boat, and go down the river to the Palace of

Greenwich, taking young Walter and Tracy with him, and make a suitable compliment, expressing his

grateful thanks to his Sovereign, and mentioning the cause why he had not been enabled to profit by the

"A plague on it!" said Blount, as he descended the stairs; "had he sent me with a cartel to Leicester I think I

should have done his errand indifferently well. But to go to our gracious Sovereign, before whom all words

must be lacquered over either with gilding or with sugar, is such a confectionary matter as clean baffles my

poor old English brain.Come with me, Tracy, and come you too, Master Walter Wittypate, that art the

cause of our having all this ado. Let us see if thy neat brain, that frames so many flashy fireworks, can help

"Never fear, never fear," exclaimed the youth, "it is I will help you through; let me but fetch my cloak."

"No, No, this is Tracy's old mantle," answered Walter. "I go not with thee to court unless as a gentleman

"Why," Said Blount, "thy braveries are like to dazzle the eyes of none but some poor groom or porter."

"I know that," said the youth; "but I am resolved I will have my own cloak, ay, and brush my doublet to boot,

"Well, well," said Blount, "here is a coil about a doublet and a cloak. Get thyself ready, a God's name!"

They were soon launched on the princely bosom of the broad Thames, upon which the sun now shone forth in

"There are two things scarce matched in the universe," said Walter to Blount"the sun in heaven, and the

"The one will light us to Greenwich well enough," said Blount, "and the other would take us there a little

"And this is all thou thinkestall thou carestall thou deemest the use of the King of Elements and the

King of Riversto guide three such poor caitiffs as thyself, and me, and Tracy, upon an idle journey of

"It is no errand of my seeking, faith," replied Blount, "and I could excuse both the sun and the Thames the

trouble of carrying me where I have no great mind to go, and where I expect but dog's wages for my

troubleand by my honour," he added, looking out from the head of the boat, "it seems to me as if our

message were a sort of labour in vain, for, see, the Queen's barge lies at the stairs as if her Majesty were

It was even so. The royal barge, manned with the Queen's watermen richly attired in the regal liveries, and

having the Banner of England displayed, did indeed lie at the great stairs which ascended from the river, and

along with it two or three other boats for transporting such part of her retinue as were not in immediate

attendance on the royal person. The yeomen of the guard, the tallest and most handsome men whom England

could produce, guarded with their halberds the passage from the palace gate to the river side, and all seemed

"By my faith, this bodes us no good," said Blount; "it must be some perilous cause puts her Grace in motion

thus untimeously, By my counsel, we were best put back again, and tell the Earl what we have seen."

"Tell the Earl what we have seen!" said Walter; "why what have we seen but a boat, and men with scarlet

jerkins, and halberds in their hands? Let us do his errand, and tell him what the Queen says in reply."

So saying, he caused the boat to be pulled towards a landing place at some distance from the principal one,

which it would not, at that moment, have been thought respectful to approach, and jumped on shore,

followed, though with reluctance, by his cautious and timid companions. As they approached the gate of the

palace, one of the sergeant porters told them they could not at present enter, as her Majesty was in the act of

coming forth. The gentlemen used the name of the Earl of Sussex; but it proved no charm to subdue the

officer, who alleged, in reply, that it was as much as his post was worth to disobey in the least tittle the

"Nay, I told you as much before," said Blount; "do, I pray you, my dear Walter, let us take boat and return."

"And thou," said Walter, "art turned coward of the sudden. I have seen thee face half a score of shagheaded

Irish kerns to thy own share of them; and now thou wouldst blink and go back to shun the frown of a fair

At this moment the gates opened, and ushers began to issue forth in array, preceded and flanked by the band

of Gentlemen Pensioners. After this, amid a crowd of lords and ladies, yet so disposed around her that she

could see and be seen on all sides, came Elizabeth herself, then in the prime of womanhood, and in the full

glow of what in a Sovereign was called beauty, and who would in the lowest rank of life have been truly

judged a noble figure, joined to a striking and commanding physiognomy. She leant on the arm of Lord

Hunsdon, whose relation to her by her mother's side often procured him such distinguished marks of

The young cavalier we have so often mentioned had probably never yet approached so near the person of his

Sovereign, and he pressed forward as far as the line of warders permitted, in order to avail himself of the

present opportunity. His companion, on the contrary, cursing his imprudence, kept pulling him backwards,

till Walter shook him off impatiently, and letting his rich cloak drop carelessly from one shoulder; a natural

action, which served, however, to display to the best advantage his well proportioned person. Unbonneting

at the same time, he fixed his eager gaze on the Queen's approach, with a mixture of respectful curiosity and

modest yet ardent admiration, which suited so well with his fine features that the warders, struck with his rich

attire and noble countenance, suffered him to approach the ground over which the Queen was to pass,

somewhat closer than was permitted to ordinary spectators. Thus the adventurous youth stood full in

Elizabeth's eyean eye never indifferent to the admiration which she deservedly excited among her subjects,

or to the fair proportions of external form which chanced to distinguish any of her courtiers.

Accordingly, she fixed her keen glance on the youth, as she approached the place where he stood, with a look

in which surprise at his boldness seemed to be unmingled with resentment, while a trifling accident happened

which attracted her attention towards him yet more strongly. The night had been rainy, and just where the

young gentleman stood a small quantity of mud interrupted the Queen's passage. As she hesitated to pass on,

the gallant, throwing his cloak from his shoulders, laid it on the miry spot, so as to ensure her stepping over it

dryshod. Elizabeth looked at the young man, who accompanied this act of devoted courtesy with a profound

reverence, and a blush that overspread his whole countenance. The Queen was confused, and blushed in her

turn, nodded her head, hastily passed on, and embarked in her barge without saying a word.

"Come along, Sir Coxcomb," said Blount; "your gay cloak will need the brush today, I wot. Nay, if you had

meant to make a footcloth of your mantle, better have kept Tracy's old drabde bure, which despises all

"This cloak," said the youth, taking it up and folding it, "shall never be brushed while in my possession."

"And that will not be long, if you learn not a little more economy; we shall have you in CUERPO soon, as the

"I was sent," said he, after looking at them attentively, "to a gentleman who hath no cloak, or a muddy

one.You, sir, I think," addressing the younger cavalier, "are the man; you will please to follow me."

"He is in attendance on me," said Blount"on me, the noble Earl of Sussex's master of horse."

"I have nothing to say to that," answered the messenger; "my orders are directly from her Majesty, and

So saying, he walked away, followed by Walter, leaving the others behind, Blount's eyes almost starting from

his head with the excess of his astonishment. At length he gave vent to it in an exclamation, "Who the good

jere would have thought this!" And shaking his head with a mysterious air, he walked to his own boat,

The young cavalier was in the meanwhile guided to the waterside by the Pensioner, who showed him

considerable respect; a circumstance which, to persons in his situation, may be considered as an augury of no

small consequence. He ushered him into one of the wherries which lay ready to attend the Queen's barge,

which was already proceeding; up the river, with the advantage of that floodtide of which, in the course of

The two rowers used their oars with such expedition at the signal of the Gentleman Pensioner, that they very

soon brought their little skiff under the stern of the Queen's boat, where she sat beneath an awning, attended

by two or three ladies, and the nobles of her household. She looked more than once at the wherry in which the

young adventurer was seated, spoke to those around her, and seemed to laugh. At length one of the

attendants, by the Queen's order apparently, made a sign for the wherry to come alongside, and the young

man was desired to step from his own skiff into the Queen's barge, which he performed with graceful agility

at the fore part of the boat, and was brought aft to the Queen's presence, the wherry at the same time dropping

into the rear. The youth underwent the gaze of Majesty, not the less gracefully that his selfpossession was

mingled with embarrassment. The muddled cloak still hung upon his arm, and formed the natural topic with

"You have this day spoiled a gay mantle in our behalf, young man. We thank you for your service, though the

"In a sovereign's need," answered the youth, "it is each liege man's duty to be bold."

"God's pity! that was well said, my lord," said the Queen, turning to a grave person who sat by her, and

answered with a grave inclination of the head, and something of a mumbled assent."Well, young man,

your gallantry shall not go unrewarded. Go to the wardrobe keeper, and he shall have orders to supply the suit

which you have cast away in our service. Thou shalt have a suit, and that of the newest cut, I promise thee, on

"May it please your Grace," said Walter, hesitating, "it is not for so humble a servant of your Majesty to

"Thou wouldst have gold, I warrant me," said the Queen, interrupting him. "Fie, young man! I take shame to

say that in our capital such and so various are the means of thriftless folly, that to give gold to youth is giving

fuel to fire, and furnishing them with the means of selfdestruction. If I live and reign, these means of

unchristian excess shall be abridged. Yet thou mayest be poor," she added, "or thy parents may be. It shall be

Walter waited patiently until the Queen had done, and then modestly assured her that gold was still less in his

"How, boy!" said the Queen, "neither gold nor garment? What is it thou wouldst have of me, then?"

"Only permission, madamif it is not asking too high an honour permission to wear the cloak which did

"It is no longer mine," said Walter; "when your Majesty's foot touched it, it became a fit mantle for a prince,

The Queen again blushed, and endeavoured to cover, by laughing, a slight degree of not unpleasing surprise

"Heard you ever the like, my lords? The youth's head is turned with reading romances. I must know

"A gentleman of the household of the Earl of Sussex, so please your Grace, sent hither with his master of

In a moment the gracious expression which Elizabeth's face had hitherto maintained, gave way to an

"My Lord of Sussex," she said, "has taught us how to regard his messages by the value he places upon ours.

We sent but this morning the physician in ordinary of our chamber, and that at no usual time, understanding

his lordship's illness to be more dangerous than we had before apprehended. There is at no court in Europe a

man more skilled in this holy and most useful science than Doctor Masters, and he came from Us to our

subject. Nevertheless, he found the gate of Sayes Court defended by men with culverins, as if it had been on

the borders of Scotland, not in the vicinity of our court; and when he demanded admittance in our name, it

was stubbornly refused. For this slight of a kindness, which had but too much of condescension in it, we will

receive, at present at least, no excuse; and some such we suppose to have been the purport of my Lord of

This was uttered in a tone and with a gesture which made Lord Sussex's friends who were within hearing

tremble. He to whom the speech was addressed, however, trembled not; but with great deference and

humility, as soon as the Queen's passion gave him an opportunity, he replied, "So please your most gracious

"With what were you then charged, sir?" said the Queen, with the impetuosity which, amid nobler qualities,

strongly marked her character. "Was it with a justification?or, God's death! with a defiance?"

"Madam," said the young man, "my Lord of Sussex knew the offence approached towards treason, and could

think of nothing save of securing the offender, and placing him in your Majesty's hands, and at your mercy.

The noble Earl was fast asleep when your most gracious message reached him, a potion having been

administered to that purpose by his physician; and his Lordship knew not of the ungracious repulse your

Majesty's royal and most comfortable message had received, until after he awoke this morning."

"And which of his domestics, then, in the name of Heaven, presumed to reject my message, without even

admitting my own physician to the presence of him whom I sent him to attend?" said the Queen, much

"The offender, madam, is before you," replied Walter, bowing very low; "the full and sole blame is mine; and

my lord has most justly sent me to abye the consequences of a fault, of which he is as innocent as a sleeping

"What! was it thou?thou thyself, that repelled my messenger and my physician from Sayes Court?" said

the Queen. "What could occasion such boldness in one who seems devotedthat is, whose exterior bearing

"Madam," said the youthwho, notwithstanding an assumed appearance of severity, thought that he saw

something in the Queen's face that resembled not implacability"we say in our country, that the physician is

for the time the liege sovereign of his patient. Now, my noble master was then under dominion of a leech, by

whose advice he hath greatly profited, who had issued his commands that his patient should not that night be

"I know not, madam, but by the fact that he is nowthis very morningawakened much refreshed and

The nobles looked at each other, but more with the purpose to see what each thought of this news, than to

exchange any remarks on what had happened. The Queen answered hastily, and without affecting to disguise

her satisfaction, "By my word, I am glad he is better. But thou wert overbold to deny the access of my

Doctor Masters. Knowest thou not the Holy Writ saith, 'In the multitude of counsel there is safety'?"

"Ay, madam," said Walter; "but I have heard learned men say that the safety spoken of is for the physicians,

"By my faith, child, thou hast pushed me home," said the Queen, laughing; "for my Hebrew learning does not

come quite at a call. How say you, my Lord of Lincoln? Hath the lad given a just interpretation of the

"The word SAFETY, most gracious madam," said the Bishop of Lincoln, "for so hath been translated, it may

"My lord," said the Queen, interrupting him, "we said we had forgotten our Hebrew.But for thee, young

"Raleigh is my name, most gracious Queen, the youngest son of a large but honourable family of

"Raleigh?" said Elizabeth, after a moment's recollection. "Have we not heard of your service in Ireland?"

"I have been so fortunate as to do some service there, madam," replied Raleigh; "scarce, however, of

"They hear farther than you think of," said the Queen graciously, "and have heard of a youth who defended a

ford in Shannon against a whole band of wild Irish rebels, until the stream ran purple with their blood and his

"Some blood I may have lost," said the youth, looking down, "but it was where my best is due, and that is in

The Queen paused, and then said hastily, "You are very young to have fought so well, and to speak so well.

But you must not escape your penance for turning back Masters. The poor man hath caught cold on the river

for our order reached him when he was just returned from certain visits in London, and he held it matter of

loyalty and conscience instantly to set forth again. So hark ye, Master Raleigh, see thou fail not to wear thy

muddy cloak, in token of penitence, till our pleasure be further known. And here," she added, giving him a

jewel of gold, in the form of a chessman, "I give thee this to wear at the collar."

Raleigh, to whom nature had taught intuitively, as it were, those courtly arts which many scarce acquire from

long experience, knelt, and, as he took from her hand the jewel, kissed the fingers which gave it. He knew,

perhaps, better than almost any of the courtiers who surrounded her, how to mingle the devotion claimed by

the Queen with the gallantry due to her personal beauty; and in this, his first attempt to unite them, he

succeeded so well as at once to gratify Elizabeth's personal vanity and her love of power. [See Note 5. Court

His master, the Earl of Sussex, had the full advantage of the satisfaction which Raleigh had afforded

"My lords and ladies," said the Queen, looking around to the retinue by whom she was attended, "methinks,

since we are upon the river, it were well to renounce our present purpose of going to the city, and surprise this

poor Earl of Sussex with a visit. He is ill, and suffering doubtless under the fear of our displeasure, from

which he hath been honestly cleared by the frank avowal of this malapert boy. What think ye? were it not an

act of charity to give him such consolation as the thanks of a Queen, much bound to him for his loyal service,

It may be readily supposed that none to whom this speech was addressed ventured to oppose its purport.

"Your Grace," said the Bishop of Lincoln, "is the breath of our nostrils." The men of war averred that the face

of the Sovereign was a whetstone to the soldier's sword; while the men of state were not less of opinion that

the light of the Queen's countenance was a lamp to the paths of her councillors; and the ladies agreed, with

one voice, that no noble in England so well deserved the regard of England's Royal Mistress as the Earl of

Sussexthe Earl of Leicester's right being reserved entire, so some of the more politic worded their assent,

an exception to which Elizabeth paid no apparent attention. The barge had, therefore, orders to deposit its

royal freight at Deptford, at the nearest and most convenient point of communication with Sayes Court, in

order that the Queen might satisfy her royal and maternal solicitude, by making personal inquiries after the

Raleigh, whose acute spirit foresaw and anticipated important consequences from the most trifling events,

hastened to ask the Queen's permission to go in the skiff; and announce the royal visit to his master;

ingeniously suggesting that the joyful surprise might prove prejudicial to his health, since the richest and

most generous cordials may sometimes be fatal to those who have been long in a languishing state.

But whether the Queen deemed it too presumptuous in so young a courtier to interpose his opinion unasked,

or whether she was moved by a recurrence of the feeling of jealousy which had been instilled into her by

reports that the Earl kept armed men about his person, she desired Raleigh, sharply, to reserve his counsel till

it was required of him, and repeated her former orders to be landed at Deptford, adding, "We will ourselves

"Now the Lord have pity on us!" said the young courtier to himself. "Good hearts, the Earl hath many a one

round him; but good heads are scarce with usand he himself is too ill to give direction. And Blount will be

at his morning meal of Yarmouth herrings and ale, and Tracy will have his beastly black puddings and

Rhenish; those thoroughpaced Welshmen, Thomas ap Rice and Evan Evans, will be at work on their leek

porridge and toasted cheese;and she detests, they say, all coarse meats, evil smells, and strong wines.

Could they but think of burning some rosemary in the great hall! but VOGUE LA GALERE, all must now be

trusted to chance. Luck hath done indifferent well for me this morning; for I trust I have spoiled a cloak, and

The royal barge soon stopped at Deptford, and, amid the loud shouts of the populace, which her presence

never failed to excite, the Queen, with a canopy borne over her head, walked, accompanied by her retinue,

towards Sayes Court, where the distant acclamations of the people gave the first notice of her arrival. Sussex,

who was in the act of advising with Tressilian how he should make up the supposed breach in the Queen's

favour, was infinitely surprised at learning her immediate approach. Not that the Queen's custom of visiting

her more distinguished nobility, whether in health or sickness, could be unknown to him; but the suddenness

of the communication left no time for those preparations with which he well knew Elizabeth loved to be

greeted, and the rudeness and confusion of his military household, much increased by his late illness,

Cursing internally the chance which thus brought her gracious visitation on him unaware, he hastened down

with Tressilian, to whose eventful and interesting story he had just given an attentive ear.

"My worthy friend," he said, "such support as I can give your accusation of Varney, you have a right to

expect, alike from justice and gratitude. Chance will presently show whether I can do aught with our

Sovereign, or whether, in very deed, my meddling in your affair may not rather prejudice than serve you."

Thus spoke Sussex while hastily casting around him a loose robe of sables, and adjusting his person in the

best manner he could to meet the eye of his Sovereign. But no hurried attention bestowed on his apparel

could remove the ghastly effects of long illness on a countenance which nature had marked with features

rather strong than pleasing. Besides, he was low of stature, and, though broadshouldered, athletic, and fit for

martial achievements, his presence in a peaceful hall was not such as ladies love to look upon; a personal

disadvantage, which was supposed to give Sussex, though esteemed and honoured by his Sovereign,

considerable disadvantage when compared with Leicester, who was alike remarkable for elegance of manners

The Earl's utmost dispatch only enabled him to meet the Queen as she entered the great hall, and he at once

perceived there was a cloud on her brow. Her jealous eye had noticed the martial array of armed gentlemen

and retainers with which the mansionhouse was filled, and her first words expressed her disapprobation. "Is

this a royal garrison, my Lord of Sussex, that it holds so many pikes and calivers? or have we by accident

"It needs not," she said. "My lord, we intend speedily to take up a certain quarrel between your lordship and

another great lord of our household, and at the same time to reprehend this uncivilized and dangerous practice

of surrounding yourselves with armed, and even with ruffianly followers, as if, in the neighbourhood of our

capital, nay in the very verge of our royal residence, you were preparing to wage civil war with each other.

We are glad to see you so well recovered, my lord, though without the assistance of the learned physician

whom we sent to you. Urge no excuse; we know how that matter fell out, and we have corrected for it the

wild slip, young Raleigh. By the way, my lord, we will speedily relieve your household of him, and take him

into our own. Something there is about him which merits to be better nurtured than he is like to be amongst

To this proposal Sussex, though scarce understanding how the Queen came to make it could only bow and

express his acquiescence. He then entreated her to remain till refreshment could be offered, but in this he

could not prevail. And after a few compliments of a much colder and more commonplace character than

might have been expected from a step so decidedly favourable as a personal visit, the Queen took her leave of

Sayes Court, having brought confusion thither along with her, and leaving doubt and apprehension behind.

"I am ordered to attend court tomorrow," said Leicester, speaking to Varney, "to meet, as they surmise, my

Lord of Sussex. The Queen intends to take up matters betwixt us. This comes of her visit to Sayes Court, of

"I maintain it was nothing," said Varney; "nay, I know from a sure intelligencer, who was within earshot of

much that was said, that Sussex has lost rather than gained by that visit. The Queen said, when she stepped

into the boat, that Sayes Court looked like a guardhouse, and smelt like an hospital. 'Like a cook's shop in

Ram's Alley, rather,' said the Countess of Rutland, who is ever your lordship's good friend. And then my

Lord of Lincoln must needs put in his holy oar, and say that my Lord of Sussex must be excused for his rude

"She took him up roundly," said Varney, "and asked what my Lord Sussex had to do with a wife, or my Lord

Bishop to speak on such a subject. 'If marriage is permitted,' she said, 'I nowhere read that it is enjoined.'"

"She likes not marriages, or speech of marriage, among churchmen," said Leicester.

"Nor among courtiers neither," said Varney; but, observing that Leicester changed countenance, he instantly

added, "that all the ladies who were present had joined in ridiculing Lord Sussex's housekeeping, and in

contrasting it with the reception her Grace would have assuredly received at my Lord of Leicester's."

"You have gathered much tidings," said Leicester, "but you have forgotten or omitted the most important of

all. She hath added another to those dangling satellites whom it is her pleasure to keep revolving around her."

"Your lordship meaneth that Raleigh, the Devonshire youth," said Varney"the Knight of the Cloak, as they

"He may be Knight of the Garter one day, for aught I know," said Leicester, "for he advances rapidlyshe

hath capped verses with him, and such fooleries. I would gladly abandon, of my own free will, the partI

have in her fickle favour; but I will not be elbowed out of it by the clown Sussex, or this new upstart. I hear

Tressilian is with Sussex also, and high in his favour. I would spare him for considerations, but he will thrust

"My lord," replied Varney, "there will be rubs in the smoothest road, specially when it leads uphill. Sussex's

illness was to us a godsend, from which I hoped much. He has recovered, indeed, but he is not now more

formidable than ere he fell ill, when he received more than one foil in wrestling with your lordship. Let not

"No, my lord," said Varney; "but it has betrayed you right often. He that would climb a tree, my lord, must

"Well, well, well!" said Leicester impatiently; "I understand thy meaningmy heart shall neither fail me nor

seduce me. Have my retinue in ordersee that their array be so splendid as to put down, not only the rude

companions of Ratcliffe, but the retainers of every other nobleman and courtier. Let them be well armed

withal, but without any outward display of their weapons, wearing them as if more for fashion's sake than for

The preparations of Sussex and his party were not less anxious than those of Leicester.

"Thy Supplication, impeaching Varney of seduction," said the Earl to Tressilian, "is by this time in the

Queen's handI have sent it through a sure channel. Methinks your suit should succeed, being, as it is,

founded in justice and honour, and Elizabeth being the very muster of both. ButI wot not howthe gipsy"

(so Sussex was wont to call his rival on account of his dark complexion) "hath much to say with her in these

holyday times of peace. Were war at the gates, I should be one of her white boys; but soldiers, like their

bucklers and Bilboa blades, get out of fashion in peace time, and satin sleeves and walking rapiers bear the

bell. Well, we must be gay, since such is the fashion. Blount, hast thou seen our household put into their

new braveries? "But thou knowest as little of these toys as I do; thou wouldst be ready enow at disposing a

"My good lord," answered Blount, "Raleigh hath been here, and taken that charge upon himyour train will

glitter like a May morning. Marry, the cost is another question. One might keep an hospital of old soldiers at

"He must not count cost today, Nicholas," said the Earl in reply. "I am beholden to Raleigh for his care. I

trust, though, he has remembered that I am an old soldier, and would have no more of these follies than needs

"Nay, I understand nought about it," said Blount; "but here are your honourable lordship's brave kinsmen and

friends coming in by scores to wait upon you to court, where, methinks, we shall bear as brave a front as

"Give them the strictest charges," said Sussex, "that they suffer no provocation short of actual violence to

provoke them into quarrel. They have hot bloods, and I would not give Leicester the advantage over me by

The Earl of Sussex ran so hastily through these directions, that it was with difficulty Tressilian at length

found opportunity to express his surprise that he should have proceeded so far in the affair of Sir Hugh

Robsart as to lay his petition at once before the Queen. "It was the opinion of the young lady's friends," he

said, "that Leicester's sense of justice should be first appealed to, as the offence had been committed by his

"This could have been done without applying to me," said Sussex, somewhat haughtily. "I at least, ought not

to have been a counsellor when the object was a humiliating reference to Leicester; and I am suprised that

you, Tressilian, a man of honour, and my friend, would assume such a mean course. If you said so, I certainly

"My lord," said Tressilian, "the course I would prefer, for my own sake, is that you have adopted; but the

"Oh, the friendsthe friends," said Sussex, interrupting him; "they must let us manage this cause in the way

which seems best. This is the time and the hour to accumulate every charge against Leicester and his

household, and yours the Queen will hold a heavy one. But at all events she hath the complaint before her."

Tressilian could not help suspecting that, in his eagerness to strengthen himself against his rival, Sussex had

purposely adopted the course most likely to throw odium on Leicester, without considering minutely whether

it were the mode of proceeding most likely to be attended with success. But the step was irrevocable, and

Sussex escaped from further discussing it by dismissing his company, with the command, "Let all be in order

at eleven o'clock; I must be at court and in the presence by high noon precisely."

While the rival statesmen were thus anxiously preparing for their approaching meeting in the Queen's

presence, even Elizabeth herself was not without apprehension of what might chance from the collision of

two such fiery spirits, each backed by a strong and numerous body of followers, and dividing betwixt them,

either openly or in secret, the hopes and wishes of most of her court. The band of Gentlemen Pensioners were

all under arms, and a reinforcement of the yeomen of the guard was brought down the Thames from London.

A royal proclamation was sent forth, strictly prohibiting nobles of whatever degree to approach the Palace

with retainers or followers armed with shot or with long weapons; and it was even whispered that the High

Sheriff of Kent had secret instructions to have a part of the array of the county ready on the shortest notice.

The eventful hour, thus anxiously prepared for on all sides, at length approached, and, each followed by his

long and glittering train of friends and followers, the rival Earls entered the Palace Yard of Greenwich at

As if by previous arrangement, or perhaps by intimation that such was the Queen's pleasure, Sussex and his

retinue came to the Palace from Deptford by water while Leicester arrived by land; and thus they entered the

courtyard from opposite sides. This trifling circumstance gave Leicester a ascendency in the opinion of the

vulgar, the appearance of his cavalcade of mounted followers showing more numerous and more imposing

than those of Sussex's party, who were necessarily upon foot. No show or sign of greeting passed between the

Earls, though each looked full at the other, both expecting perhaps an exchange of courtesies, which neither

was willing to commence. Almost in the minute of their arrival the castlebell tolled, the gates of the Palace

were opened, and the Earls entered, each numerously attended by such gentlemen of their train whose rank

gave them that privilege. The yeomen and inferior attendants remained in the courtyard, where the opposite

parties eyed each other with looks of eager hatred and scorn, as if waiting with impatience for some cause of

tumult, or some apology for mutual aggression. But they were restrained by the strict commands of their

leaders, and overawed, perhaps, by the presence of an armed guard of unusual strength.

In the meanwhile, the more distinguished persons of each train followed their patrons into the lofty halls and

antechambers of the royal Palace, flowing on in the same current, like two streams which are compelled into

the same channel, yet shun to mix their waters. The parties arranged themselves, as it were instinctively, on

the different sides of the lofty apartments, and seemed eager to escape from the transient union which the

narrowness of the crowded entrance had for an instant compelled them to submit to. The folding doors at the

upper end of the long gallery were immediately afterwards opened, and it was announced in a whisper that

the Queen was in her presence chamber, to which these gave access. Both Earls moved slowly and stately

towards the entranceSussex followed by Tressilian, Blount, and Raleigh, and Leicester by Varney. The

pride of Leicester was obliged to give way to courtforms, and with a grave and formal inclination of the

head, he paused until his rival, a peer of older creation than his own, passed before him. Sussex returned the

reverence with the same formal civility, and entered the presenceroom. Tressilian and Blount offered to

follow him, but were not permitted, the Usher of the Black Rod alleging in excuse that he had precise orders

to look to all admissions that day. To Raleigh, who stood back on the repulse of his companions, he said,

"Follow me close, Varney," said the Earl of Leicester, who had stood aloof for a moment to mark the

reception of Sussex; and advancing to the entrance, he was about to pass on, when Varney, who was close

behind him, dressed out in the utmost bravery of the day, was stopped by the usher, as Tressilian and Blount

had been before him, "How is this, Master Bowyer?" said the Earl of Leicester. "Know you who I am, and

"Your lordship will pardon me," replied Bowyer stoutly; "my orders are precise, and limit me to a strict

"Thou art a partial knave," said Leicester, the blood mounting to his face, "to do me this dishonour, when you

"My lord," said Bowyer, "Master Raleigh is newly admitted a sworn servant of her Grace, and to him my

"Thou art a knavean ungrateful knave," said Leicester; "but he that hath done can undothou shalt not

This threat he uttered aloud, with less than his usual policy and discretion; and having done so, he entered the

presencechamber, and made his reverence to the Queen, who, attired with even more than her usual

splendour, and surrounded by those nobles and statesmen whose courage and wisdom have rendered her

reign immortal, stood ready to receive the hommage of her subjects. She graciously returned the obeisance of

the favourite Earl, and looked alternately at him and at Sussex, as if about to speak, when Bowyer, a man

whose spirit could not brook the insult he had so openly received from Leicester, in the discharge of his

"My Liege Sovereign," he said, while every courtier around trembled at his audacity, "I come but to ask

whether, in the discharge of mine office, I am to obey your Highness's commands, or those of the Earl of

Leicester, who has publicly menaced me with his displeasure, and treated me with disparaging terms, because

I denied entry to one of his followers, in obedience to your Grace's precise orders?"

The spirit of Henry VIII. was instantly aroused in the bosom of his daughter, and she turned on Leicester with

"God's death! my lord." such was her emphatic phrase, "what means this? We have thought well of you, and

brought you near to our person; but it was not that you might hide the sun from our other faithful subjects.

Who gave you license to contradict our orders, or control our officers? I will have in this court, ay, and in this

realm, but one mistress, and no master. Look to it that Master Bowyer sustains no harm for his duty to me

faithfully discharged; for, as I am Christian woman and crowned Queen, I will hold you dearly

answerable.Go, Bowyer, you have done the part of an honest man and a true subject. We will brook no

Bowyer kissed the hand which she extended towards him, and withdrew to his post! astonished at the success

of his own audacity. A smile of triumph pervaded the faction of Sussex; that of Leicester seemed

proportionally dismayed, and the favourite himself, assuming an aspect of the deepest humility, did not even

He acted wisely; for it was the policy of Elizabeth to humble, not to disgrace him, and it was prudent to suffer

her, without opposition or reply, to glory in the exertion of her authority. The dignity of the Queen was

gratified, and the woman began soon to feel for the mortification which she had imposed on her favourite.

Her keen eye also observed the secret looks of congratulation exchanged amongst those who favoured

Sussex, and it was no part of her policy to give either party a decisive triumph.

"What I say to my Lord of Leicester," she said, after a moment's pause, "I say also to you, my Lord of

Sussex. You also must needs ruffle in the court of England, at the head of a faction of your own?"

"My followers, gracious Princess," said Sussex, "have indeed ruffled in your cause in Ireland, in Scotland,

"Do you bandy looks and words with me, my lord?" said the Queen, interrupting him; "methinks you might

learn of my Lord of Leicester the modesty to be silent, at least, under our censure. I say, my lord, that my

grandfather and my father, in their wisdom, debarred the nobles of this civilized land from travelling with

such disorderly retinues; and think you, that because I wear a coif, their sceptre has in my hand been changed

into a distaff? I tell you, no king in Christendom will less brook his court to be cumbered, his people

oppressed, and his kingdom's peace disturbed, by the arrogance of overgrown power, than she who now

speaks with you.My Lord of Leicester, and you, my Lord of Sussex, I command you both to be friends

with each other; or by the crown I wear, you shall find an enemy who will be too strong for both of you!"

"Madam," said the Earl of Leicester, "you who are yourself the fountain of honour know best what is due to

mine. I place it at your disposal, and only say that the terms on which I have stood with my Lord of Sussex

have not been of my seeking; nor had he cause to think me his enemy, until he had done me gross wrong."

"For me, madam," said the Earl of Sussex, "I cannot appeal from your sovereign pleasure; but I were well

content my Lord of Leicester should say in what I have, as he terms it, wronged him, since my tongue never

"And for me," said Leicester, "always under my gracious Sovereign's pleasure, my hand shall be as ready to

"My lords," said the Queen, "these are no terms for this presence; and if you cannot keep your temper, we

will find means to keep both that and you close enough. Let me see you join hands, my lords, and forget your

The two rivals looked at each other with reluctant eyes, each unwilling to make the first advance to execute

Yet, so were her words accented, that the entreaty sounded like command, and the command like entreaty.

They remained still and stubborn, until she raised her voice to a height which argued at once impatience and

"Sir Henry Lee," she said, to an officer in attendance, "have a guard in present readiness, and man a barge

instantly.My Lords of Sussex and Leicester, I bid you once more to join hands; and, God's death! he that

refuses shall taste of our Tower fare ere he sees our face again. I will lower your proud hearts ere we part, and

"The prison?" said Leicester, "might be borne, but to lose your Grace's presence were to lose light and life at

"Nay, under favour, you shall add no more," said the Queen. "Why, this is as it should be," she added,

looking on them more favourably; "and when you the shepherds of the people, unite to protect them, it shall

be well with the flock we rule over. For, my lords, I tell you plainly, your follies and your brawls lead to

strange disorders among your servants.My Lord of Leicester, you have a gentleman in your household

"Yes, gracious madam," replied Leicester; "I presented him to kiss your royal hand when you were last at

"His outside was well enough," said the Queen, "but scarce so fair, I should have thought, as to have caused a

maiden of honourable birth and hopes to barter her fame for his good looks, and become his paramour. Yet so

it is; this fellow of yours hath seduced the daughter of a good old Devonshire knight, Sir Hugh Robsart of

Lidcote Hall, and she hath fled with him from her father's house like a castaway.My Lord of Leicester, are

"No, gracious madam," said Leicester; and it required every effort he could make to bring forth these few

"You are surely ill, my lord?" said Elizabeth, going towards him with hasty speech and hurried step, which

indicated the deepest concern. "Call Masterscall our surgeon in ordinary.Where be these loitering

fools?we lose the pride of our court through their negligence.Or is it possible, Leicester," she continued,

looking on him with a very gentle aspect, "can fear of my displeasure have wrought so deeply on thee? Doubt

not for a moment, noble Dudley, that we could blame THEE for the folly of thy retainerthee, whose

thoughts we know to be far otherwise employed. He that would climb the eagle's nest, my lord, cares not who

"Mark you that?" said Sussex aside to Raleigh. "The devil aids him surely; for all that would sink another ten

fathom deep seems but to make him float the more easily. Had a follower of mine acted thus"

"Peace, my good lord," said Raleigh, "for God's sake, peace! Wait the change of the tide; it is even now on

The acute observation of Raleigh, perhaps, did not deceive him; for Leicester's confusion was so great, and,

indeed, for the moment, so irresistibly overwhelming, that Elizabeth, after looking at him with a wondering

eye, and receiving no intelligible answer to the unusual expressions of grace and affection which had escaped

from her, shot her quick glance around the circle of courtiers, and reading, perhaps, in their faces something

that accorded with her own awakened suspicions, she said suddenly, "Or is there more in this than we

seeor than you, my lord, wish that we should see? Where is this Varney? Who saw him?"

"An it please your Grace," said Bowyer, "it is the same against whom I this instant closed the door of the

"An it please me?" repeated Elizabeth sharply, not at that moment in the humour of being pleased with

anything."It does NOT please me that he should pass saucily into my presence, or that you should exclude

"May it please you," answered the perplexed usher, "if I knew, in such case, how to bear myself, I would take

"You should have reported the fellow's desire to us, Master Usher, and taken our directions. You think

yourself a great man, because but now we chid a nobleman on your account; yet, after all, we hold you but as

the leadweight that keeps the door fast. Call this Varney hither instantly. There is one Tressilian also

She was obeyed, and Tressilian and Varney appeared accordingly. Varney's first glance was at Leicester, his

second at the Queen. In the looks of the latter there appeared an approaching storm, and in the downcast

countenance of his patron he could read no directions in what way he was to trim his vessel for the encounter.

He then saw Tressilian, and at once perceived the peril of the situation in which he was placed. But Varney

was as boldfaced and readywitted as he was cunning and unscrupulousa skilful pilot in extremity, and

fully conscious of the advantages which he would obtain could he extricate Leicester from his present peril,

"Is it true, sirrah," said the Queen, with one of those searching looks which few had the audacity to resist,

"that you have seduced to infamy a young lady of birth and breeding, the daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart of

Varney kneeled down, and replied, with a look of the most profound contrition, "There had been some love

Leicester's flesh quivered with indignation as he heard his dependant make this avowal, and for one moment

he manned himself to step forward, and, bidding farewell to the court and the royal favour, confess the whole

mystery of the secret marriage. But he looked at Sussex, and the idea of the triumphant smile which would

clothe his cheek upon hearing the avowal sealed his lips. "Not now, at least," he thought, "or in this presence,

will I afford him so rich a triumph." And pressing his lips close together, he stood firm and collected,

attentive to each word which Varney uttered, and determined to hide to the last the secret on which his

courtfavour seemed to depend. Meanwhile, the Queen proceeded in her examination of Varney.

"Love passages!" said she, echoing his last words; "what passages, thou knave? and why not ask the wench's

"An it please your Grace," said Varney, still on his knees, "I dared not do so, for her father had promised her

hand to a gentleman of birth and honourI will do him justice, though I know he bears me illwillone

"Soh!" replied the Queen. "And what was your right to make the simple fool break her worthy father's

contract, through your love PASSAGES, as your conceit and assurance terms them?"

"Madam," replied Varney, "it is in vain to plead the cause of human frailty before a judge to whom it is

unknown, or that of love to one who never yields to the passion"he paused an instant, and then added, in a

Elizabeth tried to frown, but smiled in her own despite, as she answered, "Thou art a marvellously impudent

Leicester's feelings became so complicated and so painfully intense, that it seemed to him as if his life was to

depend on the answer made by Varney, who, after a moment's real hesitation, answered, "Yes."

"Thou false villain!" said Leicester, bursting forth into rage, yet unable to add another word to the sentence

"Nay, my lord," said the Queen, "we will, by your leave, stand between this fellow and your anger. We have

not yet done with him.Knew your master, my Lord of Leicester, of this fair work of yours? Speak truth, I

"Gracious madam," said Varney, "to speak Heaven's truth, my lord was the cause of the whole matter."

"Speak on," said the Queen hastily, her cheek colouring, and her eyes sparkling, as she addressed

"They are omnipotent, gracious madam," replied Varney; "and to you there can be no secrets.Yet I would

not," he added, looking around him, "speak of my master's concerns to other ears."

"Fall back, my lords," said the Queen to those who surrounded her, "and do you speak on. What hath the Earl

to do with this guilty intrigue of thine? See, fellow, that thou beliest him not!"

"Far be it from me to traduce my noble patron," replied Varney; "yet I am compelled to own that some deep,

overwhelming, yet secret feeling hath of late dwelt in my lord's mind, hath abstracted him from the cares of

the household which he was wont to govern with such religious strictness, and hath left us opportunities to do

follies, of which the shame, as in this case, partly falls upon our patron. Without this, I had not had means or

leisure to commit the folly which has drawn on me his displeasurethe heaviest to endure by me which I

could by any means incur, saving always the yet more dreaded resentment of your Grace."

"And in this sense, and no other, hath he been accessory to thy fault?" said Elizabeth.

"Surely, madam, in no other," replied Varney; "but since somewhat hath chanced to him, he can scarce be

called his own man. Look at him, madam, how pale and trembling he stands! how unlike his usual majesty of

manner!yet what has he to fear from aught I can say to your Highness? Ah! madam, since he received that

"From whence, madam, I cannot guess; but I am so near to his person that I know he has ever since worn,

suspended around his neck and next to his heart, that lock of hair which sustains a small golden jewel shaped

like a heart. He speaks to it when alonehe parts not from it when he sleepsno heathen ever worshipped

"Thou art a prying knave to watch thy master so closely," said Elizabeth, blushing, but not with anger; "and a

tattling knave to tell over again his fooleries.What colour might the braid of hair be that thou pratest of?"

Varney replied, "A poet, madam, might call it a thread from the golden web wrought by Minerva; but to my

thinking it was paler than even the purest goldmore like the last parting sunbeam of the softest day of

"Why, you are a poet yourself, Master Varney," said the Queen, smiling. "But I have not genius quick enough

to follow your rare metaphors. Look round these ladiesis there"(she hesitated, and endeavoured to

assume an air of great indifference)"is there here, in this presence, any lady, the colour of whose hair

reminds thee of that braid? Methinks, without prying into my Lord of Leicester's amorous secrets, I would

fain know what kind of locks are like the thread of Minerva's web, or thewhat was it?the last rays of the

Varney looked round the presencechamber, his eye travelling from one lady to another, until at length it

rested upon the Queen herself, but with an aspect of the deepest veneration. "I see no tresses," he said, "in this

"Nay, madam," replied Varney, shading his eyes with his hand, "it was the beams of the Mayday sun that

"Go togo to," said the Queen; "thou art a foolish fellow"and turning quickly from him she walked up to

Intense curiosity, mingled with all the various hopes, fears, and passions which influence court faction, had

occupied the presencechamber during the Queen's conference with Varney, as if with the strength of an

Eastern talisman. Men suspended every, even the slightest external motion, and would have ceased to

breathe, had Nature permitted such an intermission of her functions. The atmosphere was contagious, and

Leicester, who saw all around wishing or fearing his advancement or his fall forgot all that love had

previously dictated, and saw nothing for the instant but the favour or disgrace which depended on the nod of

Elizabeth and the fidelity of Varney. He summoned himself hastily, and prepared to play his part in the scene

which was like to ensue, when, as he judged from the glances which the Queen threw towards him, Varney's

communications, be they what they might, were operating in his favour. Elizabeth did not long leave him in

doubt; for the more than favour with which she accosted him decided his triumph in the eyes of his rival, and

of the assembled court of England. "Thou hast a prating servant of this same Varney, my lord," she said; "it is

lucky you trust him with nothing that can hurt you in our opinion, for believe me, he would keep no counsel."

"From your Highness," said Leicester, dropping gracefully on one knee, "it were treason he should. I would

that my heart itself lay before you, barer than the tongue of any servant could strip it."

"What, my lord," said Elizabeth, looking kindly upon him, "is there no one little corner over which you

would wish to spread a veil? Ah! I see you are confused at the question, and your Queen knows she should

not look too deeply into her servants' motives for their faithful duty, lest she see what might, or at least ought

Relieved by these last words, Leicester broke out into a torrent of expressions of deep and passionate

attachment, which perhaps, at that moment, were not altogether fictitious. The mingled emotions which had

at first overcome him had now given way to the energetic vigour with which he had determined to support his

place in the Queen's favour; and never did he seem to Elizabeth more eloquent, more handsome, more

interesting, than while, kneeling at her feet, he conjured her to strip him of all his dower, but to leave him the

name of her servant."Take from the poor Dudley," he exclaimed, "all that your bounty has made him, and

bid him be the poor gentleman he was when your Grace first shone on him; leave him no more than his cloak

and his sword, but let him still boast he haswhat in word or deed he never forfeitedthe regard of his

"No, Dudley!" said Elizabeth, raising him with one hand, while she extended the other that he might kiss it.

"Elizabeth hath not forgotten that, whilst you were a poor gentleman, despoiled of your hereditary rank, she

was as poor a princess, and that in her cause you then ventured all that oppression had left you your life

and honour. Rise, my lord, and let my hand gorise, and be what you have ever been, the grace of our court

and the support of our throne! Your mistress may be forced to chide your misdemeanours, but never without

owning your merits.And so help me God," she added, turning to the audience, who, with various feelings,

witnessed this interesting scene"so help me God, gentlemen, as I think never sovereign had a truer servant

A murmur of assent rose from the Leicestrian faction, which the friends of Sussex dared not oppose. They

remained with their eyes fixed on the ground, dismayed as well as mortified by the public and absolute

triumph of their opponents. Leicester's first use of the familiarity to which the Queen had so publicly restored

him was to ask her commands concerning Varney's offence. "although," he said, "the fellow deserves nothing

"In truth, we had forgotten his matter," said the Queen; "and it was ill done of us, who owe justice to our

meanest as well as to our highest subject. We are pleased, my lord, that you were the first to recall the matter

Tressilian appeared, and made a low and beseeming reference. His person, as we have elsewhere observed,

had an air of grace and even of nobleness, which did not escape Queen Elizabeth's critical observation. She

looked at him with, attention as he stood before her unabashed, but with an air of the deepest dejection.

"I cannot but grieve for this gentleman," she said to Leicester. "I have inquired concerning him, and his

presence confirms what I heard, that he is a scholar and a soldier, well accomplished both in arts and arms.

We women, my lord, are fanciful in our choice I had said now, to judge by the eye, there was no

comparison to be held betwixt your follower and this gentleman. But Varney is a wellspoken fellow, and, to

say truth, that goes far with us of the weaker sex.look you, Master Tressilian, a bolt lost is not a bow

broken. Your true affection, as I will hold it to be, hath been, it seems, but ill requited; but you have

scholarship, and you know there have been false Cressidas to be found, from the Trojan war downwards.

Forget, good sir, this Lady Light o' Love teach your affection to see with a wiser eye. This we say to you,

more from the writings of learned men than our own knowledge, being, as we are, far removed by station and

will from the enlargement of experience in such idle toys of humorous passion. For this dame's father, we can

make his grief the less by advancing his soninlaw to such station as may enable him to give an honourable

support to his bride. Thou shalt not be forgotten thyself, Tressilianfollow our court, and thou shalt see that

a true Troilus hath some claim on our grace. Think of what that archknave Shakespeare saysa plague on

him, his toys come into my head when I should think of other matters. Stay, how goes it?

'Cressid was yours, tied with the bonds of heaven ; These bonds of heaven are slipt, dissolved, and loosed,

And with another knot five fingers tied, The fragments of her faith are bound to Diomed.'

You smile, my Lord of Southamptonperchance I make your player's verse halt through my bad memory.

And as Tressilian kept the posture of one who would willingly be heard, though, at the same time, expressive

of the deepest reverence, the Queen added with some impatience, "What would the man have? The wench

cannot wed both of you? She has made her electionnot a wise one perchancebut she is Varney's wedded

"My suit should sleep there, most gracious Sovereign," said Tressilian, "and with my suit my revenge. But I

"THY sword!" interrupted Tressilian scornfully; "with her Grace's leave, my sword shall show"

"Peace, you knaves, both!" said the Queen; "know you where you are?This comes of your feuds, my

lords," she added, looking towards Leicester and Sussex; "your followers catch your own humour, and must

bandy and brawl in my court and in my very presence, like so many Matamoros.Look you, sirs, he that

speaks of drawing swords in any other quarrel than mine or England's, by mine honour, I'll bracelet him with

iron both on wrist and ankle!" She then paused a minute, and resumed in a milder tone, "I must do justice

betwixt the bold and mutinous knaves notwithstanding.My Lord of Leicester, will you warrant with your

honourthat is, to the best of your beliefthat your servant speaks truth in saying he hath married this Amy

This was a homethrust, and had nearly staggered Leicester. But he had now gone too far to recede, and

answered, after a moment's hesitation, "To the best of my beliefindeed on my certain knowledgeshe is a

"Gracious madam," said Tressilian, "may I yet request to know, when and under what circumstances this

"Out, sirrah," answered the Queen; "ALLEGED marriage! Have you not the word of this illustrious Earl to

warrant the truth of what his servant says? But thou art a loserthinkest thyself such at leastand thou shalt

have indulgence; we will look into the matter ourself more at leisure.My Lord of Leicester, I trust you

remember we mean to taste the good cheer of your Castle of Kenilworth on this week ensuing. We will pray

you to bid our good and valued friend, the Earl of Sussex, to hold company with us there."

"If the noble Earl of Sussex," said Leicester, bowing to his rival with the easiest and with the most graceful

courtesy, "will so far honour my poor house, I will hold it an additional proof of the amicable regard it is your

Sussex was more embarrassed. "I should," said he, "madam, be but a clog on your gayer hours, since my late

"And have you been indeed so very ill?" said Elizabeth, looking on him with more attention than before; "you

are, in faith, strangely altered, and deeply am I grieved to see it. But be of good cheerwe will ourselves

look after the health of so valued a servant, and to whom we owe so much. Masters shall order your diet; and

that we ourselves may see that he is obeyed, you must attend us in this progress to Kenilworth."

This was said so peremptorily, and at the same time with so much kindness, that Sussex, however unwilling

to become the guest of his rival, had no resource but to bow low to the Queen in obedience to her commands,

and to express to Leicester, with blunt courtesy, though mingled with embarrassment, his acceptance of his

invitation. As the Earls exchanged compliments on the occasion, the Queen said to her High Treasurer,

"Methinks, my lord, the countenances of these our two noble peers resemble those of the two famed classic

streams, the one so dark and sad, the other so fair and noble. My old Master Ascham would have chid me for

forgetting the author. It is Caesar, as I think. See what majestic calmness sits on the brow of the noble

Leicester, while Sussex seems to greet him as if he did our will indeed, but not willingly."

"The doubt of your Majesty's favour," answered the Lord Treasurer, "may perchance occasion the difference,

"Such doubt were injurious to us, my lord," replied the Queen. "We hold both to be near and dear to us, and

will with impartiality employ both in honourable service for the weal of our kingdom. But we will break their

further conference at present.My Lords of Sussex and Leicester, we have a word more with you.

'Tressilian and Varney are near your personsyou will see that they attend you at Kenilworth. And as we

shall then have both Paris and Menelaus within our call, so we will have the same fair Helen also, whose

fickleness has caused this broil. Varney, thy wife must be at Kenilworth, and forthcoming at my

The Earl and his follower bowed low and raised their heads, without daring to look at the Queen, or at each

other, for both felt at the instant as if the nets and toils which their own falsehood had woven were in the act

of closing around them. The Queen, however, observed not their confusion, but proceeded to say, "My Lords

of Sussex and Leicester, we require your presence at the privycouncil to be presently held, where matters of

importance are to be debated. We will then take the water for our divertisement, and you, my lords, will

attend us.And that reminds us of a circumstance.Do you, Sir Squire of the Soiled Cassock"

(distinguishing Raleigh by a smile), "fail not to observe that you are to attend us on our progress. You shall

And so terminated this celebrated audience, in which, as throughout her life, Elizabeth united the occasional

caprice of her sex with that sense and sound policy in which neither man nor woman ever excelled her.

During the brief interval that took place betwixt the dismissal of the audience and the sitting of the

privycouncil, Leicester had time to reflect that he had that morning sealed his own fate. "It was impossible

for him now," he thought, "after having, in the face of all that was honourable in England, pledged his truth

(though in an ambiguous phrase) for the statement of Varney, to contradict or disavow it, without exposing

himself, not merely to the loss of courtfavour, but to the highest displeasure of the Queen, his deceived

mistress, and to the scorn and contempt at once of his rival and of all his compeers." This certainty rushed at

once on his mind, together with all the difficulties which he would necessarily be exposed to in preserving a

secret which seemed now equally essential to his safety, to his power, and to his honour. He was situated like

one who walks upon ice ready to give way around him, and whose only safety consists in moving onwards,

by firm and unvacillating steps. The Queen's favour, to preserve which he had made such sacrifices, must

now be secured by all means and at all hazards; it was the only plank which he could cling to in the tempest.

He must settle himself, therefore, to the task of not only preserving, but augmenting the Queen's

partialityhe must be the favourite of Elizabeth, or a man utterly shipwrecked in fortune and in honour. All

other considerations must be laid aside for the moment, and he repelled the intrusive thoughts which forced

on his mind the image of, Amy, by saying to himself there would be time to think hereafter how he was to

escape from the labyrinth ultimately, since the pilot who sees a Scylla under his bows must not for the time

In this mood the Earl of Leicester that day assumed his chair at the council table of Elizabeth; and when the

hours of business were over, in this same mood did he occupy an honoured place near her during her pleasure

excursion on the Thames. And never did he display to more advantage his powers as a politician of the first

It chanced that in that day's council matters were agitated touching the affairs of the unfortunate Mary, the

seventh year of whose captivity in England was now in doleful currency. There had been opinions in favour

of this unhappy princess laid before Elizabeth's council, and supported with much strength of argument by

Sussex and others, who dwelt more upon the law of nations and the breach of hospitality than, however

softened or qualified, was agreeable to the Queen's ear. Leicester adopted the contrary opinion with great

animation and eloquence, and described the necessity of continuing the severe restraint of the Queen of Scots,

as a measure essential to the safety of the kingdom, and particularly of Elizabeth's sacred person, the lightest

hair of whose head, he maintained, ought, in their lordships' estimation, to be matter of more deep and

anxious concern than the life and fortunes of a rival, who, after setting up a vain and unjust pretence to the

throne of England, was now, even while in the bosom of her country, the constant hope and theme of

encouragement to all enemies to Elizabeth, whether at home or abroad. He ended by craving pardon of their

lordships, if in the zeal of speech he had given any offence, but the Queen's safety was a theme which hurried

Elizabeth chid him, but not severely, for the weight which he attached unduly to her personal interests; yet

she owned that, since it had been the pleasure of Heaven to combine those interests with the weal of her

subjects, she did only her duty when she adopted such measures of selfpreservation as circumstances forced

upon her; and if the council in their wisdom should be of opinion that it was needful to continue some

restraint on the person of her unhappy sister of Scotland, she trusted they would not blame her if she

requested of the Countess of Shrewsbury to use her with as much kindness as might be consistent with her

safe keeping. And with this intimation of her pleasure the council was dismissed.

Never was more anxious and ready way made for "my Lord of Leicester," than as he passed through the

crowded anterooms to go towards the riverside, in order to attend her Majesty to her bargenever was the

voice of the ushers louder, to "make room, make room for the noble Earl"never were these signals more

promptly and reverently obeyednever were more anxious eyes turned on him to obtain a glance of favour,

or even of mere recognition, while the heart of many a humble follower throbbed betwixt the desire to offer

his congratulations, and the fear of intruding himself on the notice of one so infinitely above him. The whole

court considered the issue of this day's audience, expected with so much doubt and anxiety, as a decisive

triumph on the part of Leicester, and felt assured that the orb of his rival satellite, if not altogether obscured

by his lustre, must revolve hereafter in a dimmer and more distant sphere. So thought the court and courtiers,

On the other hand, never did Leicester return the general greeting with such ready and condescending

courtesy, or endeavour more successfully to gather (in the words of one who at that moment stood at no great

For all the favourite Earl had a bow a smile at least, and often a kind word. Most of these were addressed to

courtiers, whose names have long gone down the tide of oblivion; but some, to such as sound strangely in our

ears, when connected with the ordinary matters of human life, above which the gratitude of posterity has long

"Poynings, good morrow; and how does your wife and fair daughter? Why come they not to court?Adams,

your suit is naught; the Queen will grant no more monopolies. But I may serve you in another matter.My

good Alderman Aylford, the suit of the City, affecting Queenhithe, shall be forwarded as far as my poor

interest can serve.Master Edmund Spenser, touching your Irish petition, I would willingly aid you, from

"Come to my lodging, Edmund," answered the Earl "not tomorrow, or next day, but soon.Ha, Will

Shakespearewild Will!thou hast given my nephew Philip Sidney, lovepowder; he cannot sleep without

thy Venus and Adonis under his pillow! We will have thee hanged for the veriest wizard in Europe. Hark

thee, mad wag, I have not forgotten thy matter of the patent, and of the bears."

The PLAYER bowed, and the Earl nodded and passed onso that age would have told the tale; in ours,

perhaps, we might say the immortal had done homage to the mortal. The next whom the favourite accosted

"How now, Sir Francis Denning," he whispered, in answer to his exulting salutation, "that smile hath made

thy face shorter by onethird than when I first saw it this morning.What, Master Bowyer, stand you back,

and think you I bear malice? You did but your duty this morning; and if I remember aught of the passage

Then the Earl was approached, with several fantastic congees, by a person quaintly dressed in a doublet of

black velvet, curiously slashed and pinked with crimson satin. A long cock's feather in the velvet bonnet,

which he held in his hand, and an enormous ruff; stiffened to the extremity of the absurd taste of the times,

joined with a sharp, lively, conceited expression of countenance, seemed to body forth a vain, harebrained

coxcomb, and small wit; while the rod he held, and an assumption of formal authority, appeared to express

some sense of official consequence, which qualified the natural pertness of his manner. A perpetual blush,

which occupied rather the sharp nose than the thin cheek of this personage, seemed to speak more of "good

life," as it was called, than of modesty; and the manner in which he approached to the Earl confirmed that

"Good even to you, Master Robert Laneham," said Leicester, and seemed desirous to pass forward, without

"CLERK of the councilchamber door," said Master Robert Laneham, with emphasis, by way of reply, and

"Well, qualify thine office as thou wilt, man," replied the Earl; "what wouldst thou have with me?"

"Simply," answered Laneham, "that your lordship would be, as heretofore, my good lord, and procure me

license to attend the Summer Progress unto your lordship's most beautiful and allto beunmatched Castle

"To what purpose, good Master Laneham?" replied the Earl; "bethink you, my guests must needs be many."

"Not so many," replied the petitioner, "but that your nobleness will willingly spare your old servitor his crib

and his mess. Bethink you, my lord, how necessary is this rod of mine to fright away all those listeners, who

else would play at bopeep with the honourable council, and be searching for keyholes and crannies in the

door of the chamber, so as to render my staff as needful as a flyflap in a butcher's shop."

"Methinks you have found out a flyblown comparison for the honourable council, Master Laneham," said

the Earl; "but seek not about to justify it. Come to Kenilworth, if you list; there will be store of fools there

"Nay, an there be fools, my lord," replied Laneham, with much glee, "I warrant I will make sport among

them, for no greyhound loves to cote a hare as I to turn and course a fool. But I have another singular favour

"Speak it, and let me go," said the Earl; "I think the Queen comes forth instantly."

"Nay, my lord, my meaning is within the canons," answered his unblushing, or rather his everblushing

petitioner. "I have a wife as curious as her grandmother who ate the apple. Now, take her with me I may not,

her Highness's orders being so strict against the officers bringing with them their wives in a progress, and so

lumbering the court with womankind. But what I would crave of your lordship is to find room for her in some

mummery, or pretty pageant, in disguise, as it were; so that, not being known for my wife, there may be no

"The foul fiend seize ye both!" said Leicester, stung into uncontrollable passion by the recollections which

The terrified clerk of the chamberdoor, astonished at the burst of resentment he had so unconsciously

produced, dropped his staff of office from his hand, and gazed on the incensed Earl with a foolish face of

"I meant but to try if thou hadst the audacity which befits thine office," said he hastily. "Come to Kenilworth,

"My wife, sir, hath played the devil ere now, in a Mystery, in Queen Mary's time; but me shall want a trifle

"Here is a crown for thee," said the Earl,"make me rid of thee the great bell rings."

Master Robert Laneham stared a moment at the agitation which he had excited, and then said to himself, as

he stooped to pick up his staff of office, "The noble Earl runs wild humours today. But they who give

crowns expect us witty fellows to wink at their unsettled starts; and, by my faith, if they paid not for mercy,

Leicester moved hastily on, neglecting the courtesies he had hitherto dispensed so liberally, and hurrying

through the courtly crowd, until he paused in a small withdrawingroom, into which he plunged to draw a

"What am I now," he said to himself, "that am thus jaded by the words of a mean, weatherbeaten,

goosebrained gull! Conscience, thou art a bloodhound, whose growl wakes us readily at the paltry stir of a

rat or mouse as at the step of a lion. Can I not quit myself, by one bold stroke, of a state so irksome, so

unhonoured? What if I kneel to Elizabeth, and, owning the whole, throw myself on her mercy?"

As he pursued this train of thought, the door of the apartment opened, and Varney rushed in.

"Thank whom you will, my lord," replied Varney; "but hasten to the waterside. The Queen is on board, and

"Go, say I am taken suddenly ill," replied Leicester; "for, by Heaven, my brain can sustain this no longer!"

"I may well say so," said Varney, with bitterness of expression, "for your place, ay, and mine, who, as your

master of the horse, was to have attended your lordship, is already filled up in the Queen's barge. The new

minion, Walter Raleigh, and our old acquaintance Tressilian were called for to fill our places just as I

"Thou art a devil, Varney," said Leicester hastily; "but thou hast the mastery for the presentI follow thee."

Varney replied not, but led the way out of the palace, and towards the river, while his master followed him, as

if mechanically; until, looking back, he said in a tone which savoured of familiarity at least, if not of

authority, "How is this, my lord? Your cloak hangs on one sideyour hose are unbracedpermit me"

"Thou art a fool, Varney, as well as a knave," said Leicester, shaking him off, and rejecting his officious

assistance. "We are best thus, sir; when we require you to order our person, it is well, but now we want you

So saying, the Earl resumed at once his air of command, and with it his selfpossessionshook his dress

into yet wilder disorder passed before Varney with the air of a superior and master, and in his turn led the

The Queen's barge was on the very point of putting off, the seat allotted to Leicester in the stern, and that to

his master of the horse on the bow of the boat, being already filled up. But on Leicester's approach there was

a pause, as if the bargemen anticipated some alteration in their company. The angry spot was, however, on

the Queen's cheek, as, in that cold tone with which superiors endeavour to veil their internal agitation, while

speaking to those before whom it would be derogation to express it, she pronounced the chilling words, "We

"Madam, and most gracious Princess," said Leicester, "you, who can pardon so many weaknesses which your

own heart never knows, can best bestow your commiseration on the agitations of the bosom, which, for a

moment, affect both head and limbs. I came to your presence a doubting and an accused subject; your

goodness penetrated the clouds of defamation, and restored me to my honour, and, what is yet dearer, to your

favouris it wonderful, though for me it is most unhappy, that my master of the horse should have found me

in a state which scarce permitted me to make the exertion necessary to follow him to this place, when one

glance of your Highness, although, alas! an angry one, has had power to do that for me in which Esculapius

"How is this?" said Elizabeth hastily, looking at Varney; "hath your lord been ill?"

"Something of a fainting fit," answered the readywitted Varney, "as your Grace may observe from his

present condition. My lord's haste would not permit me leisure even to bring his dress into order."

"It matters not," said Elizabeth, as she gazed on the noble face and form of Leicester, to which even the

strange mixture of passions by which he had been so lately agitated gave additional interest; "make room for

my noble lord. Your place, Master Varney, has been filled up; you must find a seat in another barge."

"And you, too, our young Squire of the Cloak," added she, looking at Raleigh, "must, for the time, go to the

barge of our ladies of honour. As for Tressilian, he hath already suffered too much by the caprice of women

Leicester seated himself in his place in the barge, and close to the Sovereign. Raleigh rose to retire, and

Tressilian would have been so illtimed in his courtesy as to offer to relinquish his own place to his friend,

had not the acute glance of Raleigh himself, who seemed no in his native element, made him sensible that so

ready a disclamation of the royal favour might be misinterpreted. He sat silent, therefore, whilst Raleigh, with

a profound bow, and a look of the deepest humiliation, was about to quit his place.

A noble courtier, the gallant Lord Willoughby, read, as he thought, something in the Queen's face which

"It is not for us old courtiers," he said, "to hide the sunshine from the young ones. I will, with her Majesty's

leave, relinquish for an hour that which her subjects hold dearest, the delight of her Highness's presence, and

mortify myself by walking in starlight, while I forsake for a brief season the glory of Diana's own beams. I

will take place in the boat which the ladies occupy, and permit this young cavalier his hour of promised

The Queen replied, with an expression betwixt mirth and earnest, "If you are so willing to leave us, my lord,

we cannot help the mortification. But, under favour, we do not trust youold and experienced as you may

deem yourselfwith the care of our young ladies of honour. Your venerable age, my lord," she continued,

smiling, "may be better assorted with that of my Lord Treasurer, who follows in the third boat, and by whose

Lord Willoughby hid his disappointment under a smilelaughed, was confused, bowed, and left the Queen's

barge to go on board my Lord Burleigh's. Leicester, who endeavoured to divert his thoughts from all internal

reflection, by fixing them on what was passing around, watched this circumstance among others. But when

the boat put off from the shorewhen the music sounded from a barge which accompanied themwhen the

shouts of the populace were heard from the shore, and all reminded him of the situation in which he was

placed, he abstracted his thoughts and feelings by a strong effort from everything but the necessity of

maintaining himself in the favour of his patroness, and exerted his talents of pleasing captivation with such

success, that the Queen, alternately delighted with his conversation, and alarmed for his health, at length

imposed a temporary silence on him, with playful yet anxious care, lest his flow of spirits should exhaust

"My lords," she said, "having passed for a time our edict of silence upon our good Leicester, we will call you

to counsel on a gamesome matter, more fitted to be now treated of, amidst mirth and music, than in the

gravity of our ordinary deliberations. Which of you, my lords," said she, smiling, "know aught of a petition

from Orson Pinnit, the keeper, as he qualifies himself, of our royal bears? Who stands godfather to his

"Marry, with Your Grace's good permission, that do I," said the Earl of Sussex. "Orson Pinnit was a stout

soldier before he was so mangled by the skenes of the Irish clan MacDonough; and I trust your Grace will be,

"Surely," said the Queen, "it is our purpose to be so, and in especial to our poor soldiers and sailors, who

hazard their lives for little pay. We would give," she said, with her eyes sparkling, "yonder royal palace of

ours to be an hospital for their use, rather than they should call their mistress ungrateful. But this is not the

question," she said, her voice, which had been awakened by her patriotic feelings, once more subsiding into

the tone of gay and easy conversation; "for this Orson Pinnit's request goes something further. He complains

that, amidst the extreme delight with which men haunt the play houses, and in especial their eager desire for

seeing the exhibitions of one Will Shakespeare (whom I think, my lords, we have all heard something of), the

manly amusement of bearbaiting is falling into comparative neglect, since men will rather throng to see

these roguish players kill each other in jest, than to see our royal dogs and bears worry each other in bloody

"Why, truly, gracious madam," said Sussex, "you must expect little from an old soldier like me in favour of

battles in sport, when they are compared with battles in earnest; and yet, by my faith, I wish Will Shakespeare

no harm. He is a stout man at quarterstaff, and single falchion, though, as I am told, a halting fellow; and he

stood, they say, a tough fight with the rangers of old Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecot, when he broke his

"I cry you mercy, my Lord of Sussex," said Queen Elizabeth, interrupting him; "that matter was heard in

council, and we will not have this fellow's offence exaggeratedthere was no kissing in the matter, and the

defendant hath put the denial on record. But what say you to his present practice, my lord, on the stage? for

there lies the point, and not in any ways touching his former errors, in breaking parks, or the other follies you

"Why, truly, madam," replied Sussex, "as I said before, I wish the gamesome mad fellow no injury. Some of

his whoreson poetry (I crave your Grace's pardon for such a phrase) has rung in mine ears as if the lines

sounded to boot and saddle. But then it is all froth and follyno substance or seriousness in it, as your Grace

has already well touched. What are half a dozen knaves, with rusty foils and tattered targets, making but a

mere mockery of a stout fight, to compare to the royal game of bearbaiting, which hath been graced by your

Highness's countenance, and that of your royal predecessors, in this your princely kingdom, famous for

matchless mastiffs and bold bearwards over all Christendom? Greatly is it to be doubted that the race of both

will decay, if men should throng to hear the lungs of an idle player belch forth nonsensical bombast, instead

of bestowing their pence in encouraging the bravest image of war that can be shown in peace, and that is the

sports of the Beargarden. There you may see the bear lying at guard, with his red, pinky eyes watching the

onset of the mastiff, like a wily captain who maintains his defence that an assailant may be tempted to

venture within his danger. And then comes Sir Mastiff, like a worthy champion, in full career at the throat of

his adversary; and then shall Sir Bruin teach him the reward for those who, in their overcourage, neglect the

policies of war, and, catching him in his arms, strain him to his breast like a lusty wrestler, until rib after rib

crack like the shot of a pistolet. And then another mastiff; as bold, but with better aim and sounder judgment,

catches Sir Bruin by the nether lip, and hangs fast, while he tosses about his blood and slaver, and tries in

"Nay, by my honour, my lord," said the Queen, laughing, "you have described the whole so admirably that,

had we never seen a bear baiting, as we have beheld many, and hope, with Heaven's allowance, to see many

more, your words were sufficient to put the whole Beargarden before our eyes.But come, who speaks

"Am I then to consider myself as unmuzzled, please your Grace?" replied Leicester.

"Surely, my lordthat is, if you feel hearty enough to take part in our game," answered Elizabeth; "and yet,

when I think of your cognizance of the bear and ragged staff, methinks we had better hear some less partial

"Nay, on my word, gracious Princess," said the Earl, "though my brother Ambrose of Warwick and I do carry

the ancient cognizance your Highness deigns to remember, I nevertheless desire nothing but fair play on all

sides; or, as they say, 'fight dog, fight bear.' And in behalf of the players, I must needs say that they are witty

knaves, whose rants and jests keep the minds of the commons from busying themselves with state affairs, and

listening to traitorous speeches, idle rumours, and disloyal insinuations. When men are agape to see how

Marlow, Shakespeare, and other play artificers work out their fanciful plots, as they call them, the mind of the

"We would not have the mind of our subjects withdrawn from the consideration of our own conduct, my

lord," answered Elizabeth; "because the more closely it is examined, the true motives by which we are guided

"I have heard, however, madam," said the Dean of St. Asaph's, an eminent Puritan, "that these players are

wont, in their plays, not only to introduce profane and lewd expressions, tending to foster sin and harlotry;

but even to bellow out such reflections on government, its origin and its object, as tend to render the subject

discontented, and shake the solid foundations of civil society. And it seems to be, under your Grace's favour,

far less than safe to permit these naughty foulmouthed knaves to ridicule the godly for their decent gravity,

and, in blaspheming heaven and slandering its earthly rulers, to set at defiance the laws both of God and

"If we could think this were true, my lord," said Elizabeth, "we should give sharp correction for such

offences. But it is ill arguing against the use of anything from its abuse. And touching this Shakespeare, we

think there is that in his plays that is worth twenty Beargardens; and that this new undertaking of his

Chronicles, as he calls them, may entertain, with honest mirth, mingled with useful instruction, not only our

"Your Majesty's reign will need no such feeble aid to make it remembered to the latest posterity," said

Leicester. "And yet, in his way, Shakespeare hath so touched some incidents of your Majesty's happy

government as may countervail what has been spoken by his reverence the Dean of St. Asaph's. There are

some lines, for exampleI would my nephew, Philip Sidney, were here; they are scarce ever out of his

mouththey are spoken in a mad tale of fairies, lovecharms, and I wot not what besides; but beautiful they

are, however short they may and must fall of the subject to which they bear a bold relationand Philip

"You tantalize us, my lord," said the Queen"Master Philip Sidney is, we know, a minion of the Muses, and

we are pleased it should be so. Valour never shines to more advantage than when united with the true taste

and love of letters. But surely there are some others among our young courtiers who can recollect what your

lordship has forgotten amid weightier affairs.Master Tressilian, you are described to me as a worshipper of

Tressilian's heart was too heavy, his prospects in life too fatally blighted, to profit by the opportunity which

the Queen thus offered to him of attracting her attention; but he determined to transfer the advantage to his

more ambitious young friend, and excusing himself on the score of want of recollection, he added that he

believed the beautiful verses of which my Lord of Leicester had spoken were in the remembrance of Master

At the command of the Queen, that cavalier repeated, with accent and manner which even added to their

exquisite delicacy of tact and beauty of description, the celebrated vision of Oberon:

"That very time I saw (but thou couldst not), Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid, allarm'd: a

certain aim he took At a fair vestal, throned by the west; And loos'd his loveshaft smartly from his bow, As

it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts: But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quench'd in the chaste

beams of the watery moon; And the imperial vot'ress passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy free."

The voice of Raleigh, as he repeated the last lines, became a little tremulous, as if diffident how the

Sovereign to whom the homage was addressed might receive it, exquisite as it was. If this diffidence was

affected, it was good policy; but if real, there was little occasion for it. The verses were not probably new to

the Queen, for when was ever such elegant flattery long in reaching the royal ear to which it was addressed?

But they were not the less welcome when repeated by such a speaker as Raleigh. Alike delighted with the

matter, the manner, and the graceful form and animated countenance of the gallant young reciter, Elizabeth

kept time to every cadence with look and with finger. When the speaker had ceased, she murmured over the

last lines as if scarce conscious that she was overheard, and as she uttered the words,

"In maiden meditation, fancy free," she dropped into the Thames the supplication of Orson Pinnit, keeper of

the royal bears, to find more favourable acceptance at Sheerness, or wherever the tide might waft it.

Leicester was spurred to emulation by the success of the young courtier's exhibition, as the veteran racer is

roused when a highmettled colt passes him on the way. He turned the discourse on shows, banquets,

pageants, and on the character of those by whom these gay scenes were then frequented. He mixed acute

observation with light satire, in that just proportion which was free alike from malignant slander and insipid

praise. He mimicked with ready accent the manners of the affected or the clownish, and made his own

graceful tone and manner seem doubly such when he resumed it. Foreign countriestheir customs, their

manners, the rules of their courtsthe fashions, and even the dress of their ladieswere equally his theme;

and seldom did he conclude without conveying some compliment, always couched in delicacy, and expressed

with propriety, to the Virgin Queen, her court, and her government. Thus passed the conversation during this

pleasure voyage, seconded by the rest of the attendants upon the royal person, in gay discourse, varied by

remarks upon ancient classics and modern authors, and enriched by maxims of deep policy and sound

morality, by the statesmen and sages who sat around and mixed wisdom with the lighter talk of a female

When they returned to the Palace, Elizabeth accepted, or rather selected, the arm of Leicester to support her

from the stairs where they landed to the great gate. It even seemed to him (though that might arise from the

flattery of his own imagination) that during this short passage she leaned on him somewhat more than the

slippiness of the way necessarily demanded. Certainly her actions and words combined to express a degree of

favour which, even in his proudest day he had not till then attained. His rival, indeed, was repeatedly graced

by the Queen's notice; but it was in manner that seemed to flow less from spontaneous inclination than as

extorted by a sense of his merit. And in the opinion of many experienced courtiers, all the favour she showed

him was overbalanced by her whispering in the ear of the Lady Derby that "now she saw sickness was a

better alchemist than she before wotted of, seeing it had changed my Lord of Sussex's copper nose into a

The jest transpired, and the Earl of Leicester enjoyed his triumph, as one to whom courtfavour had been

both the primary and the ultimate motive of life, while he forgot, in the intoxication of the moment, the

perplexities and dangers of his own situation. Indeed, strange as it may appear, he thought less at that moment

of the perils arising from his secret union, than of the marks of grace which Elizabeth from time to time

showed to young Raleigh. They were indeed transient, but they were conferred on one accomplished in mind

and body, with grace, gallantry, literature, and valour. An accident occurred in the course of the evening

The nobles and courtiers who had attended the Queen on her pleasure expedition were invited, with royal

hospitality, to a splendid banquet in the hall of the Palace. The table was not, indeed, graced by the presence

of the Sovereign; for, agreeable to her idea of what was at once modest and dignified, the Maiden Queen on

such occasions was wont to take in private, or with one or two favourite ladies, her light and temperate meal.

After a moderate interval, the court again met in the splendid gardens of the Palace; and it was while thus

engaged that the Queen suddenly asked a lady, who was near to her both in place and favour, what had

The Lady Paget answered, "She had seen Master Raleigh but two or three minutes since standing at the

window of a small pavilion or pleasurehouse, which looked out on the Thames, and writing on the glass

"That ring," said the Queen, "was a small token I gave him to make amends for his spoiled mantle. Come,

Paget, let us see what use he has made of it, for I can see through him already. He is a marvellously

sharpwitted spirit." They went to the spot, within sight of which, but at some distance, the young cavalier

still lingered, as the fowler watches the net which he has set. The Queen approached the window, on which

The Queen smiled, read it twice over, once with deliberation to Lady Paget, and once again to herself. "It is a

pretty beginning," she said, after the consideration of a moment or two; "but methinks the muse hath deserted

the young wit at the very outset of his task. It were goodnaturedwere it not, Lady Paget?to complete it

Lady Paget, prosaic from her cradle upwards as ever any lady of the bedchamber before or after her,

"The incense of no one can be more acceptable," said Lady Paget; "and your Highness will impose such

"Hush, Paget," said the Queen, "you speak sacrilege against the immortal Nineyet, virgins themselves,

they should be exorable to a Virgin Queenand thereforelet me see how runs his verse

The dame of honour uttered an exclamation of joy and surprise at so happy a termination; and certainly a

The Queen, thus encouraged, took off a diamond ring, and saying, "We will give this gallant some cause of

marvel when he finds his couplet perfected without his own interference," she wrote her own line beneath

The Queen left the pavilion; but retiring slowly, and often looking back, she could see the young cavalier

steal, with the flight of a lapwing, towards the place where he had seen her make a pause. "She stayed but to

observe," as she said, "that her train had taken;" and then, laughing at the circumstance with the Lady Paget,

she took the way slowly towards the Palace. Elizabeth, as they returned, cautioned her companion not to

mention to any one the aid which she had given to the young poet, and Lady Paget promised scrupulous

secrecy. It is to be supposed that she made a mental reservation in favour of Leicester, to whom her ladyship

transmitted without delay an anecdote so little calculated to give him pleasure.

Raleigh, in the meanwhile, stole back to the window, and read, with a feeling of intoxication, the

encouragement thus given him by the Queen in person to follow out his ambitious career, and returned to

Sussex and his retinue, then on the point of embarking to go up the river, his heart beating high with gratified

The reverence due to the person of the Earl prevented any notice being taken of the reception he had met with

at court, until they had landed, and the household were assembled in the great hall at Sayes Court; while that

lord, exhausted by his late illness and the fatigues of the day, had retired to his chamber, demanding the

attendance of Wayland, his successful physician. Wayland, however, was nowhere to be found; and while

some of the party were, with military impatience, seeking him and cursing his absence, the rest flocked

He had the good taste and judgment to conceal the decisive circumstance of the couplet to which Elizabeth

had deigned to find a rhyme; but other indications had transpired, which plainly intimated that he had made

some progress in the Queen's favour. All hastened to wish him joy on the mended appearance of his

fortunesome from real regard, some, perhaps, from hopes that his preferment might hasten their own, and

most from a mixture of these motives, and a sense that the countenance shown to any one of Sussex's

household was, in fact, a triumph to the whole. Raleigh returned the kindest thanks to them all, disowning,

with becoming modesty, that one day's fair reception made a favourite, any more than one swallow a

summer. But he observed that Blount did not join in the general congratulation, and, somewhat hurt at his

Blount replied with equal sincerity"My good Walter, I wish thee as well as do any of these chattering

gulls, who are whistling and whooping gratulations in thine ear because it seems fair weather with thee. But I

fear for thee, "Walter" (and he wiped his honest eye), "I fear for thee with all my heart. These courttricks,

and gambols, and flashes of fine women's favour are the tricks and trinkets that bring fair fortunes to

farthings, and fine faces and witty coxcombs to the acquaintance of dull block and sharp axes."

So saying, Blount arose and left the hall, while Raleigh looked after him with an expression that blanked for a

Stanley just then entered the hall, and said to Tressilian, "My lord is calling for your fellow Wayland, and

your fellow Wayland is just come hither in a sculler, and is calling for you, nor will he go to my lord till he

sees you. The fellow looks as he were mazed, methinks; I would you would see him immediately."

Tressilian instantly left the hall, and causing Wayland Smith to be shown into a withdrawing apartment, and

lights placed, he conducted the artist thither, and was surprised when he observed the emotion of his

"What is the matter with you, Smith?" said Tressilian; "have you seen the devil?"

"Worse, sir, worse," replied Wayland; "I have seen a basilisk. Thank God, I saw him first; for being so seen,

"I have seen my old master," said the artist. "Last night a friend whom I had acquired took me to see the

Palace clock, judging me to be curious in such works of art. At the window of a turret next to the

"I was not mistaken," said Wayland; "he that once hath his features by heart would know him amongst a

million. He was anticly habited; but he cannot disguise himself from me, God be praised! as I can from him. I

will not, however, tempt Providence by remaining within his ken. Tarleton the player himself could not so

disguise himself but that, sooner or later, Doboobie would find him out. I must away tomorrow; for, as we

"He is in little danger from what he has hitherto taken, provided he swallow the matter of a bean's size of the

"Only by such caution as you would use against the devil," answered Wayland. "Let my lord's clerk of the

kitchen kill his lord's meat himself, and dress it himself, using no spice but what he procures from the surest

hands. Let the sewer serve it up himself, and let the master of my lord's household see that both clerk and

sewer taste the dishes which the one dresses and the other serves. Let my lord use no perfumes which come

not from well accredited persons; no unguentsno pomades. Let him, on no account, drink with strangers, or

eat fruit with them, either in the way of nooning or otherwise. Especially, let him observe such caution if he

goes to Kenilworththe excuse of his illness, and his being under diet, will, and must, cover the strangeness

"France, Spain, either India, East or West, shall be my refuge," said Wayland, "ere I venture my life by

residing within ken of Doboobie, Demetrius, or whatever else he calls himself for the time."

"Well," said Tressilian, "this happens not inopportunely. I had business for you in Berkshire, but in the

opposite extremity to the place where thou art known; and ere thou hadst found out this new reason for living

The artist expressed himself willing to receive his commands, and Tressilian, knowing he was well

acquainted with the outline of his business at court, frankly explained to him the whole, mentioned the

agreement which subsisted betwixt Giles Gosling and him, and told what had that day been averred in the

"Thou seest," he added, "that, in the circumstances in which I am placed, it behoves me to keep a narrow

watch on the motions of these unprincipled men, Varney and his complices, Foster and Lambourne, as well

as on those of my Lord Leicester himself, who, I suspect, is partly a deceiver, and not altogether the deceived

in that matter. Here is my ring, as a pledge to Giles Gosling. Here is besides gold, which shall be trebled if

"I go with double goodwill," said the artist, "first, because I serve your honour, who has been so kind to me;

and then, that I may escape my old master, who, if not an absolute incarnation of the devil, has, at least, as

much of the demon about him, in will, word, and action; as ever polluted humanity. And yet let him take care

of me. I fly him now, as heretofore; but if, like the Scottish wild cattle, I am vexed by frequent pursuit, I may

turn on him in hate and desperation. [A remnant of the wild cattle of Scotland are preserved at Chillingham

Castle, near Wooler, in Northumberland, the seat of Lord Tankerville. They fly before strangers; but if

disturbed and followed, they turn with fury on those who persist in annoying them.] Will your honour

command my nag to be saddled? I will but give the medicine to my lord, divided in its proper proportions,

with a few instructions. His safety will then depend on the care of his friends and domestics; for the past he is

Wayland Smith accordingly made his farewell visit to the Earl of Sussex, dictated instructions as to his

regimen, and precautions concerning his diet, and left Sayes Court without waiting for morning.

When Leicester returned to his lodging, alter a day so important and so harassing, in which, after riding out

more than one gale, and touching on more than one shoal, his bark had finally gained the harbour with banner

displayed, he seemed to experience as much fatigue as a mariner after a perilous storm. He spoke not a word

while his chamberlain exchanged his rich courtmantle for a furred nightrobe, and when this officer

signified that Master Varney desired to speak with his lordship, he replied only by a sullen nod. Varney,

however, entered, accepting this signal as a permission, and the chamberlain withdrew.

The Earl remained silent and almost motionless in his chair, his head reclined on his hand, and his elbow

resting upon the table which stood beside him, without seeming to be conscious of the entrance or of the

presence of his confidant. Varney waited for some minutes until he should speak, desirous to know what was

the finally predominant mood of a mind through which so many powerful emotions had that day taken their

course. But he waited in vain, for Leicester continued still silent, and the confidant saw himself under the

necessity of being the first to speak. "May I congratulate your lordship," he said, "on the deserved superiority

Leicester raised his head, and answered sadly, but without anger, "Thou, Varney, whose ready invention has

involved me in a web of most mean and perilous falsehood, knowest best what small reason there is for

"Do you blame me, my lord," said Varney, "for not betraying, on the first push, the secret on which your

fortunes depended, and which you have so oft and so earnestly recommended to my safe keeping? Your

lordship was present in person, and might have contradicted me and ruined yourself by an avowal of the

truth; but surely it was no part of a faithful servant to have done so without your commands."

"I cannot deny it, Varney," said the Earl, rising and walking across the room; "my own ambition has been

"Say rather, my lord, that your love has been traitor to your greatness, and barred you from such a prospect of

honour and power as the world cannot offer to any other. To make my honoured lady a countess, you have

"Of being yourself a KING, my lord," replied Varney; "and King of England to boot! It is no treason to our

Queen to say so. It would have chanced by her obtaining that which all true subjects wish hera lusty,

"Thou ravest, Varney," answered Leicester. "Besides, our times have seen enough to make men loathe the

Crown Matrimonial which men take from their wives' lap. There was Darnley of Scotland."

"He!" said Varney; "a, gull, a fool, a thricesodden ass, who suffered himself to be fired off into the air like a

rocket on a rejoicing day. Had Mary had the hap to have wedded the noble Earl ONCE destined to share her

throne, she had experienced a husband of different metal; and her husband had found in her a wife as

complying and loving as the mate of the meanest squire who follows the hounds ahorseback, and holds her

"It might have been as thou sayest, Varney," said Leicester, a brief smile of selfsatisfaction passing over his

anxious countenance. "Henry Darnley knew little of womenwith Mary, a man who knew her sex might

have had some chance of holding his own. But not with Elizabeth, Varney for I thank God, when he gave her

the heart of a woman, gave her the head of a man to control its follies. No, I know her. She will accept love

tokens, ay, and requite them with the likeput sugared sonnets in her bosom, ay, and answer them

toopush gallantry to the very verge where it becomes exchange of affection; but she writes NIL ULTRA to

all which is to follow, and would not barter one iota of her own supreme power for all the alphabet of both

"The better for you, my lord," said Varney"that is, in the case supposed, if such be her disposition; since

you think you cannot aspire to become her husband. Her favourite you are, and may remain, if the lady at

"Poor Amy!" said Leicester, with a deep sigh; "she desires so earnestly to be acknowledged in presence of

"Ay, but, my lord," said Varney, "is her desire reasonable? That is the question. Her religious scruples are

solved; she is an honoured and beloved wife, enjoying the society of her husband at such times as his

weightier duties permit him to afford her his company. What would she more? I am right sure that a lady so

gentle and so loving would consent to live her life through in a certain obscuritywhich is, after all, not

dimmer than when she was at Lidcote Hallrather than diminish the least jot of her lord's honours and

"There is something in what thou sayest," said Leicester, "and her appearance here were fatal. Yet she must

"Let me sleep on that hard point," said Varney; "I cannot else perfect the device I have on the stithy, which I

trust will satisfy the Queen and please my honoured lady, yet leave this fatal secret where it is now buried.

"I would be alone," said Leicester. "Leave me, and place my steel casket on the table. Be within summons."

Varney retired, and the Earl, opening the window of his apartment, looked out long and anxiously upon the

brilliant host of stars which glimmered in the splendour of a summer firmament. The words burst from him as

at unawares, "I had never more need that the heavenly bodies should befriend me, for my earthly path is

It is well known that the age reposed a deep confidence in the vain predictions of judicial astrology, and

Leicester, though exempt from the general control of superstition, was not in this respect superior to his time,

but, on the contrary, was remarkable for the encouragement which he gave to the professors of this pretended

science. Indeed, the wish to pry into futurity, so general among the human race, is peculiarly to be found

amongst those who trade in state mysteries and the dangerous intrigues and cabals of courts. With heedful

precaution to see that it had not been opened, or its locks tampered with, Leicester applied a key to the steel

casket, and drew from it, first, a parcel of gold pieces, which he put into a silk purse; then a parchment

inscribed with planetary signs, and the lines and calculations used in framing horoscopes, on which he gazed

intently for a few moments; and, lastly, took forth a large key, which, lifting aside the tapestry, he applied to a

little, concealed door in the corner of the apartment, and opening it, disclosed a stair constructed in the

"Alasco," said the Earl, with a voice raised, yet no higher raised than to be heard by the inhabitant of the

"I come, my lord," answered a voice from above. The foot of an aged man was heard slowly descending the

narrow stair, and Alasco entered the Earl's apartment. The astrologer was a little man, and seemed much

advanced in age, for his heard was long and white, and reached over his black doublet down to his silken

girdle. His hair was of the same venerable hue. But his eyebrows were as dark as the keen and piercing black

eyes which they shaded, and this peculiarity gave a wild and singular cast to the physiognomy of the old man.

His cheek was still fresh and ruddy, and the eyes we have mentioned resembled those of a rat in acuteness

and even fierceness of expression. His manner was not without a sort of dignity; and the interpreter of the

stars, though respectful, seemed altogether at his ease, and even assumed a tone of instruction and command

"Your prognostications have failed, Alasco," said the Earl, when they had exchanged salutations"he is

"My son," replied the astrologer, "let me remind you I warranted not his death; nor is there any

prognostication that can be derived from the heavenly bodies, their aspects and their conjunctions, which is

not liable to be controlled by the will of Heaven. ASTRA REGUNT HOMINES, SED REGIT ASTRA

"Of much, my son," replied the old man, "since it can show the natural and probable course of events,

although that course moves in subordination to an Higher Power. Thus, in reviewing the horoscope which

your Lordship subjected to my skill, you will observe that Saturn, being in the sixth House in opposition to

Mars, retrograde in the House of Life, cannot but denote long and dangerous sickness, the issue whereof is in

the will of Heaven, though death may probably be inferred. Yet if I knew the name of the party I would erect

"His name is a secret," said the Earl; "yet, I must own, thy prognostication hath not been unfaithful. He has

been sick, and dangerously so, not, however, to death. But hast thou again cast my horoscope as Varney

directed thee, and art thou prepared to say what the stars tell of my present fortune?"

"My art stands at your command," said the old man; "and here, my son, is the map of thy fortunes, brilliant in

aspect as ever beamed from those blessed signs whereby our life is influenced, yet not unchequered with

"My lot were more than mortal were it otherwise," said the Earl. "Proceed, father, and believe you speak with

one ready to undergo his destiny in action and in passion as may beseem a noble of England."

"Thy courage to do and to suffer must be wound up yet a strain higher," said the old man. "The stars intimate

yet a prouder title, yet an higher rank. It is for thee to guess their meaning, not for me to name it."

"Name it, I conjure youname it, I command you!" said the Earl, his eyes brightening as he spoke.

"I may not, and I will not," replied the old man. "The ire of princes Is as the wrath of the lion. But mark, and

judge for thyself. Here Venus, ascendant in the House of Life, and conjoined with Sol, showers down that

flood of silver light, blent with gold, which promises power, wealth, dignity, all that the proud heart of man

desires, and in such abundance that never the future Augustus of that old and mighty Rome heard from his

HARUSPICES such a tale of glory, as from this rich text my lore might read to my favourite son."

"Thou dost but jest with me, father," said the Earl, astonished at the strain of enthusiasm in which the

"Is it for him to jest who hath his eye on heaven, who hath his foot in the grave?" returned the old man

The Earl made two or three strides through the apartment, with his hand outstretched, as one who follows the

beckoning signal of some phantom, waving him on to deeds of high import. As he turned, however, he caught

the eye of the astrologer fixed on him, while an observing glance of the most shrewd penetration shot from

under the penthouse of his shaggy, dark eyebrows. Leicester's haughty and suspicious soul at once caught

fire. He darted towards the old man from the farther end of the lofty apartment, only standing still when his

"Wretch!" he said, "if you dare to palter with me, I will have your skin stripped from your living flesh!

Confess thou hast been hired to deceive and to betray methat thou art a cheat, and I thy silly prey and

The old man exhibited some symptoms of emotion, but not more than the furious deportment of his patron

"What means this violence, my lord?" he answered, "or in what can I have deserved it at your hand?"

"Give me proof," said the Earl vehemently, "that you have not tampered with mine enemies."

"My lord," replied the old man, with dignity, "you can have no better proof than that which you yourself

elected. In that turret I have spent the last twentyfour hours under the key which has been in your own

custody. The hours of darkness I have spent in gazing on the heavenly bodies with these dim eyes, and during

those of light I have toiled this aged brain to complete the calculation arising from their combinations.

Earthly food I have not tastedearthly voice I have not heard. You are yourself aware I had no means of

doing so; and yet I tell youI who have been thus shut up in solitude and studythat within these

twentyfour hours your star has become predominant in the horizon, and either the bright book of heaven

speaks false, or there must have been a proportionate revolution in your fortunes upon earth. If nothing has

happened within that space to secure your power, or advance your favour, then am I indeed a cheat, and the

divine art, which was first devised in the plains of Chaldea, is a foul imposture."

"It is true," said Leicester, after a moment's reflection, "thou wert closely immured; and it is also true that the

change has taken place in my situation which thou sayest the horoscope indicates."

"Wherefore this distrust then, my son?" said the astrologer, assuming a tone of admonition; "the celestial

"Peace, father," answered Leicester, "I have erred in doubting thee. Not to mortal man, nor to celestial

intelligenceunder that which is supremewill Dudley's lips say more in condescension or apology. Speak

rather to the present purpose. Amid these bright promises thou hast said there was a threatening aspect. Can

"Thus far only," answered the astrologer, "does my art enable me to answer your query. The infortune is

threatened by the malignant and adverse aspect, through means of a youth, and, as I think, a rival; but

whether in love or in prince's favour, I know not nor can I give further indication respecting him, save that he

"The westernha!" replied Leicester, "it is enoughthe tempest does indeed brew in that quarter! Cornwall

and DevonRaleigh and Tressilianone of them is indicatedI must beware of both. Father, if I have done

He took a purse of gold from the strong casket which stood before him. "Have thou double the recompense

which Varney promised. Be faithfulbe secretobey the directions thou shalt receive from my master of

the horse, and grudge not a little seclusion or restraint in my causeit shall be richly considered.Here,

Varneyconduct this venerable man to thine own lodging; tend him heedfully in all things, but see that he

Varney bowed, and the astrologer kissed the Earl's hand in token of adieu, and followed the master of the

horse to another apartment, in which were placed wine and refreshments for his use.

The astrologer sat down to his repast, while Varney shut two doors with great precaution, examined the

tapestry, lest any listener lurked behind it, and then sitting down opposite to the sage, began to question him.

"I did," said Alasco, for by such name he was at present called, "and shaped the horoscope accordingly."

"Not without challenge," replied the old man, "but it did pass; and I added, as before agreed, danger from a

"My lord's fear will stand sponsor to the one, and his conscience to the other, of these prognostications,"

replied Varney. "Sure never man chose to run such a race as his, yet continued to retain those silly scruples! I

am fain to cheat him to his own profit. But touching your matters, sage interpreter of the stars, I can tell you

more of your own fortune than plan or figure can show. You must be gone from hence forthwith."

"I will not," said Alasco peevishly. "I have been too much hurried up and down of lateimmured for day

and night in a desolate turretchamber. I must enjoy my liberty, and pursue my studies, which are of more

import than the fate of fifty statesmen and favourites that rise and burst like bubbles in the atmosphere of a

"At your pleasure," said Varney, with a sneer that habit had rendered familiar to his features, and which

forms the principal characteristic which painters have assigned to that of Satan"at your pleasure," he said;

"you may enjoy your liberty and your studies until the daggers of Sussex's followers are clashing within your

doublet and against your ribs." The old man turned pale, and Varney proceeded. "Wot you not he hath offered

a reward for the archquack and poisonvender, Demetrius, who sold certain precious spices to his lordship's

cook? What! turn you pale, old friend? Does Hali already see an infortune in the House of Life? Why, hark

thee, we will have thee down to an old house of mine in the country, where thou shalt live with a hobnailed

slave, whom thy alchemy may convert into ducats, for to such conversion alone is thy art serviceable."

"It is false, thou foulmouthed railer," said Alasco, shaking with impotent anger; "it is well known that I have

approached more nearly to projection than any hermetic artist who now lives. There are not six chemists in

"Come, come," said Varney, interrupting him, "what means this, in the name of Heaven? Do we not know

one another? I believe thee to be so perfectso very perfectin the mystery of cheating, that, having

imposed upon all mankind, thou hast at length in some measure imposed upon thyself, and without ceasing to

dupe others, hast become a species of dupe to thine own imagination. Blush not for it, manthou art learned,

No one but thyself could have gulled thee; and thou hast gulled the whole brotherhood of the Rosy Cross

besidesnone so deep in the mystery as thou. But hark thee in thine ear: had the seasoning which spiced

Sussex's broth wrought more surely, I would have thought better of the chemical science thou dost boast so

"Thou art an hardened villain, Varney," replied Alasco; "many will do those things who dare not speak of

"And many speak of them who dare not do them," answered Varney. "But be not wrothI will not quarrel

with thee. If I did, I were fain to live on eggs for a month, that I might feed without fear. Tell me at once, how

"The Earl of Sussex's horoscope intimates," replied the astrologer, "that the sign of the ascendant being in

"Away with your gibberish," replied Varney; "thinkest thou it is the patron thou speakest with?"

"I crave your pardon," replied the old man, "and swear to you I know but one medicine that could have saved

the Earl's life; and as no man living in England knows that antidote save myself moreover, as the

ingredients, one of them in particular, are scarce possible to be come by, I must needs suppose his escape was

owing to such a constitution of lungs and vital parts as was never before bound up in a body of clay."

"There was some talk of a quack who waited on him," said Varney, after a moment's reflection. "Are you sure

"One man there was," said the doctor, "once my servant, who might have stolen this of me, with one or two

other secrets of art. But content you, Master Varney, it is no part of my policy to suffer such interlopers to

interfere in my trade. He pries into no mysteries more, I warrant you, for, as I well believe, he hath been

wafted to heaven on the wing of a fiery dragonpeace be with him! But in this retreat of mine shall I have

"Of a whole workshop, man," said Varney; "for a reverend father abbot, who was fain to give place to bluff

King Hal and some of his courtiers, a score of years since, had a chemist's complete apparatus, which he was

obliged to leave behind him to his successors. Thou shalt there occupy, and melt, and puff, and blaze, and

multiply, until the Green Dragon become a golden goose, or whatever the newer phrase of the brotherhood

"Thou art right, Master Varney," said the alchemist setting his teeth close and grinding them together"thou

art right even in thy very contempt of right and reason. For what thou sayest in mockery may in sober verity

chance to happen ere we meet again. If the most venerable sages of ancient days have spoken the truthif

the most learned of our own have rightly received it; if I have been accepted wherever I travelled in

Germany, in Poland, in Italy, and in the farther Tartary, as one to whom nature has unveiled her darkest

secrets; if I have acquired the most secret signs and passwords of the Jewish Cabala, so that the greyest beard

in the synagogue would brush the steps to make them clean for me;if all this is so, and if there remains but

one stepone little stepbetwixt my long, deep, and dark, and subterranean progress, and that blaze of

light which shall show Nature watching her richest and her most glorious productions in the very

cradleone step betwixt dependence and the power of sovereigntyone step betwixt poverty and such a

sum of wealth as earth, without that noble secret, cannot minister from all her mines in the old or the

newfound world; if this be all so, is it not reasonable that to this I dedicate my future life, secure, for a brief

period of studious patience, to rise above the mean dependence upon favourites, and THEIR favourites, by

"Now, bravo! bravo! my good father," said Varney, with the usual sardonic expression of ridicule on his

countenance; "yet all this approximation to the philosopher's stone wringeth not one single crown out of my

Lord Leicester's pouch, and far less out of Richard Varney's. WE must have earthly and substantial services,

man, and care not whom else thou canst delude with thy philosophical charlatanry."

"My son Varney," said the alchemist, "the unbelief, gathered around thee like a frostfog, hath dimmed thine

acute perception to that which is a stumblingblock to the wise, and which yet, to him who seeketh

knowledge with humility, extends a lesson so clear that he who runs may read. Hath not Art, thinkest thou,

the means of completing Nature's imperfect concoctions in her attempts to form the precious metals, even as

by art we can perfect those other operations of incubation, distillation, fermentation, and similar processes of

an ordinary description, by which we extract life itself out of a senseless egg, summon purity and vitality out

of muddy dregs, or call into vivacity the inert substance of a sluggish liquid?"

"I have heard all this before," said Varney, "and my heart is proof against such cant ever since I sent twenty

good gold pieces (marry, it was in the nonage of my wit) to advance the grand magisterium, all which, God

help the while, vanished IN FUMO. Since that moment, when I paid for my freedom, I defy chemistry,

astrology, palmistry, and every other occult art, were it as secret as hell itself, to unloose the stricture of my

purse strings. Marry, I neither defy the manna of Saint Nicholas, nor can I dispense with it. The first task

must be to prepare some when thou gett'st down to my little sequestered retreat yonder, and then make as

"Then," said the master of the horse, "thou shalt be hanged for what thou hast made already, and so were the

great secret for ever lost to mankind. Do not humanity this injustice, good father, but e'en bend to thy destiny,

and make us an ounce or two of this same stuff; which cannot prejudice above one or two individuals, in

order to gain lifetime to discover the universal medicine, which shall clear away all mortal diseases at once.

But cheer up, thou grave, learned, and most melancholy jackanape! Hast thou not told me that a moderate

portion of thy drug hath mild effects, no ways ultimately dangerous to the human frame, but which produces

depression of spirits, nausea, headache, an unwillingness to change of placeeven such a state of temper as

"I have said so, and it is true," said the alchemist. "This effect will it produce, and the bird who partakes of it

in such proportion shall sit for a season drooping on her perch, without thinking either of the free blue sky, or

of the fair greenwood, though the one be lighted by the rays of the rising sun, and the other ringing with the

"Ay, so that proportion and measure be not exceeded; and so that one who knows the nature of the manna be

"Thou shalt regulate the whole," said Varney. "Thy reward shall be princely, if thou keepest time and touch,

and exceedest not the due proportion, to the prejudice of her health; otherwise thy punishment shall be as

"The prejudice of HER health!" repeated Alasco; "it is, then, a woman I am to use my skill upon?"

"No, thou fool," replied Varney, "said I not it was a birda reclaimed linnet, whose pipe might soothe a

hawk when in mid stoop? I see thine eye sparkle, and I know thy beard is not altogether so white as art has

made itTHAT, at least, thou hast been able to transmute to silver. But mark me, this is no mate for thee.

This caged bird is dear to one who brooks no rivalry, and far less such rivalry as thine, and her health must

over all things be cared for. But she is in the case of being commanded down to yonder Kenilworth revels,

and it is most expedientmost needfulmost necessary that she fly not thither. Of these necessities and

their causes, it is not needful that she should know aught; and it is to be thought that her own wish may lead

her to combat all ordinary reasons which can be urged for her remaining a housekeeper."

"That is but natural," said the alchemist with a strange smile, which yet bore a greater reference to the human

character than the uninterested and abstracted gaze which his physiognomy had hitherto expressed, where all

"It is so," answered Varney; "you understand women well, though it may have been long since you were

conversant amongst them. Well, then, she is not to be contradicted; yet she is not to be humoured. Understand

mea slight illness, sufficient to take away the desire of removing from thence, and to make such of your

wise fraternity as may be called in to aid, recommend a quiet residence at home, will, in one word, be

"And I must," added Alasco, "have opportunity to do my turn, and all facilities for concealment or escape,

"All, all, and everything, thou infidel in all but the impossibilities of alchemy. Why, man, for what dost thou

The old man rose, and taking a light walked towards the end of the apartment, where was a door that led to

the small sleeping room destined for his reception during the night. At the door he turned round, and slowly

repeated Varney's question ere he answered it. "For what do I take thee, Richard Varney? Why, for a worse

devil than I have been myself. But I am in your toils, and I must serve you till my term be out."

"Well, well," answered Varney hastily, "be stirring with grey light. It may be we shall not need thy

medicinedo nought till I myself come down. Michael Lambourne shall guide you to the place of your

When Varney heard the adept's door shut and carefully bolted within, he stepped towards it, and with similar

precaution carefully locked it on the outside, and took the key from the lock, muttering to himself, "Worse

than THEE, thou poisoning quacksalver and witchmonger, who, if thou art not a bounden slave to the devil,

it is only because he disdains such an apprentice! I am a mortal man, and seek by mortal means the

gratification of my passions and advancement of my prospects; thou art a vassal of hell itselfSo ho,

Lambourne!" he called at another door, and Michael made his appearance with a flushed cheek and an

"Doubtless, noble sir," replied the unabashed Michael; "We have been drinking all even to the glories of the

day, and to my noble Lord of Leicester and his valiant master of the horse. Drunk! odds blades and poniards,

he that would refuse to swallow a dozen healths on such an evening is a base besognio, and a puckfoist, and

"Hark ye, scoundrel," said Varney, "be sober on the instantI command thee. I know thou canst throw off

thy drunken folly, like a fool's coat, at pleasure; and if not, it were the worse for thee."

Lambourne drooped his head, left the apartment, and returned in two or three minutes with his face

composed, his hair adjusted, his dress in order, and exhibiting as great a difference from his former self as if

"Thou must presently down to Cumnor Place with the reverend man of art who sleeps yonder in the little

vaulted chamber. Here is the key, that thou mayest call him by times. Take another trusty fellow with you.

Use him well on the journey, but let him not escape youpistol him if he attempt it, and I will be your

warrant. I will give thee letters to Foster. The doctor is to occupy the lower apartments of the eastern

quadrangle, with freedom to use the old elaboratory and its implements. He is to have no access to the lady,

but such as I shall point outonly she may be amused to see his philosophical jugglery. Thou wilt await at

Cumnor Place my further orders; and, as thou livest, beware of the alebench and the aqua vitae flask. Each

"Enough, my lordI mean my worshipful master, soon, I trust, to be my worshipful knightly master. You

have given me my lesson and my license; I will execute the one, and not abuse the other. I will be in the

"Do so, and deserve favour. Stayere thou goest fill me a cup of winenot out of that flask, sirrah," as

Lambourne was pouring out from that which Alasco had left half finished, "fetch me a fresh one."

Lambourne obeyed, and Varney, after rinsing his mouth with the liquor, drank a full cup, and said, as he took

up a lamp to retreat to his sleeping apartment, "It is strangeI am as little the slave of fancy as any one, yet I

never speak for a few minutes with this fellow Alasco, but my mouth and lungs feel as if soiled with the

So saying, he left the apartment. Lambourne lingered, to drink a cup of the freshlyopened flask. "It is from

Saint John'sBerg," he said, as he paused on the draught to enjoy its flavour, "and has the true relish of the

violet. But I must forbear it now, that I may one day drink it at my own pleasure." And he quaffed a goblet of

water to quench the fumes of the Rhenish wine, retired slowly towards the door, made a pause, and then,

finding the temptation irresistible, walked hastily back, and took another long pull at the wine flask, without

"Were it not for this accursed custom," he said, "I might climb as high as Varney himself. But who can climb

when the room turns round with him like a parishtop? I would the distance were greater, or the road

rougher, betwixt my hand and mouth! But I will drink nothing tomorrow save waternothing save fair

The public room of the Black Bear at Cumnor, to which the scene of our story now returns, boasted, on the

evening which we treat of, no ordinary assemblage of guests. There had been a fair in the neighbourhood, and

the cutting mercer of Abingdon, with some of the other personages whom the reader has already been made

acquainted with, as friends and customers of Giles Gosling, had already formed their wonted circle around

A lively, bustling, arch fellow, whose pack, and oaken ellwand studded duly with brass points, denoted him

to be of Autolycus's profession, occupied a good deal of the attention, and furnished much of the amusement,

of the evening. The pedlars of those days, it must be remembered, were men of far greater importance than

the degenerate and degraded hawkers of our modern times. It was by means of these peripatetic venders that

the country trade, in the finer manufactures used in female dress particularly, was almost entirely carried on;

and if a merchant of this description arrived at the dignity of travelling with a packhorse, he was a person of

no small consequence, and company for the most substantial yeoman or franklin whom he might meet in his

The pedlar of whom we speak bore, accordingly, an active and unrebuked share in the merriment to which

the rafters of the bonny Black Bear of Cumnor resounded. He had his smile with pretty Mistress Cicely, his

broad laugh with mine host, and his jest upon dashing Master Goldthred, who, though indeed without any

such benevolent intention on his own part, was the general butt of the evening. The pedlar and he were

closely engaged in a dispute upon the preference due to the Spanish netherstock over the black Gascoigne

hose, and mine host had just winked to the guests around him, as who should say, "You will have mirth

presently, my masters," when the trampling of horses was heard in the courtyard, and the hostler was loudly

summoned, with a few of the newest oaths then in vogue to add force to the invocation. Out tumbled Will

Hostler, John Tapster, and all the militia of the inn, who had slunk from their posts in order to collect some

scattered crumbs of the mirth which was flying about among the customers. Out into the yard sallied mine

host himself also, to do fitting salutation to his new guests; and presently returned, ushering into the

apartment his own worthy nephew, Michael Lambourne, pretty tolerably drunk, and having under his escort

the astrologer. Alasco, though still a little old man, had, by altering his gown to a ridingdress, trimming his

beard and eyebrows, and so forth, struck at least a score of years from his apparent age, and might now seem

an active man of sixty, or little upwards. He appeared at present exceedingly anxious, and had insisted much

with Lambourne that they should not enter the inn, but go straight forward to the place of their destination.

But Lambourne would not be controlled. "By Cancer and Capricorn," he vociferated, "and the whole

heavenly host, besides all the stars that these blessed eyes of mine have seen sparkle in the southern heavens,

to which these northern blinkers are but farthing candles, I will be unkindly for no one's humourI will stay

and salute my worthy uncle here. Chesu! that good blood should ever be forgotten betwixt friends!A

gallon of your best, uncle, and let it go round to the health of the noble Earl of Leicester! What! shall we not

collogue together, and warm the cockles of our ancient kindness?shall we not collogue, I say?"

"With all my heart, kinsman," said mine host, who obviously wished to be rid of him; "but are you to stand

This is a question has quelled many a jovial toper, but it moved not the purpose of Lambourne's soul,

"Question my means, nuncle?" he said, producing a handful of mixed gold and silver pieces; "question

Mexico and Peruquestion the Queen's exchequerGod save her Majesty!she is my good Lord's good

"Well, kinsman," said mine host, "it is my business to sell wine to those who can buy itso, Jack Tapster, do

me thine office. But I would I knew how to come by money as lightly as thou dost, Mike."

"Why, uncle," said Lambourne, "I will tell thee a secret. Dost see this little old fellow here? as old and

withered a chip as ever the devil put into his porridgeand yet, uncle, between you and mehe hath Potosi

"I will have none of his coinage in my purse, though, Michael," said mine host; "I know what belongs to

"Thou art an ass, uncle, for as old as thou art.Pull me not by the skirts, doctor, thou art an ass thyself to

"Are you mad?' said the old man; "is the devil in you? Can you not let us begone without drawing all men's

"Sayest thou?" said Lambourne. "Thou art deceived nowno man shall see you, an I give the word.By

heavens, masters, an any one dare to look on this old gentleman, I will slash the eyes out of his head with my

poniard!So sit down, old friend, and be merry; these are mine inglesmine ancient inmates, and will

"Had you not better withdraw to a private apartment, nephew?" said Giles Gosling. "You speak strange

"I care not for them," said the magnanimous Michael "intelligencers? pshaw! I serve the noble Earl of

Leicester. Here comes the wine.Fill round, Master Skinker, a carouse to the health of the flower of

England, the noble Earl of Leicester! I say, the noble Earl of Leicester! He that does me not reason is a swine

of Sussex, and I'll make him kneel to the pledge, if I should cut his hams and smoke them for bacon."

None disputed a pledge given under such formidable penalties; and Michael Lambourne, whose drunken

humour was not of course diminished by this new potation, went on in the same wild way, renewing his

acquaintance with such of the guests as he had formerly known, and experiencing a reception in which there

was now something of deference mingled with a good deal of fear; for the least servitor of the favourite Earl,

especially such a man as Lambourne, was, for very sufficient reasons, an object both of the one and of the

In the meanwhile, the old man, seeing his guide in this uncontrollable humour, ceased to remonstrate with

him, and sitting down in the most obscure corner of the room, called for a small measure of sack, over which

he seemed, as it were, to slumber, withdrawing himself as much as possible from general observation, and

doing nothing which could recall his existence to the recollection of his fellowtraveller, who by this time

"Never believe me, bully Mike," said the mercer, "if I am not as glad to see thee as ever I was to see a

customer's money! Why, thou canst give a friend a sly place at a mask or a revel now, Mike; ay, or, I warrant

thee, thou canst say in my lord's ear, when my honourable lord is down in these parts, and wants a Spanish

ruff or the likethou canst say in his ear, There is mine old friend, young Lawrence Goldthred of Abingdon,

has as good wares, lawn, tiffany, cambric, and so forthay, and is as pretty a piece of man's flesh, too, as is

in Berkshire, and will ruffle it for your lordship with any man of his inches; and thou mayest say"

"I can say a hundred dd lies besides, mercer," answered Lambourne; "what, one must not stand upon a

"Here is to thee, Mike, with all my heart," said the mercer; "and thou canst tell one the reality of the new

fashions too. Here was a rogue pedlar but now was crying up the oldfashioned Spanish netherstock over

the Gascoigne hose, although thou seest how well the French hose set off the leg and knee, being adorned

"Excellent, excellent," replied Lambourne; "why, thy limber bit of a thigh, thrust through that bunch of

slashed buckram and tiffany, shows like a housewife's distaff when the flax is half spun off!"

"Said I not so?" said the mercer, whose shallow brain was now overflowed in his turn; "where, then, where be

this rascal pedlar?there was a pedlar here but now, methinks.Mine host, where the foul fiend is this

"Where wise men should be, Master Goldthred," replied Giles Gosling; "even shut up in his private chamber,

"Hang him, a mechanical chuff!" said the mercer; "but for shame, it were a good deed to ease him of his

waresa set of peddling knaves, who stroll through the land, and hurt the established trader. There are good

fellows in Berkshire yet, mine hostyour pedlar may be met withal on Maiden Castle."

"Ay," replied mine host, laughing, "and he who meets him may meet his matchthe pedlar is a tall man."

"Is he?" replied the host; "ay, by cock and pie is hethe very pedlar he who raddled Robin Hood so tightly,

'Now Robin Hood drew his sword so good, The pedlar drew his brand, And he hath raddled him, Robin

"Hang him, foul scroyle, let him pass," said the mercer; "if he be such a one, there were small worship to be

won upon him.And now tell me, Mikemy honest Mike, how wears the Hollands you won of me?"

"Why, well, as you may see, Master Goldthred," answered Mike; "I will bestow a pot on thee for the

"Thou wilt win no more Hollands, think, on such wager, friend Mike," said the mercer; "for the sulky swain,

Tony Foster, rails at thee all to nought, and swears you shall ne'er darken his doors again, for that your oaths

"Doth he say so, the mincing, hypocritical miser?" vociferated Lambourne. "Why, then, he shall come down

and receive my commands here, this blessed night, under my uncle's roof! And I will ring him such a black

sanctus, that he shall think the devil hath him by the skirts for a month to come, for barely hearing me."

"Nay, now the pottlepot is uppermost, with a witness!" said the mercer. "Tony Foster obey thy whistle!

"I tell thee what, thou thinfaced gull," said Michael Lambourne, in high chafe, "I will wager thee fifty

angels against the first five shelves of thy shop, numbering upward from the false light, with all that is on

them, that I make Tony Foster come down to this publichouse before we have finished three rounds."

"I will lay no bet to that amount," said the mercer, something sobered by an offer which intimated rather too

private a knowledge on Lambourne's part of the secret recesses of his shop. "I will lay no such wager," he

said; "but I will stake five angels against thy five, if thou wilt, that Tony Foster will not leave his own roof, or

"Content," said Lambourne."Here, uncle, hold stakes, and let one of your young bleedbarrels thereone

of your infant tapsterstrip presently up to The Place, and give this letter to Master Foster, and say that I, his

ingle, Michael Lambourne, pray to speak with him at mine uncle's castle here, upon business of grave

import.Away with thee, child, for it is now sundown, and the wretch goeth to bed with the birds to save

Shortly after this messenger was dispatchedan interval which was spent in drinking and buffooneryhe

"If it please your worship," answered the messenger, "he looked out of window, with a musquetoon in his

hand, and when I delivered your errand, which I did with fear and trembling, he said, with a vinegar aspect,

"Or to hell, I suppose," said Lambourne"it is there he disposes of all that are not of the congregation."

"An ingenious youth," said Michael; "shalt have a drop to whet thy poetical whistle. And what said Foster

"He called me back," answered the boy, "and bid me say you might come to him if you had aught to say to

"He read the letter, and seemed in a fluster, and asked if your worship was in drink; and I said you were

"Out, you diminutive pintpot, whelped of an overgrown reckoning!" replied Lambourne"out! But what

"Why," said the boy, "he muttered that if he came not your worship would bolt out what were better kept in;

and so he took his old flat cap, and threadbare blue cloak, and, as I said before, he will be here incontinent."

"There is truth in what he said," replied Lambourne, as if speaking to himself"my brain has played me its

old dog's trick. But corragiolet him approach!I have not rolled about in the world for many a day to fear

Tony Foster, be I drunk or sober. Bring me a flagon of cold water to christen my sack withal."

While Lambourne, whom the approach of Foster seemed to have recalled to a sense of his own condition,

was busied in preparing to receive him, Giles Gosling stole up to the apartment of the pedlar, whom he found

"You withdrew yourself suddenly from the company," said the landlord to the guest.

"It is not courteous in you to term my nephew by such a name," said Gosling, "nor is it kindly in me to reply

"PoohI talk not of the swaggering ruffian," replied the pedlar; "it is of the other, who, for aught I

"Marry, these are questions I cannot answer," replied the host. "But look you, sir, you have brought me a

token from worthy Master Tressiliana pretty stone it is." He took out the ring, and looked at it, adding, as

he put it into his purse again, that it was too rich a guerdon for anything he could do for the worthy donor. He

was, he said, in the public line, and it ill became him to be too inquisitive into other folk's concerns. He had

already said that he could hear nothing but that the lady lived still at Cumnor Place in the closest seclusion,

and, to such as by chance had a view of her, seemed pensive and discontented with her solitude. "But here,"

he said, "if you are desirous to gratify your master, is the rarest chance that hath occurred for this many a day.

Tony Foster is coming down hither, and it is but letting Mike Lambourne smell another wineflask, and the

Queen's command would not move him from the alebench. So they are fast for an hour or so. Now, if you

will don your pack, which will be your best excuse, you may, perchance, win the ear of the old servant, being

assured of the master's absence, to let you try to get some custom of the lady; and then you may learn more of

"Truevery true," answered Wayland, for he it was; "an excellent device, but methinks something

"Or say," continued Way]and, "the lady should render me cold thanks for my exertions?"

"As is not unlikely," replied Giles Gosling. "I marvel Master Tressilian will take such heed of her that cares

"In either case I were foully sped," said Wayland, "and therefore I do not, on the whole, much relish your

"Nay, but take me with you, good master servingman," replied mine host. "This is your master's business,

and not mine:, you best know the risk to be encountered, or how far you are willing to brave it. But that

"Hold, hold," said Wayland; "tell me but one thinggoes yonder old man up to Cumnor?"

"Surely, I think so?" said the landlord; "their servant said he was to take their baggage thither. But the aletap

"It is enough," said Wayland, assuming an air of resolution. "I will thwart that old villain's projects; my

affright at his baleful aspect begins to abate, and my hatred to arise. Help me on with my pack, good mine

host.And look to thyself, old Albumazar; there is a malignant influence in thy horoscope, and it gleams

So saying, he assumed his burden, and, guided by the landlord through the postern gate of the Black Bear,

In his anxiety to obey the Earl's repeated charges of secrecy, as well as from his own unsocial and miserly

habits, Anthony Foster was more desirous, by his mode of housekeeping, to escape observation than to resist

intrusive curiosity. Thus, instead of a numerous household, to secure his charge, and defend his house, he

studied as much as possible to elude notice by diminishing his attendants; so that, unless when there were

followers of the Earl, or of Varney, in the mansion, one old male domestic, and two aged crones, who

assisted in keeping the Countess's apartments in order, were the only servants of the family.

It was one of these old women who opened the door when Wayland knocked, and answered his petition, to be

admitted to exhibit his wares to the ladies of the family, with a volley of vituperation, couched in what is

there called the JOWRING dialect. The pedlar found the means of checking this vociferation by slipping a

silver groat into her hand, and intimating the present of some stuff for a coif, if the lady would buy of his

"God ield thee, for mine is aw in littocks. Slocket with thy pack into gharn, monher walks in gharn." Into

the garden she ushered the pedlar accordingly, and pointing to an old, ruinous garden house, said, "Yonder

"She has left me to come off as I may," thought Wayland, as he heard the hag shut the gardendoor behind

him. "But they shall not beat me, and they dare not murder me, for so little trespass, and by this fair twilight.

Hang it, I will ona brave general never thought of his retreat till he was defeated. I see two females in the

old gardenhouse yonderbut how to address them? StayWill Shakespeare, be my friend in need. I will

give them a taste of Autolycus." He then sung, with a good voice, and becoming audacity, the popular

"Lawn as white as driven snow, Cyprus black as e'er was crow, Gloves as sweet as damask roses, Masks for

"One of those merchants of vanity, called pedlars," answered Janet, demurely, "who utters his light wares in

"It is a lucky chance, girl," said the Countess; "we lead a heavy life here, and this may while off a weary

"He is not my father, Janet, nor I hope my master," answered the lady. "I say, call the man hitherI want

"Nay," replied Janet, "your ladyship has but to say so in the next packet, and if England can furnish them they

will be sent. There will come mischief on'tpray, dearest lady, let me bid the man begone!"

"I will have thee bid him come hither," said the Countess;"or stay, thou terrified fool, I will bid him

"Ah! welladay, dearest lady, if that were the worst," said Janet sadly; while the lady called to the pedlar,

"Good fellow, step forwardundo thy pack; if thou hast good wares, chance has sent thee hither for my

"What may your ladyship please to lack?" said Wayland, unstrapping his pack, and displaying its contents

with as much dexterity as if he had been bred to the trade. Indeed he had occasionally pursued it in the course

of his roving life, and now commended his wares with all the volubility of a trader, and showed some skill in

"What do I please to lack?" said the lady, "why, considering I have not for six long months bought one yard

of lawn or cambric, or one trinket, the most inconsiderable, for my own use, and at my own choice, the better

question is, What hast thou got to sell? Lay aside for me that cambric partlet and pair of sleeves and those

roundells of gold fringe, drawn out with cyprusand that short cloak of cherrycoloured fine cloth,

"Nay, my lady," replied Janet, "if you consult my poor judgment, it is, methinks, overgaudy for a graceful

"Now, out upon thy judgment, if it be no brighter, wench," said the Countess. "Thou shalt wear it thyself for

penance' sake; and I promise thee the gold buttons, being somewhat massive, will comfort thy father, and

reconcile him to the cherrycoloured body. See that he snap them not away, Janet, and send them to bear

"Nay, but why should any one spare him that is so sparing of his own nature?" replied the lady."Well, but

to our gear. That head garniture for myself, and that silver bodkin mounted with pearl; and take off two

gowns of that russet cloth for Dorcas and Alison, Janet, to keep the old wretches warm against winter

comes.And stayhast thou no perfumes and sweet bags, or any handsome casting bottles of the newest

"Were I a pedlar in earnest, I were a made merchant," thought Wayland, as he busied himself to answer the

demands which she thronged one on another, with the eagerness of a young lady who has been long secluded

from such a pleasing occupation. "But how to bring her to a moment's serious reflection?" Then as he

exhibited his choicest collection of essences and perfumes, he at once arrested her attention by observing that

these articles had almost risen to double value since the magnificent preparations made by the Earl of

Leicester to entertain the Queen and court at his princely Castle of Kenilworth.

"Surely, madam," answered Wayland; "and I marvel it hath not reached your noble ladyship's ears. The

Queen of England feasts with the noble Earl for a week during the Summer's Progress; and there are many

who will tell you England will have a king, and England's ElizabethGod save her!a husband, ere the

"For God's sake, madam, consider," said Janet, trembling with apprehension; "who would cumber themselves

"Yes, Janet!" exclaimed the Countess; "right, thou hast corrected me justly. Such reports, blighting the

reputation of England's brightest and noblest peer, can only find currency amongst the mean, the abject, and

"May I perish, lady," said Wayland Smith, observing that her violence directed itself towards him, "if I have

done anything to merit this strange passion! I have said but what many men say."

By this time the Countess had recovered her composure, and endeavoured, alarmed by the anxious hints of

Janet, to suppress all appearance of displeasure. "I were loath," she said, "good fellow, that our Queen should

change the virgin style so dear to us her peoplethink not of it." And then, as if desirous to change the

subject, she added, "And what is this paste, so carefully put up in the silver box?" as she examined the

contents of a casket in which drugs and perfumes were contained in separate drawers.

"It is a remedy, Madam, for a disorder of which I trust your ladyship will never have reason to complain. The

amount of a small turkeybean, swallowed daily for a week, fortifies the heart against those black vapours

"Are you a fool, friend?" said the Countess sharply; "or do you think, because I have goodnaturedly

purchased your trumpery goods at your roguish prices, that you may put any gullery you will on me? Who

ever heard that affections of the heart were cured by medicines given to the body?"

"Under your honourable favour," said Wayland, "I am an honest man, and I have sold my goods at an honest

price. As to this most precious medicine, when I told its qualities, I asked you not to purchase it, so why

should I lie to you? I say not it will cure a rooted affection of the mind, which only God and time can do; but

I say that this restorative relieves the black vapours which are engendered in the body of that melancholy

which broodeth on the mind. I have relieved many with it, both in court and city, and of late one Master

Edmund Tressilian, a worshipful gentleman in Cornwall, who, on some slight received, it was told me, where

he had set his affections, was brought into that state of melancholy which made his friends alarmed for his

He paused, and the lady remained silent for some time, and then asked, with a voice which she strove in vain

to render firm and indifferent in its tone, "Is the gentleman you have mentioned perfectly recovered?"

"I will take some of the medicine, Janet," said the Countess. "I too have sometimes that dark melancholy

"You shall not do so, madam," said Janet; "who shall answer that this fellow vends what is wholesome?"

"I will myself warrant my good faith," said Wayland; and taking a part of the medicine, he swallowed it

before them. The Countess now bought what remained, a step to which Janet, by further objections, only

determined her the more obstinately. She even took the first dose upon the instant, and professed to feel her

heart lightened and her spirits augmenteda consequence which, in all probability, existed only in her own

imagination. The lady then piled the purchases she had made together, flung her purse to Janet, and desired

her to compute the amount, and to pay the pedlar; while she herself, as if tired of the amusement she at first

found in conversing with him, wished him good evening, and walked carelessly into the house, thus

depriving Wayland of every opportunity to speak with her in private. He hastened, however, to attempt an

"Maiden," he said, "thou hast the face of one who should love her mistress. She hath much need of faithful

"Get thee gone then instantly, or I will call for assistance," said Janet; "my father must ere this be returned."

"Do not be so rash," said Wayland; "you will do what you may repent of. I am one of your mistress's friends;

"Look me in the face," said Wayland Smith, "and see if thou dost not read honesty in my looks."

And in truth, though by no means handsome, there was in his physiognomy the sharp, keen expression of

inventive genius and prompt intellect, which, joined to quick and brilliant eyes, a wellformed mouth, and an

intelligent smile, often gives grace and interest to features which are both homely and irregular. Janet looked

at him with the sly simplicity of her sect, and replied, "Notwithstanding thy boasted honesty, friend, and

although I am not accustomed to read and pass judgment on such volumes as thou hast submitted to my

perusal, I think I see in thy countenance something of the pedlarsomething of the picaroon."

"On a small scale, perhaps," said Wayland Smith, laughing. "But this evening, or tomorrow, will an old man

come hither with thy father, who has the stealthy step of the cat, the shrewd and vindictive eye of the rat, the

fawning wile of the spaniel, the determined snatch of the mastiffof him beware, for your own sake and that

of your distress. See you, fair Janet, he brings the venom of the aspic under the assumed innocence of the

dove. What precise mischief he meditates towards you I cannot guess, but death and disease have ever

dogged his footsteps. Say nought of this to thy mistress; my art suggests to me that in her state the fear of evil

may be as dangerous as its operation. But see that she take my specific, for" (he lowered his voice, and spoke

low but impressively in her ear) "it is an antidote against poison.Hark, they enter the garden!"

In effect, a sound of noisy mirth and loud talking approached the garden door, alarmed by which Wayland

Smith sprung into the midst of a thicket of overgrown shrubs, while Janet withdrew to the gardenhouse that

she might not incur observation, and that she might at the same time conceal, at least for the present, the

purchases made from the supposed pedlar, which lay scattered on the floor of the summerhouse.

Janet, however, had no occasion for anxiety. Her father, his old attendant, Lord Leicester's domestic, and the

astrologer, entered the garden in tumult and in extreme perplexity, endeavouring to quiet Lambourne, whose

brain had now become completely fired with liquor, and who was one of those unfortunate persons who,

being once stirred with the vinous stimulus, do not fall asleep like other drunkards, but remain partially

influenced by it for many hours, until at length, by successive draughts, they are elevated into a state of

uncontrollable frenzy. Like many men in this state also, Lambourne neither lost the power of motion, speech,

or expression; but, on the contrary, spoke with unwonted emphasis and readiness, and told all that at another

"What!" ejaculated Michael, at the full extent of his voice, "am I to have no welcome, no carouse, when I

have brought fortune to your old, ruinous doghouse in the shape of a devil's ally, that can change

slateshivers into Spanish dollars?Here, you, Tony FiretheFagot, Papist, Puritan, hypocrite, miser,

profligate, devil, compounded of all men's sins, bow down and reverence him who has brought into thy house

"For God's sake," said Foster, "speak lowcome into the house thou shalt have wine, or whatever thou

"No, old puckfoist, I will have it here," thundered the inebriated ruffian"here, AL FRESCO, as the Italian

hath it. No, no, I will not drink with that poisoning devil within doors, to be choked with the fumes of arsenic

"Aha! and thou wouldst spice it for me, old Truepenny, wouldst thou not? Ay, I should have copperas, and

hellebore, and vitriol, and aqua fortis, and twenty devilish materials bubbling in my brainpan like a charm to

raise the devil in a witch's cauldron. Hand me the flask thyself, old Tony FiretheFagotand let it be

coolI will have no wine mulled at the pile of the old burnt bishops. Or stay, let Leicester be king if he

willgood and Varney, villain Varney, grand vizierwhy, excellent!and what shall I be, then?why,

emperorEmperor Lambourne! I will see this choice piece of beauty that they have walled up here for their

private pleasures; I will have her this very night to serve my winecup and put on my nightcap. What should

a fellow do with two wives, were he twenty times an Earl? Answer me that, Tony boy, you old reprobate,

hypocritical dog, whom God struck out of the book of life, but tormented with the constant wish to be

"I will stick my knife to the haft in him," said Foster, in a low tone, which trembled with passion.

"For the love of Heaven, no violence!" said the astrologer. "It cannot but be looked closely into.Here,

honest Lambourne, wilt thou pledge me to the health of the noble Earl of Leicester and Master Richard

"I will, mine old AlbumazarI will, my trusty vender of ratsbane. I would kiss thee, mine honest infractor of

the Lex Julia (as they said at Leyden), didst thou not flavour so damnably of sulphur, and such fiendish

apothecary's stuff.Here goes it, up seyesto Varney and Leicester two more noble mounting spiritsand

more darkseeking, deepdiving, high flying, malicious, ambitious miscreantswell, I say no more, but I

will whet my dagger on his heartspone that refuses to pledge me! And so, my masters"

Thus speaking, Lambourne exhausted the cup which the astrologer had handed to him, and which contained

not wine, but distilled spirits. He swore half an oath, dropped the empty cup from his grasp, laid his hand on

his sword without being able to draw it, reeled, and fell without sense or motion into the arms of the

In the general confusion, Janet regained her lady's chamber unobserved, trembling like an aspen leaf, but

determined to keep secret from the Countess the dreadful surmises which she could not help entertaining

from the drunken ravings of Lambourne. Her fears, however, though they assumed no certain shape, kept

pace with the advice of the pedlar; and she confirmed her mistress in her purpose of taking the medicine

which he had recommended, from which it is probable she would otherwise have dissuaded her. Neither had

these intimations escaped the ears of Wayland, who knew much better how to interpret them. He felt much

compassion at beholding so lovely a creature as the Countess, and whom he had first seen in the bosom of

domestic happiness, exposed to the machinations of such a gang of villains. His indignation, too, had been

highly excited by hearing the voice of his old master, against whom he felt, in equal degree, the passions of

hatred and fear. He nourished also a pride in his own art and resources; and, dangerous as the task was, he

that night formed a determination to attain the bottom of the mystery, and to aid the distressed lady, if it were

yet possible. From some words which Lambourne had dropped among his ravings, Wayland now, for the first

time, felt inclined to doubt that Varney had acted entirely on his own account in wooing and winning the

affections of this beautiful creature. Fame asserted of this zealous retainer that he had accommodated his lord

in former love intrigues; and it occurred to Wayland Smith that Leicester himself might be the party chiefly

interested. Her marriage with the Earl he could not suspect; but even the discovery of such a passing intrigue

with a lady of Mistress Amy Robsart's rank was a secret of the deepest importance to the stability of the

favourite's power over Elizabeth. "If Leicester himself should hesitate to stifle such a rumour by very strange

means," said he to himself, "he has those about him who would do him that favour without waiting for his

consent. If I would meddle in this business, it must be in such guise as my old master uses when he

compounds his manna of Satan, and that is with a close mask on my face. So I will quit Giles Gosling

tomorrow, and change my course and place of residence as often as a hunted fox. I should like to see this

little Puritan, too, once more. She looks both pretty and intelligent to have come of such a caitiff as Anthony

Giles Gosling received the adieus of Wayland rather joyfully than otherwise. The honest publican saw so

much peril in crossing the course of the Earl of Leicester's favourite that his virtue was scarce able to support

him in the task, and he was well pleased when it was likely to be removed from his shoulders still, however,

professing his goodwill, and readiness, in case of need, to do Mr. Tressilian or his emissary any service, in

The splendour of the approaching revels at Kenilworth was now the conversation through all England; and

everything was collected at home, or from abroad, which could add to the gaiety or glory of the prepared

reception of Elizabeth at the house of her most distinguished favourite, Meantime Leicester appeared daily to

advance in the Queen's favour. He was perpetually by her side in councilwillingly listened to in the

moments of courtly recreationfavoured with approaches even to familiar intimacy looked up to by all

who had aught to hope at courtcourted by foreign ministers with the most flattering testimonies of respect

from their sovereigns,the ALTER EGO, as it seemed, of the stately Elizabeth, who was now very generally

supposed to be studying the time and opportunity for associating him, by marriage, into her sovereign power.

Amid such a tide of prosperity, this minion of fortune and of the Queen's favour was probably the most

unhappy man in the realm which seemed at his devotion. He had the Fairy King's superiority over his friends

and dependants, and saw much which they could not. The character of his mistress was intimately known to

him. It was his minute and studied acquaintance with her humours, as well as her noble faculties, which,

joined to his powerful mental qualities, and his eminent external accomplishments, had raised him so high in

her favour; and it was that very knowledge of her disposition which led him to apprehend at every turn some

sudden and overwhelming disgrace. Leicester was like a pilot possessed of a chart which points out to him all

the peculiarities of his navigation, but which exhibits so many shoals, breakers, and reefs of rocks, that his

anxious eye reaps little more from observing them than to be convinced that his final escape can be little else

In fact, Queen Elizabeth had a character strangely compounded of the strongest masculine sense, with those

foibles which are chiefly supposed proper to the female sex. Her subjects had the full benefit of her virtues,

which far predominated over her weaknesses; but her courtiers, and those about her person, had often to

sustain sudden and embarrassing turns of caprice, and the sallies of a temper which was both jealous and

despotic. She was the nursingmother of her people, but she was also the true daughter of Henry VIII.; and

though early sufferings and an excellent education had repressed and modified, they had not altogether

destroyed, the hereditary temper of that "hardruled king." "Her mind," says her witty godson, Sir John

Harrington, who had experienced both the smiles and the frowns which he describes, "was ofttime like the

gentle air that cometh from the western point in a summer's morn'twas sweet and refreshing to all around

her. Her speech did win all affections. And again, she could put forth such alterations, when obedience was

lacking, as left no doubting WHOSE daughter she was. When she smiled, it was a pure sunshine, that every

one did choose to bask in, if they could; but anon came a storm from a sudden gathering of clouds, and the

thunder fell in a wondrous manner on all alike." [Nugae Antiquae, vol.i., pp.355, 356362.]

This variability of disposition, as Leicester well knew, was chiefly formidable to those who had a share in the

Queen's affections, and who depended rather on her personal regard than on the indispensable services which

they could render to her councils and her crown. The favour of Burleigh or of Walsingham, of a description

far less striking than that by which he was himself upheld, was founded, as Leicester was well aware, on

Elizabeth's solid judgment, not on her partiality, and was, therefore, free from all those principles of change

and decay necessarily incident to that which chiefly arose from personal accomplishments and female

predilection. These great and sage statesmen were judged of by the Queen only with reference to the

measures they suggested, and the reasons by which they supported their opinions in council; whereas the

success of Leicester's course depended on all those light and changeable gales of caprice and humour which

thwart or favour the progress of a lover in the favour of his mistress, and she, too, a mistress who was ever

and anon becoming fearful lest she should forget the dignity, or compromise the authority, of the Queen,

while she indulged the affections of the woman. Of the difficulties which surrounded his power, "too great to

keep or to resign," Leicester was fully sensible; and as he looked anxiously round for the means of

maintaining himself in his precarious situation, and sometimes contemplated those of descending from it in

safety, he saw but little hope of either. At such moments his thoughts turned to dwell upon his secret

marriage and its consequences; and it was in bitterness against himself, if not against his unfortunate

Countess, that he ascribed to that hasty measure, adopted in the ardour of what he now called inconsiderate

passion, at once the impossibility of placing his power on a solid basis, and the immediate prospect of its

"Men say," thus ran his thoughts, in these anxious and repentant moments, "that I might marry Elizabeth, and

become King of England. All things suggest this. The match is carolled in ballads, while the rabble throw

their caps up. It has been touched upon in the schoolswhispered in the presencechamber recommended

from the pulpitprayed for in the Calvinistic churches abroadtouched on by statists in the very council at

home. These bold insinuations have been rebutted by no rebuke, no resentment, no chiding, scarce even by

the usual female protestation that she would live and die a virgin princess. Her words have been more

courteous than ever, though she knows such rumours are abroadher actions more gracious, her looks more

kindnought seems wanting to make me King of England, and place me beyond the storms of courtfavour,

excepting the putting forth of mine own hand to take that crown imperial which is the glory of the universe!

And when I might stretch that hand out most boldly, it is fettered down by a secret and inextricable bond!

And here I have letters from Amy," he would say, catching them up with a movement of peevishness,

"persecuting me to acknowledge her openlyto do justice to her and to myselfand I wot not what.

Methinks I have done less than justice to myself already. And she speaks as if Elizabeth were to receive the

knowledge of this matter with the glee of a mother hearing of the happy marriage of a hopeful son! She, the

daughter of Henry, who spared neither man in his anger nor woman in his desireshe to find herself tricked,

drawn on with toys of passion to the verge of acknowledging her love to a subject, and he discovered to be a

married man!Elizabeth to learn that she had been dallied with in such fashion, as a gay courtier might trifle

He would then pause, and call for Varney, whose advice was now more frequently resorted to than ever,

because the Earl remembered the remonstrances which he had made against his secret contract. And their

consultation usually terminated in anxious deliberation how, or in what manner, the Countess was to be

produced at Kenilworth. These communings had for some time ended always in a resolution to delay the

"Elizabeth will not be satisfied without her presence," said the Earl. "Whether any suspicion hath entered her

mind, as my own apprehensions suggest, or whether the petition of Tressilian is kept in her memory by

Sussex or some other secret enemy, I know not; but amongst all the favourable expressions which she uses to

me, she often recurs to the story of Amy Robsart. I think that Amy is the slave in the chariot, who is placed

there by my evil fortune to dash and to confound my triumph, even when at the highest. Show me thy device,

Varney, for solving the inextricable difficulty. I have thrown every such impediment in the way of these

accursed revels as I could propound even with a shade of decency, but today's interview has put all to a

hazard. She said to me kindly, but peremptorily, 'We will give you no further time for preparations, my lord,

lest you should altogether ruin yourself. On Saturday, the 9th of July, we will be with you at Kenilworth. We

pray you to forget none of our appointed guests and suitors, and in especial this lighto'love, Amy Robsart.

We would wish to see the woman who could postpone yonder poetical gentleman, Master Tressilian, to your

man, Richard Varney.'Now, Varney, ply thine invention, whose forge hath availed us so often for sure as

my name is Dudley, the danger menaced by my horoscope is now darkening around me."

"Can my lady be by no means persuaded to bear for a brief space the obscure character which circumstances

"How, sirrah? my Countess term herself thy wife!that may neither stand with my honour nor with hers."

"Alas! my lord," answered Varney, "and yet such is the quality in which Elizabeth now holds her; and to

"Think of something else, Varney," said the Earl, in great agitation; "this invention is nought. If I could give

way to it, she would not; for I tell thee, Varney, if thou knowest it not, that not Elizabeth on the throne has

more pride than the daughter of this obscure gentleman of Devon. She is flexible in many things, but where

she holds her honour brought in question she hath a spirit and temper as apprehensive as lightning, and as

"We have experienced that, my lord, else had we not been thus circumstanced," said Varney. "But what else

to suggest I know not. Methinks she whose good fortune in becoming your lordship's bride, and who gives

"It is impossible," said the Earl, waving his hand; "I know neither authority nor entreaties would make her

"It is somewhat hard, though," said Varney, in a dry tone; and, without pausing on that topic, he added,

"Suppose some one were found to represent her? Such feats have been performed in the courts of as

"Utter madness, Varney," answered the Earl; "the counterfeit would be confronted with Tressilian, and

"There are many," said Varney, "by which a statesman in your situation, my lord, may remove from the scene

one who pries into your affairs, and places himself in perilous opposition to you."

"Speak not to me of such policy, Varney," said the Earl hastily, "which, besides, would avail nothing in the

present case. Many others there be at court to whom Amy may be known; and besides, on the absence of

Tressilian, her father or some of her friends would be instantly summoned hither. Urge thine invention once

"My lord, I know not what to say," answered Varney; "but were I myself in such perplexity, I would ride post

down to Cumnor Place, and compel my wife to give her consent to such measures as her safety and mine

"Varney," said Leicester, "I cannot urge her to aught so repugnant to her noble nature as a share in this

"Well, my lord," said Varney, "your lordship is a wise and an honourable man, and skilled in those high

points of romantic scruple which are current in Arcadia perhaps, as your nephew, Philip Sidney, writes. I am

your humble servitora man of this world, and only happy that my knowledge of it, and its ways, is such as

your lordship has not scorned to avail yourself of. Now I would fain know whether the obligation lies on my

lady or on you in this fortunate union, and which has most reason to show complaisance to the other, and to

"I tell thee, Varney," said the Earl, "that all it was in my power to bestow upon her was not merely deserved,

but a thousand times overpaid, by her own virtue and beauty; for never did greatness descend upon a creature

"It is well, my lord, you are so satisfied," answered Varney, with his usual sardonic smile, which even respect

to his patron could not at all times subdue; "you will have time enough to enjoy undisturbed the society of

one so gracious and beautiful that is, so soon as such confinement in the Tower be over as may correspond

to the crime of deceiving the affections of Elizabeth Tudor. A cheaper penalty, I presume, you do not expect."

"Malicious fiend!" answered Leicester, "do you mock me in my misfortune?Manage it as thou wilt."

"If you are serious, my lord," said Varney, "you must set forth instantly and post for Cumnor Place."

"Do thou go thyself, Varney; the devil has given thee that sort of eloquence which is most powerful in the

worst cause. I should stand selfconvicted of villainy, were I to urge such a deceit. Begone, I tell thee; must I

"No, my lord," said Varney; "but if you are serious in entrusting me with the task of urging this most

necessary measure, you must give me a letter to my lady, as my credentials, and trust to me for backing the

advice it contains with all the force in my power. And such is my opinion of my lady's love for your lordship,

and of her willingness to do that which is at once to contribute to your pleasure and your safety, that I am sure

she will condescend to bear for a few brief days the name of so humble a man as myself, especially since it is

Leicester seized on writing materials, and twice or thrice commenced a letter to the Countess, which he

afterwards tore into fragments. At length he finished a few distracted lines, in which he conjured her, for

reasons nearly concerning his life and honour, to consent to bear the name of Varney for a few days, during

the revels at Kenilworth. He added that Varney would communicate all the reasons which rendered this

deception indispensable; and having signed and sealed these credentials, he flung them over the table to

Varney with a motion that he should depart, which his adviser was not slow to comprehend and to obey.

Leicester remained like one stupefied, till he heard the trampling of the horses, as Varney, who took no time

even to change his dress, threw himself into the saddle, and, followed by a single servant, set off for

Berkshire. At the sound the Earl started from his seat, and ran to the window, with the momentary purpose of

recalling the unworthy commission with which he had entrusted one of whom he used to say he knew no

virtuous property save affection to his patron. But Varney was already beyond call; and the bright, starry

firmament, which the age considered as the Book of Fate, lying spread before Leicester when he opened the

"There they roll, on their silent but potential course," said the Earl, looking around him, "without a voice

which speaks to our ear, but not without influences which affect, at every change, the indwellers of this vile,

earthly planet. This, if astrologers fable not, is the very crisis of my fate! The hour approaches of which I was

taught to bewarethe hour, too, which I was encouraged to hope for. A King was the wordbut how?the

crown matrimonial. All hopes of that are gonelet them go. The rich Netherlands have demanded me for

their leader, and, would Elizabeth consent, would yield to me THEIR crown. And have I not such a claim

even in this kingdom? That of York, descending from George of Clarence to the House of Huntingdon,

which, this lady failing, may have a fair chanceHuntingdon is of my house.But I will plunge no deeper

in these high mysteries. Let me hold my course in silence for a while, and in obscurity, like a subterranean

river; the time shall come that I will burst forth in my strength, and bear all opposition before me."

While Leicester was thus stupefying the remonstrances of his own conscience, by appealing to political

necessity for his apology, or losing himself amidst the wild dreams of ambition, his agent left town and tower

behind him on his hasty journey to Berkshire. HE also nourished high hope. He had brought Lord Leicester to

the point which he had desired, of committing to him the most intimate recesses of his breast, and of using

him as the channel of his most confidential intercourse with his lady. Henceforward it would, he foresaw, be

difficult for his patron either to dispense with his services, or refuse his requests, however unreasonable. And

if this disdainful dame, as he termed the Countess, should comply with the request of her husband, Varney,

her pretended husband, must needs become so situated with respect to her, that there was no knowing where

his audacity might be bounded perhaps not till circumstances enabled him to obtain a triumph, which he

thought of with a mixture of fiendish feelings, in which revenge for her previous scorn was foremost and

predominant. Again he contemplated the possibility of her being totally intractable, and refusing obstinately

"Alasco must then do his part," he said. "Sickness must serve her Majesty as an excuse for not receiving the

homage of Mrs. Varneyay, and a sore and wasting sickness it may prove, should Elizabeth continue to cast

so favourable an eye on my Lord of Leicester. I will not forego the chance of being favourite of a monarch

for want of determined measures, should these be necessary. Forward, good horse, forwardambition and

haughty hope of power, pleasure, and revenge strike their stings as deep through my bosom as I plunge the

The ladies of fashion of the present, or of any other period, must have allowed that the young and lovely

Countess of Leicester had, besides her youth and beauty, two qualities which entitled her to a place amongst

women of rank and distinction. She displayed, as we have seen in her interview with the pedlar, a liberal

promptitude to make unnecessary purchases, solely for the pleasure of acquiring useless and showy trifles

which ceased to please as soon as they were possessed; and she was, besides, apt to spend a considerable

space of time every day in adorning her person, although the varied splendour of her attire could only attract

the half satirical praise of the precise Janet, or an approving glance from the bright eyes which witnessed their

The Countess Amy had, indeed, to plead for indulgence in those frivolous tastes, that the education of the

times had done little or nothing for a mind naturally gay and averse to study. If she had not loved to collect

finery and to wear it, she might have woven tapestry or sewed embroidery, till her labours spread in gay

profusion all over the walls and seats at Lidcote Hall; or she might have varied Minerva's labours with the

task of preparing a mighty pudding against the time that Sir Hugh Robsart returned from the greenwood. But

Amy had no natural genius either for the loom, the needle, or the receiptbook. Her mother had died in

infancy; her father contradicted her in nothing; and Tressilian, the only one that approached her who was able

or desirous to attend to the cultivation of her mind, had much hurt his interest with her by assuming too

eagerly the task of a preceptor, so that he was regarded by the lively, indulged, and idle girl with some fear

and much respect, but with little or nothing of that softer emotion which it had been his hope and his

ambition to inspire. And thus her heart lay readily open, and her fancy became easily captivated by the noble

exterior and graceful deportment and complacent flattery of Leicester, even before he was known to her as

The frequent visits of Leicester at Cumnor, during the earlier part of their union, had reconciled the Countess

to the solitude and privacy to which she was condemned; but when these visits became rarer and more rare,

and when the void was filled up with letters of excuse, not always very warmly expressed, and generally

extremely brief, discontent and suspicion began to haunt those splendid apartments which love had fitted up

for beauty. Her answers to Leicester conveyed these feelings too bluntly, and pressed more naturally than

prudently that she might be relieved from this obscure and secluded residence, by the Earl's acknowledgment

of their marriage; and in arranging her arguments with all the skill she was mistress of, she trusted chiefly to

the warmth of the entreaties with which she urged them. Sometimes she even ventured to mingle reproaches,

"I have made her Countess," he said to Varney; "surely she might wait till it consisted with my pleasure that

"What signifies," she said, "that I have rank and honour in reality, if I am to live an obscure prisoner, without

either society or observance, and suffering in my character, as one of dubious or disgraced reputation? I care

not for all those strings of pearl, which you fret me by warping into my tresses, Janet. I tell you that at

Lidcote Hall, if I put but a fresh rosebud among my hair, my good father would call me to him, that he might

see it more closely; and the kind old curate would smile, and Master Mumblazen would say something about

roses gules. And now I sit here, decked out like an image with gold and gems, and no one to see my finery

but you, Janet. There was the poor Tressilian, toobut it avails not speaking of him."

"It doth not indeed, madam," said her prudent attendant; "and verily you make me sometimes wish you would

"It signifies nothing to warn me, Janet," said the impatient and incorrigible Countess; "I was born free,

though I am now mewed up like some fine foreign slave, rather than the wife of an English noble. I bore it all

with pleasure while I was sure he loved me; but now my tongue and heart shall be free, let them fetter these

limbs as they will. I tell thee, Janet, I love my husbandI will love him till my latest breathI cannot cease

to love him, even if I would, or if hewhich, God knows, may chanceshould cease to love me. But I will

say, and loudly, I would have been happier than I now am to have remained in Lidcote Hall, even although I

must have married poor Tressilian, with his melancholy look and his head full of learning, which I cared not

for. He said, if I would read his favourite volumes, there would come a time that I should be glad of having

"I bought you some books, madam," said Janet, "from a lame fellow who sold them in the

"Let me see them, Janet," said the Countess; "but let them not be of your own precise cast,How is this,

"Nay, madam," said Janet, "it was but fitting and seemly to put grace in your ladyship's way; but an you will

The Countess proceeded carelessly in her examination, turning over such rare volumes as would now make

the fortune of twenty retail booksellers. Here was a "BOKE OF COOKERY, IMPRINTED BY RICHARD

KNOWLEDGE," etc. But neither to this lore did the Countess's heart incline, and joyfully did she start up

from the listless task of turning over the leaves of the pamphlets, and hastily did she scatter them through the

floor, when the hasty clatter of horses' feet, heard in the courtyard, called her to the window, exclaiming, "It

is Leicester!it is my noble Earl!it is my Dudley!every stroke of his horse's hoof sounds like a note of

There was a brief bustle in the mansion, and Foster, with his downward look and sullen manner, entered the

apartment to say, "That Master Richard Varney was arrived from my lord, having ridden all night, and craved

"Varney?" said the disappointed Countess; "and to speak with me? pshaw! But he comes with news from

Varney entered her dressing apartment, where she sat arrayed in her native loveliness, adorned with all that

Janet's art and a rich and tasteful undress could bestow. But the most beautiful part of her attire was her

profuse and luxuriant lightbrown locks, which floated in such rich abundance around a neck that resembled

a swan's, and over a bosom heaving with anxious expectation, which communicated a hurried tinge of red to

Varney entered the room in the dress in which he had waited on his master that morning to court, the

splendour of which made a strange contrast with the disorder arising from hasty riding during a dark night

and foul ways. His brow bore an anxious and hurried expression, as one who has that to say of which he

doubts the reception, and who hath yet posted on from the necessity of communicating his tidings. The

Countess's anxious eye at once caught the alarm, as she exclaimed, "You bring news from my lord, Master

"No, madam, thank Heaven!" said Varney. "Compose yourself, and permit me to take breath ere I

"No breath, sir," replied the lady impatiently; "I know your theatrical arts. Since your breath hath sufficed to

bring you hither, it may suffice to tell your taleat least briefly, and in the gross."

"Madam," answered Varney, "we are not alone, and my lord's message was for your ear only."

"Leave us, Janet, and Master Foster," said the lady; "but remain in the next apartment, and within call."

Foster and his daughter retired, agreeably to the Lady Leicester's commands, into the next apartment, which

was the withdrawingroom. The door which led from the sleepingchamber was then carefully shut and

bolted, and the father and daughter remained both in a posture of anxious attention, the first with a stern,

suspicious, anxious cast of countenance, and Janet with folded hands, and looks which seemed divided

betwixt her desire to know the fortunes of her mistress, and her prayers to Heaven for her safety. Anthony

Foster seemed himself to have some idea of what was passing through his daughter's mind, for he crossed the

apartment and took her anxiously by the hand, saying, "That is rightpray, Janet, pray; we have all need of

prayers, and some of us more than others. Pray, JanetI would pray myself, but I must listen to what goes

on withinevil has been brewing, loveevil has been brewing. God forgive our sins, but Varney's sudden

Janet had never before heard her father excite or even permit her attention to anything which passed in their

mysterious family; and now that he did so, his voice sounded in her earshe knew not whylike that of a

screechowl denouncing some deed of terror and of woe. She turned her eyes fearfully towards the door,

almost as if she expected some sounds of horror to be heard, or some sight of fear to display itself.

All, however, was as still as death, and the voices of those who spoke in the inner chamber were, if they

spoke at all, carefully subdued to a tone which could not be heard in the next. At once, however, they were

heard to speak fast, thick, and hastily; and presently after the voice of the Countess was heard exclaiming, at

the highest pitch to which indignation could raise it, "Undo the door, sir, I command you!undo the

door!I will have no other reply!" she continued, drowning with her vehement accents the low and muttered

sounds which Varney was heard to utter betwixt whiles. "What ho! without there!" she persisted,

accompanying her words with shrieks, "Janet, alarm the house! Foster, break open the doorI am

detained here by a traitor! Use axe and lever, Master FosterI will be your warrant!"

"It shall not need, madam," Varney was at length distinctly heard to say. "If you please to expose my lord's

important concerns and your own to the general ear, I will not be your hindrance."

The door was unlocked and thrown open, and Janet and her father rushed in, anxious to learn the cause of

When they entered the apartment Varney stood by the door grinding his teeth, with an expression in which

rage, and shame, and fear had each their share. The Countess stood in the midst of her apartment like a

juvenile Pythoness under the influence of the prophetic fury. The veins in her beautiful forehead started into

swoln blue lines through the hurried impulse of her articulation her cheek and neck glowed like

scarlether eyes were like those of an imprisoned eagle, flashing red lightning on the foes which it cannot

reach with its talons. Were it possible for one of the Graces to have been animated by a Fury, the countenance

could not have united such beauty with so much hatred, scorn, defiance, and resentment. The gesture and

attitude corresponded with the voice and looks, and altogether presented a spectacle which was at once

beautiful and fearful; so much of the sublime had the energy of passion united with the Countess Amy's

natural loveliness. Janet, as soon as the door was open, ran to her mistress; and more slowly, yet with more

"Who, I?nothing," answered Varney, but with sunken head and sullen voice; "nothing but communicated

to her her lord's commands, which, if the lady list not to obey, she knows better how to answer it than I may

"Now, by Heaven, Janet!" said the Countess, "the false traitor lies in his throat! He must needs lie, for he

speaks to the dishonour of my noble lord; he must needs lie doubly, for he speaks to gain ends of his own,

"You have misapprehended me, lady," said Varney, with a sulky species of submission and apology; "let this

"Thou shalt never have an opportunity to do so," said the Countess."Look at him, Janet. He is fairly

dressed, hath the outside of a gentleman, and hither he came to persuade me it was my lord's pleasurenay,

more, my wedded lord's commandsthat I should go with him to Kenilworth, and before the Queen and

nobles, and in presence of my own wedded lord, that I should acknowledge himHIM therethat very

cloakbrushing, shoe cleaning fellowHIM there, my lord's lackey, for my liege lord and husband;

furnishing against myself, Great God! whenever I was to vindicate my right and my rank, such weapons as

would hew my just claim from the root, and destroy my character to be regarded as an honourable matron of

"You hear her, Foster, and you, young maiden, hear this lady," answered Varney, taking advantage of the

pause which the Countess had made in her charge, more for lack of breath than for lack of matter"you hear

that her heat only objects to me the course which our good lord, for the purpose to keep certain matters secret,

Foster here attempted to interfere with a face of authority, which he thought became the charge entrusted to

him, "Nay, lady, I must needs say you are overhasty in this. Such deceit is not utterly to be condemned

when practised for a righteous end I and thus even the patriarch Abraham feigned Sarah to be his sister when

"Ay, sir," answered the Countess; "but God rebuked that deceit even in the father of His chosen people, by

the mouth of the heathen Pharaoh. Out upon you, that will read Scripture only to copy those things which are

"But Sarah disputed not the will of her husband, an it be your pleasure," said Foster, in reply, "but did as

Abraham commanded, calling herself his sister, that it might be well with her husband for her sake, and that

"Now, so Heaven pardon me my useless anger," answered the Countess, "thou art as daring a hypocrite as

yonder fellow is an impudent deceiver! Never will I believe that the noble Dudley gave countenance to so

dastardly, so dishonourable a plan. Thus I tread on his infamy, if indeed it be, and thus destroy its

So saying, she tore in pieces Leicester's letter, and stamped, in the extremity of impatience, as if she would

"Bear witness," said Varney, collecting himself, "she hath torn my lord's letter, in order to burden me with the

scheme of his devising; and although it promises nought but danger and trouble to me, she would lay it to my

"Thou liest, thou treacherous slave!" said the Countess in spite of Janet's attempts to keep her silent, in the

sad foresight that her vehemence might only furnish arms against herself"thou liest," she continued."Let

me go, Janetwere it the last word I have to speak, he lies. He had his own foul ends to seek; and broader he

would have displayed them had my passion permitted me to preserve the silence which at first encouraged

"Madam," said Varney, overwhelmed in spite of his effrontery, "I entreat you to believe yourself mistaken."

"As soon will I believe light darkness," said the enraged Countess. "Have I drunk of oblivion? Do I not

remember former passages, which, known to Leicester, had given thee the preferment of a gallows, instead of

the honour of his intimacy. I would I were a man but for five minutes! It were space enough to make a craven

like thee confess his villainy. But gobegone! Tell thy master that when I take the foul course to which such

scandalous deceits as thou hast recommended on his behalf must necessarily lead me, I will give him a rival

something worthy of the name. He shall not be supplanted by an ignominious lackey, whose best fortune is to

catch a gift of his master's last suit of clothes ere it is threadbare, and who is only fit to seduce a

suburbwench by the bravery of new roses in his master's old pantoufles. Go, begone, sir! I scorn thee so

Varney left the room with a mute expression of rage, and was followed by Foster, whose apprehension,

naturally slow, was overpowered by the eager and abundant discharge of indignation which, for the first time,

he had heard burst from the lips of a being who had seemed, till that moment, too languid and too gentle to

nurse an angry thought or utter an intemperate expression. Foster, therefore, pursued Varney from place to

place, persecuting him with interrogatories, to which the other replied not, until they were in the opposite side

of the quadrangle, and in the old library, with which the reader has already been made acquainted. Here he

turned round on his persevering follower, and thus addressed him, in a tone tolerably equal, that brief walk

having been sufficient to give one so habituated to command his temper time to rally and recover his

"Tony," he said, with his usual sneering laugh, "it avails not to deny it. The Woman and the Devil, who, as

thine oracle Holdforth will confirm to thee, cheated man at the beginning, have this day proved more

powerful than my discretion. Yon termagant looked so tempting, and had the art to preserve her countenance

so naturally, while I communicated my lord's message, that, by my faith, I thought I might say some little

thing for myself. She thinks she hath my head under her girdle now, but she is deceived. Where is Doctor

"In his laboratory," answered Foster. "It is the hour he is spoken not withal. We must wait till noon is past, or

spoil his importantwhat said I? important!I would say interrupt his divine studies."

"Ay, he studies the devil's divinity," said Varney; "but when I want him, one hour must suffice as well as

So spoke Varney, and with hasty and perturbed steps followed Foster, who conducted him through private

passages, many of which were wellnigh ruinous, to the opposite side of the quadrangle, where, in a

subterranean apartment, now occupied by the chemist Alasco, one of the Abbots of Abingdon, who had a turn

for the occult sciences, had, much to the scandal of his convent, established a laboratory, in which, like other

fools of the period, he spent much precious time, and money besides, in the pursuit of the grand arcanum.

Anthony Foster paused before the door, which was scrupulously secured within, and again showed a marked

hesitation to disturb the sage in his operations. But Varney, less scrupulous, roused him by knocking and

voice, until at length, slowly and reluctantly, the inmate of the apartment undid the door. The chemist

appeared, with his eyes bleared with the heat and vapours of the stove or alembic over which he brooded and

the interior of his cell displayed the confused assemblage of heterogeneous substances and extraordinary

implements belonging to his profession. The old man was muttering, with spiteful impatience, "Am I for ever

"To the affairs of hell," answered Varney, "for that is thy proper element.Foster, we need thee at our

"Foster slowly entered the room. Varney, following, barred the door, and they betook themselves to secret

In the meanwhile, the Countess traversed the apartment, with shame and anger contending on her lovely

"The villain," she said"the coldblooded, calculating slave! But I unmasked him, JanetI made the

snake uncoil all his folds before me, and crawl abroad in his naked deformity; I suspended my resentment, at

the danger of suffocating under the effort, until he had let me see the very bottom of a heart more foul than

hell's darkest corner.And thou, Leicester, is it possible thou couldst bid me for a moment deny my wedded

right in thee, or thyself yield it to another?But it is impossiblethe villain has lied in all.Janet, I will

not remain here longerI fear himI fear thy father. I grieve to say it, Janetbut I fear thy father, and,

"Alas! madam, whither would you fly, or by what means will you escape from these walls?"

"I know not, Janet," said the unfortunate young lady, looking upwards! and clasping her hands together, "I

know not where I shall fly, or by what means; but I am certain the God I have served will not abandon me in

"Do not think so, dear lady," said Janet; "my father is stern and strict in his temper, and severely true to his

At this moment Anthony Foster entered the apartment, bearing in his hand a glass cup and a small flask. His

manner was singular; for, while approaching the Countess with the respect due to her rank, he had till this

time suffered to become visible, or had been unable to suppress, the obdurate sulkiness of his natural

disposition, which, as is usual with those of his unhappy temper, was chiefly exerted towards those over

whom circumstances gave him control. But at present he showed nothing of that sullen consciousness of

authority which he was wont to conceal under a clumsy affectation of civility and deference, as a ruffian

hides his pistols and bludgeon under his illfashioned gaberdine. And yet it seemed as if his smile was more

in fear than courtesy, and as if, while he pressed the Countess to taste of the choice cordial, which should

refresh her spirits after her late alarm, he was conscious of meditating some further injury. His hand trembled

also, his voice faltered, and his whole outward behaviour exhibited so much that was suspicious, that his

daughter Janet, after she had stood looking at him in astonishment for some seconds, seemed at once to

collect herself to execute some hardy resolution, raised her head, assumed an attitude and gait of

determination and authority, and walking slowly betwixt her father and her mistress, took the salver from the

hand of the former, and said in a low but marked and decided tone, "Father, I will fill for my noble mistress,

"Thou, my child?" said Foster, eagerly and apprehensively; "no, my childit is not THOU shalt render the

"And why, I pray you," said Janet, "if it be fitting that the noble lady should partake of the cup at all?"

"Whywhy?" said the seneschal, hesitating, and then bursting into passion as the readiest mode of

supplying the lack of all other reason"why, because it is my pleasure, minion, that you should not! Get you

"Now, as I hope to hear lecture again," replied Janet, "I will not go thither this night, unless I am better

assured of my mistress's safety. Give me that flask, father"and she took it from his reluctant hand, while he

resigned it as if conscience struck. "And now," she said, "father, that which shall benefit my mistress,

Foster, without speaking a word, rushed on his daughter and wrested the flask from her hand; then, as if

embarrassed by what he had done, and totally unable to resolve what he should do next, he stood with it in

his hand, one foot advanced and the other drawn back, glaring on his daughter with a countenance in which

"This is strange, my father," said Janet, keeping her eye fixed on his, in the manner in which those who have

the charge of lunatics are said to overawe their unhappy patients; "will you neither let me serve my lady, nor

The courage of the Countess sustained her through this dreadful scene, of which the import was not the less

obvious that it was not even hinted at. She preserved even the rash carelessness of her temper, and though her

cheek had grown pale at the first alarm, her eye was calm and almost scornful. "Will YOU taste this rare

cordial, Master Foster? Perhaps you will not yourself refuse to pledge us, though you permit not Janet to do

"And for whom, then, is the precious beverage reserved, sir?" said the Countess.

"For the devil, who brewed it!" answered Foster; and, turning on his heel, he left the chamber.

Janet looked at her mistress with a countenance expressive in the highest degree of shame, dismay, and

"No, madam," replied her attendant, in a voice broken by sobs, "it is not for you I weep; it is for myselfit is

for that unhappy man. Those who are dishonoured before manthose who are condemned by Godhave

cause to mourn; not those who are innocent! Farewell, madam!" she said hastily assuming the mantle in

"Desert you, madam!" exclaimed Janet; and running back to her mistress, she imprinted a thousand kisses on

her hand"desert you Imay the Hope of my trust desert me when I do so! No, madam; well you said the

God you serve will open you a path for deliverance. There is a way of escape. I have prayed night and day for

light, that I might see how to act betwixt my duty to yonder unhappy man and that which I owe to you.

Sternly and fearfully that light has now dawned, and I must not shut the door which God opens. Ask me no

So speaking, she wrapped herself in her mantle, and saying to the old woman whom she passed in the outer

Meanwhile her father had reached once more the laboratory, where he found the accomplices of his intended

guilt. "Has the sweet bird sipped?" said Varney, with half a smile; while the astrologer put the same question

"She has not, nor she shall not from my hands," replied Foster; "would you have me do murder in my

"Wert thou not told, thou sullen and yet fainthearted slave," answered Varney, with bitterness, "that no

MURDER as thou callest it, with that staring look and stammering tone, is designed in the matter? Wert thou

not told that a brief illness, such as woman puts on in very wantonness, that she may wear her night gear at

noon, and lie on a settle when she should mind her domestic business, is all here aimed at? Here is a learned

"I swear it," said Alasco, "that the elixir thou hast there in the flask will not prejudice life! I swear it by that

immortal and indestructible quintessence of gold, which pervades every substance in nature, though its secret

existence can be traced by him only to whom Trismegistus renders the key of the Cabala."

"An oath of force," said Varney. "Foster, thou wert worse than a pagan to disbelieve it. Believe me,

moreover, who swear by nothing but by my own word, that if you be not conformable, there is no hope, no,

not a glimpse of hope, that this thy leasehold may be transmuted into a copyhold. Thus, Alasco will leave

your pewter artillery untransmigrated, and I, honest Anthony, will still have thee for my tenant."

"I know not, gentlemen," said Foster, "where your designs tend to; but in one thing I am bound up,that, fall

back fall edge, I will have one in this place that may pray for me, and that one shall be my daughter. I have

lived ill, and the world has been too weighty with me; but she is as innocent as ever she was when on her

mother's lap, and she, at least, shall have her portion in that happy City, whose walls are of pure gold, and the

"Ay, Tony," said Varney, "that were a paradise to thy heart's content.Debate the matter with him, Doctor

So speaking, Varney arose, and taking the flask from the table, he left the room.

"I tell thee, my son," said Alasco to Foster, as soon as Varney had left them, "that whatever this bold and

profligate railer may say of the mighty science, in which, by Heaven's blessing, I have advanced so far that I

would not call the wisest of living artists my better or my teacherI say, howsoever yonder reprobate may

scoff at things too holy to be apprehended by men merely of carnal and evil thoughts, yet believe that the city

beheld by St. John, in that bright vision of the Christian Apocalypse, that new Jerusalem, of which all

Christian men hope to partake, sets forth typically the discovery of the GRAND SECRET, whereby the most

precious and perfect of nature's works are elicited out of her basest and most crude productions; just as the

light and gaudy butterfly, the most beautiful child of the summer's breeze, breaks forth from the dungeon of a

"Master Holdforth said nought of this exposition," said Foster doubtfully; "and moreover, Doctor Alasco, the

Holy Writ says that the gold and precious stones of the Holy City are in no sort for those who work

"That those," said Foster, "who distil poisons, and administer them in secrecy, can have no portion in those

"You are to distinguish, my son," replied the alchemist, "betwixt that which is necessarily evil in its progress

and in its end also, and that which, being evil, is, nevertheless, capable of working forth good. If, by the death

of one person, the happy period shall be brought nearer to us, in which all that is good shall be attained, by

wishing its presenceall that is evil escaped, by desiring its absencein which sickness, and pain, and

sorrow shall be the obedient servants of human wisdom, and made to fly at the slightest signal of a sagein

which that which is now richest and rarest shall be within the compass of every one who shall be obedient to

the voice of wisdomwhen the art of healing shall be lost and absorbed in the one universal medicine when

sages shall become monarchs of the earth, and death itself retreat before their frown,if this blessed

consummation of all things can be hastened by the slight circumstance that a frail, earthly body, which must

needs partake corruption, shall be consigned to the grave a short space earlier than in the course of nature,

"Say it is the reign of the Sages, my son," answered Alasco; "or rather the reign of Wisdom itself."

"I touched on the question with Master Holdforth last exercising night," said Foster; "but he says your

"He is in the bonds of ignorance, my son," answered Alasco, "and as yet burning bricks in Egypt; or, at best,

wandering in the dry desert of Sinai. Thou didst ill to speak to such a man of such matters. I will, however,

give thee proof, and that shortly, which I will defy that peevish divine to confute, though he should strive

with me as the magicians strove with Moses before King Pharaoh. I will do projection in thy presence, my

"Stick to that, learned sage," said Varney, who at this moment entered the apartment; "if he refuse the

"Have I done mine errand, thou wouldst say?" replied Varney. "I have! And thou," he added, showing more

symptoms of interest than he had hitherto exhibited, "art thou sure thou hast poured forth neither more nor

"Ay," replied the alchemist, "as sure as men can be in these nice proportions, for there is diversity of

"Nay, then," said Varney, "I fear nothing. I know thou wilt not go a step farther to the devil than thou art

justly considered forthou wert paid to create illness, and wouldst esteem it thriftless prodigality to do

murder at the same price. Come, let us each to our chamber we shall see the event tomorrow."

"Nothing," answered Varney, "but looked on her with that aspect which governs madmen, women, and

children. They told me in St. Luke's Hospital that I have the right look for overpowering a refractory patient.

The keepers made me their compliments on't; so I know how to win my bread when my courtfavour fails

"If so," replied Varney, "she will but sleep the sounder, and the fear of that shall not break my rest. Good

Anthony Foster groaned heavily, and lifted up his hands and eyes. The alchemist intimated his purpose to

continue some experiment of high import during the greater part of the night, and the others separated to their

The summer evening was closed, and Janet, just when her longer stay might have occasioned suspicion and

inquiry in that zealous household, returned to Cumnor Place, and hastened to the apartment in which she had

left her lady. She found her with her head resting on her arms, and these crossed upon a table which stood

Her faithful attendant ran to her mistress with the speed of lightning, and rousing her at the same time with

her hand, conjured the Countess, in the most earnest manner, to look up and say what thus affected her. The

unhappy lady raised her head accordingly, and looking on her attendant with a ghastly eye, and cheek as pale

"God be praised!" said Janet hastily"I mean, God be praised that it is no worse; the potion will not harm

you. Rise, shake this lethargy from your limbs, and this despair from your mind."

"Janet," repeated the Countess again, "disturb me notleave me at peacelet life pass quietly. I am

"You are not, my dearest lady," answered the maiden eagerly. "What you have swallowed cannot injure you,

for the antidote has been taken before it, and I hastened hither to tell you that the means of escape are open to

"Escape!" exclaimed the lady, as she raised herself hastily in her chair, while light returned to her eye and life

"Not so, dearest lady. Rise, take mine arm, walk through the apartment; let not fancy do the work of poison!

"The torpor seems to diminish," said the Countess, as, supported by Janet, she walked to and fro in the

apartment; "but is it then so, and have I not swallowed a deadly draught? Varney was here since thou wert

gone, and commanded me, with eyes in which I read my fate, to swallow yon horrible drug. O Janet! it must

"He did not deem it harmless, I fear," replied the maiden; "but God confounds the devices of the wicked.

Believe me, as I swear by the dear Gospel in which we trust, your life is safe from his practice. Did you not

"The house was silent," answered the lady"thou goneno other but he in the chamberand he capable of

every crime. I did but stipulate he would remove his hateful presence, and I drank whatever he offered.But

"Are you strong enough to bear the tidings, and make the effort?" said the maiden.

"Strong!" answered the Countess. "Ask the hind, when the fangs of the deerhound are stretched to gripe her,

if she is strong enough to spring over a chasm. I am equal to every effort that may relieve me from this

"Hear me, then," said Janet. "One whom I deem an assured friend of yours has shown himself to me in

various disguises, and sought speech of me, whichfor my mind was not clear on the matter until this

eveningI have ever declined. He was the pedlar who brought you goodsthe itinerant hawker who sold

me books; whenever I stirred abroad I was sure to see him. The event of this night determined me to speak

with him. He awaits even now at the postern gate of the park with means for your flight.But have you

"She that flies from death," said the lady, "finds strength of bodyshe that would escape from shame lacks

no strength of mind. The thoughts of leaving behind me the villain who menaces both my life and honour

"In God's name, then, lady," said Janet, "I must bid you adieu, and to God's charge I must commit you!"

"Will you not fly with me, then, Janet?" said the Countess, anxiously. "Am I to lose thee? Is this thy faithful

"Lady, I would fly with you as willingly as bird ever fled from cage, but my doing so would occasion instant

discovery and pursuit. I must remain, and use means to disguise the truth for some time. May Heaven pardon

"And am I then to travel alone with this stranger?" said the lady. "Bethink thee, Janet, may not this prove

some deeper and darker scheme to separate me perhaps from you, who are my only friend?"

"No, madam, do not suppose it," answered Janet readily; "the youth is an honest youth in his purpose to you,

"If he be a friend of Tressilian," said the Countess, "I will commit myself to his charge as to that of an angel

sent from heaven; for than Tressilian never breathed mortal man more free of whatever was base, false, or

selfish. He forgot himself whenever he could be of use to others. Alas! and how was he requited?"

With eager haste they collected the few necessaries which it was thought proper the Countess should take

with her, and which Janet, with speed and dexterity, formed into a small bundle, not forgetting to add such

ornaments of intrinsic value as came most readily in her way, and particularly a casket of jewels, which she

wisely judged might prove of service in some future emergency. The Countess of Leicester next changed her

dress for one which Janet usually wore upon any brief journey, for they judged it necessary to avoid every

external distinction which might attract attention. Ere these preparations were fully made, the moon had

arisen in the summer heaven, and all in the mansion had betaken themselves to rest, or at least to the silence

There was no difficulty anticipated in escaping, whether from the house or garden, provided only they could

elude observation. Anthony Foster had accustomed himself to consider his daughter as a conscious sinner

might regard a visible guardian angel, which, notwithstanding his guilt, continued to hover around him; and

therefore his trust in her knew no bounds. Janet commanded her own motions during the daytime, and had a

masterkey which opened the postern door of the park, so that she could go to the village at pleasure, either

upon the household affairs, which were entirely confided to her management, or to attend her devotions at the

meetinghouse of her sect. It is true the daughter of Foster was thus liberally entrusted under the solemn

condition that she should not avail herself of these privileges to do anything inconsistent with the

safekeeping of the Countess; for so her residence at Cumnor Place had been termed, since she began of late

to exhibit impatience of the restrictions to which she was subjected. Nor is there reason to suppose that

anything short of the dreadful suspicions which the scene of that evening had excited could have induced

Janet to violate her word or deceive her father's confidence. But from what she had witnessed, she now

conceived herself not only justified, but imperatively called upon, to make her lady's safety the principal

The fugitive Countess with her guide traversed with hasty steps the broken and interrupted path, which had

once been an avenue, now totally darkened by the boughs of spreading trees which met above their head, and

now receiving a doubtful and deceiving light from the beams of the moon, which penetrated where the axe

had made openings in the wood. Their path was repeatedly interrupted by felled trees, or the large boughs

which had been left on the ground till time served to make them into fagots and billets. The inconvenience

and difficulty attending these interruptions, the breathless haste of the first part of their route, the exhausting

sensations of hope and fear, so much affected the Countess's strength, that Janet was forced to propose that

they should pause for a few minutes to recover breath and spirits. Both therefore stood still beneath the

shadow of a huge old gnarled oaktree, and both naturally looked back to the mansion which they had left

behind them, whose long, dark front was seen in the gloomy distance, with its huge stacks of chimneys,

turrets, and clockhouse, rising above the line of the roof, and definedly visible against the pure azure blue of

the summer sky. One light only twinkled from the extended and shadowy mass, and it was placed so low that

it rather seemed to glimmer from the ground in front of the mansion than from one of the windows. The

Countess's terror was awakened. "They follow us!" she said, pointing out to Janet the light which thus

Less agitated than her mistress, Janet perceived that the gleam was stationary, and informed the Countess, in

a whisper, that the light proceeded from the solitary cell in which the alchemist pursued his occult

experiments. "He is of those," she added, "who sit up and watch by night that they may commit iniquity. Evil

was the chance which sent hither a man whose mixed speech of earthly wealth and unearthly or superhuman

knowledge hath in it what does so especially captivate my poor father. Well spoke the good Master

Holdforthand, methought, not without meaning that those of our household should find therein a practical

use. 'There be those,' he said, 'and their number is legion, who will rather, like the wicked Ahab, listen to the

dreams of the false prophet Zedekiah, than to the words of him by whom the Lord has spoken.' And he

further insisted'Ah, my brethren, there be many Zedekiahs among youmen that promise you the light of

their carnal knowledge, so you will surrender to them that of your heavenly understanding. What are they

better than the tyrant Naas, who demanded the right eye of those who were subjected to him?' And further he

It is uncertain how long the fair Puritan's memory might have supported her in the recapitulation of Master

Holdforth's discourse; but the Countess now interrupted her, and assured her she was so much recovered that

They set out accordingly, and performed the second part of their journey with more deliberation, and of

course more easily, than the first hasty commencement. This gave them leisure for reflection; and Janet now,

for the first time, ventured to ask her lady which way she proposed to direct her flight. Receiving no

immediate answerfor, perhaps, in the confusion of her mind this very obvious subject of deliberation had

not occurred to the CountessJanet ventured to add, "Probably to your father's house, where you are sure

"No, Janet," said the lady mournfully; "I left Lidcote Hall while my heart was light and my name was

honourable, and I will not return thither till my lord's permission and public acknowledgment of our marriage

restore me to my native home with all the rank and honour which he has bestowed on me."

"To Kenilworth, girl," said the Countess, boldly and freely. "I will see these revelsthese princely

revelsthe preparation for which makes the land ring from side to side. Methinks, when the Queen of

England feasts within my husband's halls, the Countess of Leicester should be no unbeseeming guest."

"You abuse my situation, Janet," said the Countess, angrily, "and you forget your own."

"I do neither, dearest madam," said the sorrowful maiden; "but have you forgotten that the noble Earl has

given such strict charges to keep your marriage secret, that he may preserve his courtfavour? and can you

think that your sudden appearance at his castle, at such a juncture, and in such a presence, will be acceptable

"Thou thinkest I would disgrace him," said the Countess; "nay, let go my arm, I can walk without aid and

"Be not angry with me, lady," said Janet meekly, "and let me still support you; the road is rough, and you are

"If you deem me not so mean as may disgrace my husband," said the Countess, in the same resentful tone,

"you suppose my Lord of Leicester capable of abetting, perhaps of giving aim and authority to, the base

proceedings of your father and Varney, whose errand I will do to the good Earl."

"For God's sake, madam, spare my father in your report," said Janet; "let my services, however poor, be some

"I were most unjust, dearest Janet, were it otherwise," said the Countess, resuming at once the fondness and

confidence of her manner towards her faithful attendant, "No, Janet, not a word of mine shall do your father

prejudice. But thou seest, my love, I have no desire but to throw my self on my husband's protection. I have

left the abode he assigned for me, because of the villainy of the persons by whom I was surrounded; but I will

disobey his commands in no other particular. I will appeal to him aloneI will be protected by him alone; to

no other, than at his pleasure, have I or will I communicate the secret union which combines our hearts and

our destinies. I will see him, and receive from his own lips the directions for my future conduct. Do not argue

against my resolution, Janet; you will only confirm me in it. And to own the truth, I am resolved to know my

fate at once, and from my husband's own mouth; and to seek him at Kenilworth is the surest way to attain my

While Janet hastily revolved in her mind the difficulties and uncertainties attendant on the unfortunate lady's

situation, she was inclined to alter her first opinion, and to think, upon the whole, that since the Countess had

withdrawn herself from the retreat in which she had been placed by her husband, it was her first duty to repair

to his presence, and possess him with the reasons for such conduct. She knew what importance the Earl

attached to the concealment of their marriage, and could not but own, that by taking any step to make it

public without his permission, the Countess would incur, in a high degree, the indignation of her husband. If

she retired to her father's house without an explicit avowal of her rank, her situation was likely greatly to

prejudice her character; and if she made such an avowal, it might occasion an irreconcilable breach with her

husband. At Kenilworth, again, she might plead her cause with her husband himself, whom Janet, though

distrusting him more than the Countess did, believed incapable of being accessory to the base and desperate

means which his dependants, from whose power the lady was now escaping, might resort to, in order to stifle

her complaints of the treatment she had received at their hands. But at the worst, and were the Earl himself to

deny her justice and protection, still at Kenilworth, if she chose to make her wrongs public, the Countess

might have Tressilian for her advocate, and the Queen for her judge; for so much Janet had learned in her

short conference with Wayland. She was, therefore, on the whole, reconciled to her lady's proposal of going

towards Kenilworth, and so expressed herself; recommending, however, to the Countess the utmost caution in

"Hast thou thyself been cautious, Janet?" said the Countess; "this guide, in whom I must put my confidence,

"From me he has learned nothing," said Janet; "nor do I think that he knows more than what the public in

"That you left your father's housebut I shall offend you again if I go on," said Janet, interrupting herself.

"Nay, go on," said the Countess; "I must learn to endure the evil report which my folly has brought upon me.

They think, I suppose, that I have left my father's house to follow lawless pleasure. It is an error which will

soon be removedindeed it shall, for I will live with spotless fame, or I shall cease to live.I am

"Most men say of Varney," said Janet; "yet some call him only the convenient cloak of his master's pleasures;

for reports of the profuse expense in garnishing yonder apartments have secretly gone abroad, and such

doings far surpass the means of Varney. But this latter opinion is little prevalent; for men dare hardly even

hint suspicion when so high a name is concerned, lest the Star Chamber should punish them for scandal of the

"They do well to speak low," said the Countess, "who would mention the illustrious Dudley as the

accomplice of such a wretch as Varney.We have reached the postern. Ah! Janet, I must bid thee farewell!

Weep not, my good girl," said she, endeavouring to cover her own reluctance to part with her faithful

attendant under an attempt at playfulness; "and against we meet again, reform me, Janet, that precise ruff of

thine for an open rabatine of lace and cut work, that will let men see thou hast a fair neck; and that kirtle of

Philippine chency, with that bugle lace which befits only a chambermaid, into threepiled velvet and cloth of

goldthou wilt find plenty of stuffs in my chamber, and I freely bestow them on you. Thou must be brave,

Janet; for though thou art now but the attendant of a distressed and errant lady, who is both nameless and

fameless, yet, when we meet again, thou must be dressed as becomes the gentlewoman nearest in love and in

"Now, may God grant it, dear lady!" said Janet"not that I may go with gayer apparel, but that we may both

By this time the lock of the postern door had, after some hard wrenching, yielded to the masterkey; and the

Countess, not without internal shuddering, saw herself beyond the walls which her husband's strict commands

had assigned to her as the boundary of her walks. Waiting with much anxiety for their appearance, Wayland

Smith stood at some distance, shrouding himself behind a hedge which bordered the highroad.

"All," he replied; "but I have been unable to procure a horse for the lady. Giles Gosling, the cowardly hilding,

refused me one on any terms whatever, lest, forsooth, he should suffer. But no matter; she must ride on my

palfrey, and I must walk by her side until I come by another horse. There will be no pursuit, if you, pretty

"No more than the wise widow of Tekoa forgot the words which Joab put into her mouth," answered Janet.

"Ay; and that she hath aching and heaviness of the head a throbbing at the heart, and lists not to be disturbed.

Fear not; they will take the hint, and trouble thee with few questions they understand the disease,"

"But," said the lady, "My absence must be soon discovered, and they will murder her in revenge. I will rather

"Be at ease on my account, madam," said Janet; "I would you were as sure of receiving the favour you desire

from those to whom you must make appeal, as I am that my father, however angry, will suffer no harm to

The Countess was now placed by Wayland upon his horse, around the saddle of which he had placed his

"Adieu, and may the blessing of God wend with you!" said Janet, again kissing her mistress's hand, who

returned her benediction with a mute caress. They then tore themselves asunder, and Janet, addressing

Wayland, exclaimed, "May Heaven deal with you at your need, as you are true or false to this most injured

"Amen! dearest Janet," replied Way]and; "and believe me, I will so acquit myself of my trust as may tempt

even your pretty eyes, saintlike as they are, to look less scornfully on me when we next meet."

The latter part of this adieu was whispered into Janet's ear and although she made no reply to it directly, yet

her manner, influenced, no doubt, by her desire to leave every motive in force which could operate towards

her mistress's safety, did not discourage the hope which Wayland's words expressed. She reentered the

postern door, and locked it behind her; while, Wayland taking the horse's bridle in his hand, and walking

Although Wayland Smith used the utmost dispatch which he could make, yet this mode of travelling was so

slow, that when morning began to dawn through the eastern mist, he found himself no farther than about ten

miles distant from Cumnor. "Now, a plague upon all smoothspoken hosts!" said Wayland, unable longer to

suppress his mortification and uneasiness. "Had the false loon, Giles Gosling, but told me plainly two days

since that I was to reckon nought upon him, I had shifted better for myself. But your hosts have such a

custom of promising whatever is called for that it is not till the steed is to be shod you find they are out of

iron. Had I but known, I could have made twenty shifts; nay, for that matter, and in so good a cause, I would

have thought little to have prigged a prancer from the next commonit had but been sending back the brute

to the headborough. The farcy and the founders confound every horse in the stables of the Black Bear!"

The lady endeavoured to comfort her guide, observing that the dawn would enable him to make more speed.

"True, madam," he replied; "but then it will enable other folk to take note of us, and that may prove an ill

beginning of our journey. I had not cared a spark from anvil about the matter had we been further advanced

on our way. But this Berkshire has been notoriously haunted, ever since I knew the country, with that sort of

malicious elves who sit up late and rise early for no other purpose than to pry into other folk's affairs. I have

been endangered by them ere now. But do not fear," he added, "good madam; for wit, meeting with

The alarms of her guide made more impression on the Countess's mind than the comfort which he judged fit

to administer along with it. She looked anxiously around her. and as the shadows withdrew from the

landscape, and the heightening glow of the eastern sky promised the speedy rise of the sun, expected at every

turn that the increasing light would expose them to the view of the vengeful pursuers, or present some

dangerous and insurmountable obstacle to the prosecution of their journey. Wayland Smith perceived her

uneasiness, and, displeased with himself for having given her cause of alarm, strode on with affected alacrity,

now talking to the horse as one expert in the language of the stable, now whistling to himself low and

interrupted snatches of tunes, and now assuring the lady there was no danger, while at the same time he

looked sharply around to see that there was nothing in sight which might give the lie to his words while they

were issuing from his mouth. Thus did they journey on, until an unexpected incident gave them the means of

Our travellers were in the act of passing a small thicket of trees close by the roadside, when the first living

being presented himself whom they had seen since their departure from Cumnor Place. This was a stupid

lout, seemingly a farmer's boy, in a grey jerkin, with his head bare, his hose about his heels, and huge startups

upon his feet. He held by the bridle what of all things they most wanteda palfrey, namely, with a side

saddle, and all other garniture for a woman's mounting; and he hailed Wayland Smith with, "Zur, be ye zure

"Ay, that I be, my lad," answered Wayland, without an instant's hesitation; and it must be owned that

consciences trained in a stricter school of morality might have given way to an occasion so tempting. While

he spoke, he caught the rein out of the boy's hand, and almost at the same time helped down the Countess

from his own horse, and aided her to mount on that which chance had thus presented for her acceptance.

Indeed, so naturally did the whole take place, that the Countess, as it afterwards appeared, never suspected

but that the horse had been placed there to meet them by the precaution of the guide or some of his friends.

The lad, however, who was thus hastily dispossessed of his charge, began to stare hard, and scratch his head,

as if seized with some qualms of conscience for delivering up the animal on such brief explanation. "I be

right zure thou be'st the party," said he, muttering to himself, "but thou shouldst ha zaid BEANS, thou

"Well, well," answered Wayland, "Peas be it, a God's name! though Bacon were the better password."

And being by this time mounted on his own horse, he caught the rein of the palfrey from the uncertain hold of

the hesitating young boor, flung him a small piece of money, and made amends for lost time by riding briskly

off without further parley. The lad was still visible from the hill up which they were riding, and Wayland, as

he looked back, beheld him standing with his fingers in his hair as immovable as a guidepost, and his head

turned in the direction in which they were escaping from him. At length, just as they topped the hill, he saw

the clown stoop to lift up the silver groat which his benevolence had imparted. "Now this is what I call a

Godsend," said Wayland; "this is a bonny, well ridden bit of a going thing, and it will carry us so far till we

get you as well mounted, and then we will send it back time enough to satisfy the Hue and Cry."

But he was deceived in his expectations; and fate, which seemed at first to promise so fairly, soon threatened

to turn the incident which he thus gloried in into the cause of their utter ruin.

They had not ridden a short mile from the place where they left the lad before they heard a man's voice

shouting on the wind behind them, "Robbery! robbery!Stop thief!" and similar exclamations, which

Wayland's conscience readily assured him must arise out of the transaction to which he had been just

"I had better have gone barefoot all my life," he said; "it is the Hue and Cry, and I am a lost man. Ah!

Wayland, Wayland, many a time thy father said horseflesh would be the death of thee. Were I once safe

among the horsecoursers in Smithfield, or Turnbull Street, they should have leave to hang me as high as St.

Amidst these dismal reflections, he turned his head repeatedly to see by whom he was chased, and was much

comforted when he could only discover a single rider, who was, however, well mounted, and came after them

at a speed which left them no chance of escaping, even had the lady's strength permitted her to ride as fast as

"There may be fair play betwixt us, sure," thought Wayland, "where there is but one man on each side, and

yonder fellow sits on his horse more like a monkey than a cavalier. Pshaw! if it come to the worse, it will be

easy unhorsing him. Nay, 'snails! I think his horse will take the matter in his own hand, for he has the bridle

betwixt his teeth. Oons, what care I for him?" said he, as the pursuer drew yet nearer; "it is but the little

Even so it was, as the experienced eye of Wayland had descried at a distance. For the valiant mercer's horse,

which was a beast of mettle, feeling himself put to his speed, and discerning a couple of horses riding fast at

some hundred yards' distance before him, betook himself to the road with such alacrity as totally deranged the

seat of his rider, who not only came up with, but passed at full gallop, those whom he had been pursuing,

pulling the reins with all his might, and ejaculating, "Stop! stop!" an interjection which seemed rather to

regard his own palfrey than what seamen call "the chase." With the same involuntary speed, he shot ahead (to

use another nautical phrase) about a furlong ere he was able to stop and turn his horse, and then rode back

towards our travellers, adjusting, as well as he could, his disordered dress, resettling himself in the saddle,

and endeavouring to substitute a bold and martial frown for the confusion and dismay which sat upon his

Wayland had just time to caution the lady not to be alarmed, adding, "This fellow is a gull, and I will use him

When the mercer had recovered breath and audacity enough to confront them, he ordered Wayland, in a

"How?" said the smith, in King Cambyses' vein, "are we commanded to stand and deliver on the king's

highway? Then out, Excalibur, and tell this knight of prowess that dire blows must decide between us!"

"Haro and help, and hue and cry, every true man!" said the mercer. "I am withstood in seeking to recover

"Thou swearest thy gods in vain, foul paynim," said Wayland, "for I will through with mine purpose were

death at the end on't. Nevertheless, know, thou false man of frail cambric and ferrateen, that I am he, even the

pedlar, whom thou didst boast to meet on Maiden Castle moor, and despoil of his pack; wherefore betake

"I spoke but in jest, man," said Goldthred; "I am an honest shopkeeper and citizen, who scorns to leap forth

"Then, by my faith, most puissant mercer," answered Wayland, "I am sorry for my vow, which was, that

wherever I met thee I would despoil thee of thy palfrey, and bestow it upon my leman, unless thou couldst

defend it by blows of force. But the vow is passed and registered, and all I can do for thee is to leave the

"But I tell thee, friend," said the mercer, "it is the very horse on which I was this day to carry Jane Thackham,

of Shottesbrok, as far as the parish church yonder, to become Dame Goldthred. She hath jumped out of the

shotwindow of old Gaffer Thackham's grange; and lo ye, yonder she stands at the place where she should

have met the palfrey, with her camlet ridingcloak and ivoryhandled whip, like a picture of Lot's wife. I

"Grieved am I," said Wayland, "as much for the fair damsel as for thee, most noble imp of muslin. But vows

must have their course; thou wilt find the palfrey at the Angel yonder at Donnington. It is all I may do for

"To the devil with thy conscience!" said the dismayed mercer. "Wouldst thou have a bride walk to church on

"Thou mayest take her on thy crupper, Sir Goldthred," answered Wayland; "it will take down thy steed's

"And how if youif you forget to leave my horse, as you propose?" said Goldthred, not without hesitation,

"My pack shall be pledged for ityonder it lies with Giles Gosling, in his chamber with the damasked

leathern hangings, stuffed full with velvet, single, double, treblepiledrash taffeta, and parapashag,

"Hold! hold!" exclaimed the mercer; "nay, if there be, in truth and sincerity, but the half of these waresbut

"As you list for that, good Master Goldthred, and so good morrow to youand well parted," he added, riding

on cheerfully with the lady, while the discountenanced mercer rode back much slower than he came,

pondering what excuse he should make to the disappointed bride, who stood waiting for her gallant groom in

"Methought," said the lady, as they rode on, "yonder fool stared at me as if he had some remembrance of me;

"If I thought so," said Wayland, "I would ride back and cut him over the pate; there would be no fear of

harming his brains, for he never had so much as would make pap to a sucking gosling. We must now push on,

however, and at Donnington we will leave the oaf's horse, that he may have no further temptation to pursue

us, and endeavour to assume such a change of shape as may baffle his pursuit if he should persevere in it."

The travellers reached Donnington without further alarm, where it became matter of necessity that the

Countess should enjoy two or three hours' repose, during which Wayland disposed himself, with equal

address and alacrity, to carry through those measures on which the safety of their future journey seemed to

Exchanging his pedlar's gaberdine for a smockfrock, he carried the palfrey of Goldthred to the Angel Inn,

which was at the other end of the village from that where our travellers had taken up their quarters. In the

progress of the morning, as he travelled about his other business, he saw the steed brought forth and delivered

to the cutting mercer himself, who, at the head of a valorous posse of the Hue and Cry, came to rescue, by

force of arms, what was delivered to him without any other ransom than the price of a huge quantity of ale,

drunk out by his assistants, thirsty, it would seem, with their walk, and concerning the price of which Master

Goldthred had a fierce dispute with the headborough, whom he had summoned to aid him in raising the

Having made this act of prudent as well as just restitution, Wayland procured such change of apparel for the

lady, as well as himself, as gave them both the appearance of country people of the better class; it being

further resolved, that in order to attract the less observation, she should pass upon the road for the sister of her

guide. A good but not a gay horse, fit to keep pace with his own, and gentle enough for a lady's use,

completed the preparations for the journey; for making which, and for other expenses, he had been furnished

with sufficient funds by Tressilian. And thus, about noon, after the Countess had been refreshed by the sound

repose of several hours, they resumed their journey, with the purpose of making the best of their way to

Kenilworth, by Coventry and Warwick. They were not, however, destined to travel far without meeting some

It is necessary to premise that the landlord of the inn had informed them that a jovial party, intended, as he

understood, to present some of the masques or mummeries which made a part of the entertainment with

which the Queen was usually welcomed on the royal Progresses, had left the village of Donnington an hour

or two before them in order to proceed to Kenilworth. Now it had occurred to Wayland that, by attaching

themselves in some sort to this group as soon as they should overtake them on the road, they would be less

likely to attract notice than if they continued to travel entirely by themselves. He communicated his idea to

the Countess, who, only anxious to arrive at Kenilworth without interruption, left him free to choose the

manner in which this was to be accomplished. They pressed forward their horses, therefore, with the purpose

of overtaking the party of intended revellers, and making the journey in their company; and had just seen the

little party, consisting partly of riders, partly of people on foot, crossing the summit of a gentle hill, at about

half a mile's distance, and disappearing on the other side, when Wayland, who maintained the most

circumspect observation of all that met his eye in every direction, was aware that a rider was coming up

behind them on a horse of uncommon action, accompanied by a servingman, whose utmost efforts were

unable to keep up with his master's trotting hackney, and who, therefore, was fain to follow him at a hand

gallop. Wayland looked anxiously back at these horsemen, became considerably disturbed in his manner,

looked back again, and became pale, as he said to the lady, "That is Richard Varney's trotting gelding; I

would know him among a thousand nags. This is a worse business than meeting the mercer."

"Draw your sword," answered the lady, "and pierce my bosom with it, rather than I should fall into his

"I would rather by a thousand times," answered Wayland, "pass it through his body, or even mine own. But to

say truth, fighting is not my best point, though I can look on cold iron like another when needs must be. And

indeed, as for my sword(put on, I pray you)it is a poor Provant rapier, and I warrant you he has a special

Toledo. He has a servingman, too, and I think it is the drunken ruffian Lambourne! upon the horse on which

men say(I pray you heartily to put on)he did the great robbery of the west country grazier. It is not that I

fear either Varney or Lambourne in a good cause(your palfrey will go yet faster if you urge him)but

yet(nay, I pray you let him not break off into a gallop, lest they should see we fear them, and give chase

keep him only at the full trot)but yet, though I fear them not, I would we were well rid of them, and that

rather by policy than by violence. Could we once reach the party before us, we may herd among them, and

pass unobserved, unless Varney be really come in express pursuit of us, and then, happy man be his dole!"

While he thus spoke, he alternately urged and restrained his horse, desirous to maintain the fleetest pace that

was consistent with the idea of an ordinary journey on the road, but to avoid such rapidity of movement as

At such a pace they ascended the gentle hill we have mentioned, and looking from the top, had the pleasure to

see that the party which had left Donnington before them were in the little valley or bottom on the other side,

where the road was traversed by a rivulet, beside which was a cottage or two. In this place they seemed to

have made a pause, which gave Wayland the hope of joining them, and becoming a part of their company, ere

Varney should overtake them. He was the more anxious, as his companion, though she made no complaints,

and expressed no fear, began to look so deadly pale that he was afraid she might drop from her horse.

Notwithstanding this symptom of decaying strength, she pushed on her palfrey so briskly that they joined the

party in the bottom of the valley ere Varney appeared on the top of the gentle eminence which they had

They found the company to which they meant to associate themselves in great disorder. The women with

dishevelled locks, and looks of great importance, ran in and out of one of the cottages, and the men stood

around holding the horses, and looking silly enough, as is usual in cases where their assistance is not wanted.

Wayland and his charge paused, as if out of curiosity, and then gradually, without making any inquiries, or

being asked any questions, they mingled with the group, as if they had always made part of it.

They had not stood there above five minutes, anxiously keeping as much to the side of the road as possible,

so as to place the other travellers betwixt them and Varney, when Lord Leicester's master of the horse,

followed by Lambourne, came riding fiercely down the hill, their horses' flanks and the rowels of their spurs

showing bloody tokens of the rate at which they travelled. The appearance of the stationary group around the

cottages, wearing their buckram suits in order to protect their masking dresses, having their light cart for

transporting their scenery, and carrying various fantastic properties in their hands for the more easy

conveyance, let the riders at once into the character and purpose of the company.

"And why the devil stand you here?" said Varney, "when your utmost dispatch will but bring you to

Kenilworth in time? The Queen dines at Warwick tomorrow, and you loiter here, ye knaves."

"I very truth, sir," said a little, diminutive urchin, wearing a vizard with a couple of sprouting horns of an

elegant scarlet hue, having, moreover, a black serge jerkin drawn close to his body by lacing, garnished with

red stockings, and shoes so shaped as to resemble cloven feet"in very truth, sir, and you are in the right

on't. It is my father the Devil, who, being taken in labour, has delayed our present purpose, by increasing our

"The devil he has!" answered Varney, whose laugh, however, never exceeded a sarcastic smile.

"It is even as the juvenal hath said," added the masker who spoke first; "Our major devilfor this is but our

"By Saint George, or rather by the Dragon, who may be a kinsman of the fiend in the straw, a most comical

chance!" said Varney. "How sayest thou, Lambourne, wilt thou stand godfather for the nonce? If the devil

"Saving always when my betters are in presence," said Lambourne, with the civil impudence of a servant who

knows his services to be so indispensable that his jest will be permitted to pass muster.

"And what is the name of this devil, or devil's dam, who has timed her turns so strangely?" said Varney. "We

"GAUDET NOMINE SIBYLLAE," said the first speaker; "she is called Sibyl Laneham, wife of Master

"Clerk to the Councilchamber door," said Varney; "why, she is inexcusable, having had experience how to

have ordered her matters better. But who were those, a man and a woman, I think, who rode so hastily up the

Wayland was about to hazard a reply to this alarming inquiry, when the little diablotin again thrust in his oar.

"So please you," he said, coming close up to Varney, and speaking so as not to be overheard by his

companions, "the man was our devil major, who has tricks enough to supply the lack of a hundred such as

Dame Laneham; and the woman, if you please, is the sage person whose assistance is most particularly

"Oh, what! you have got the wise woman, then?" said Varney. "Why, truly, she rode like one bound to a

place where she was needed. And you have a spare limb of Satan, besides, to supply the place of Mistress

"Ay, sir," said the boy; "they are not so scarce in this world as your honour's virtuous eminence would

suppose. This masterfiend shall spit a few flashes of fire, and eruct a volume or two of smoke on the spot, if

"I lack time just now, most hopeful imp of darkness, to witness his performance," said Varney; "but here is

something for you all to drink the lucky hourand so, as the play says, 'God be with Your labour!'"

Lambourne tarried a moment or two behind his master, and rummaged his pouch for a piece of silver, which

he bestowed on the communicative imp, as he said, for his encouragement on his path to the infernal regions,

some sparks of whose fire, he said, he could discover flashing from him already. Then having received the

boy's thanks for his generosity he also spurred his horse, and rode after his master as fast as the fire flashes

"And now," said the wily imp, sidling close up to Wayland's horse, and cutting a gambol in the air which

seemed to vindicate his title to relationship with the prince of that element, "I have told them who YOU are,

"Either Flibbertigibbet," answered Wayland Smith, "or else an imp of the devil in good earnest."

"Thou hast hit it," answered Dickie Sludge. "I am thine own Flibbertigibbet, man; and I have broken forth of

bounds, along with my learned preceptor, as I told thee I would do, whether he would or not. But what lady

hast thou got with thee? I saw thou wert at fault the first question was asked, and so I drew up for thy

"Thou shalt know fifty finer things, my dear ingle," said Wayland; "but a truce to thine inquiries just now.

And since you are bound for Kenilworth, thither will I too, even for the love of thy sweet face and waggish

"Thou shouldst have said my waggish face and sweet company," said Dickie;" but how wilt thou travel with

"E'en in that thou hast assigned me, to be sureas a juggler; thou knowest I am used to the craft," answered

"Ay, but the lady?" answered Flibbertigibbet. "Credit me, I think she IS one and thou art in a sea of troubles

"Oh, she, man!she is a poor sister of mine," said Wayland; "she can sing and play o' the lute would win the

"Let me hear her instantly," said the boy, "I love the lute rarely; I love it of all things, though I never heard

"Then love it on hearsay a little longer, till my sister is recovered from the fatigue of her journey," said

Wayland; muttering afterwards betwixt his teeth, "The devil take the imp's curiosity! I must keep fair weather

He then proceeded to state to Master Holiday his own talents as a juggler, with those of his sister as a

musician. Some proof of his dexterity was demanded, which he gave in such a style of excellence, that,

delighted at obtaining such an accession to their party, they readily acquiesced in the apology which he

offered when a display of his sister's talents was required. The newcomers were invited to partake of the

refreshments with which the party were provided; and it was with some difficulty that Wayland Smith

obtained an opportunity of being apart with his supposed sister during the meal, of which interval he availed

himself to entreat her to forget for the present both her rank and her sorrows, and condescend, as the most

probable chance of remaining concealed, to mix in the society of those with whom she was to travel.

The Countess allowed the necessity of the case, and when they resumed their journey, endeavoured to

comply with her guide's advice, by addressing herself to a female near her, and expressing her concern for the

"Oh, she is well attended, madam," replied the dame whom she addressed, who, from her jolly and

laughterloving demeanour, might have been the very emblem of the Wife of Bath; "and my gossip Laneham

thinks as little of these matters as any one. By the ninth day, an the revels last so long, we shall have her with

There was something in this speech which took away all desire on the Countess of Leicester's part to continue

the conversation. But having broken the charm by speaking to her fellowtraveller first, the good dame, who

was to play Rare Gillian of Croydon in one of the interludes, took care that silence did not again settle on the

journey, but entertained her mute companion with a thousand anecdotes of revels, from the days of King

Harry downwards, with the reception given them by the great folk, and all the names of those who played the

principal characters; but ever concluding with "they would be nothing to the princely pleasures of

"And when shall we reach Kenilworth? said the Countess, with an agitation which she in vain attempted to

"We that have horses may, with late riding, get to Warwick to night, and Kenilworth may be distant some

four or five miles. But then we must wait till the footpeople come up; although it is like my good Lord of

Leicester will have horses or light carriages to meet them, and bring them up without being travel toiled,

which last is no good preparation, as you may suppose, for dancing before your betters. And yet, Lord help

me, I have seen the day I would have tramped five leagues of lealand, and turned an my toe the whole

evening after, as a juggler spins a pewter platter on the point of a needle. But age has clawed me somewhat in

his clutch, as the song says; though, if I like the tune and like my partner, I'll dance the hays yet with any

merry lass in Warwickshire that writes that unhappy figure four with a round O after it."

If the Countess was overwhelmed with the garrulity of this good dame, Wayland Smith, on his part, had

enough to do to sustain and parry,the constant attacks made upon him by the indefatigable curiosity of his old

acquaintance Richard Sludge. Nature had given that arch youngster a prying cast of disposition, which

matched admirably with his sharp wit; the former inducing him to plant himself as a spy on other people's

affairs, and the latter quality leading him perpetually to interfere, after he had made himself master of that

which concerned him not. He spent the livelong day in attempting to peer under the Countess's muffler, and

"That sister of thine, Wayland," he said, "has a fair neck to have been born in a smithy, and a pretty taper

hand to have been used for twirling a spindlefaith, I'll believe in your relationship when the crow's egg is

"Go to," said Wayland, "thou art a prating boy, and should be breeched for thine assurance."

"Well," said the imp, drawing off, "all I say isremember you have kept a secret from me, and if I give thee

This threat, and the distance at which Hobgoblin kept from him for the rest of the way, alarmed Wayland

very much, and he suggested to his pretended sister that, on pretext of weariness, she should express a desire

to stop two or three miles short of the fair town of Warwick, promising to rejoin the troop in the morning. A

small village inn afforded them a restingplace, and it was with secret pleasure that Wayland saw the whole

party, including Dickon, pass on, after a courteous farewell, and leave them behind.

"Tomorrow, madam," he said to his charge, "we will, with your leave, again start early, and reach

The Countess gave assent to the proposal of her faithful guide; but, somewhat to his surprise, said nothing

further on the subject, which left Wayland under the disagreeable uncertainty whether or no she had formed

any plan for her own future proceedings, as he knew her situation demanded circumspection, although he was

but imperfectly acquainted with all its peculiarities. Concluding, however, that she must have friends within

the castle, whose advice and assistance she could safely trust, he supposed his task would be best

accomplished by conducting her thither in safety, agreeably to her repeated commands.

The unfortunate Countess of Leicester had, from her infancy upwards, been treated by those around her with

indulgence as unbounded as injudicious. The natural sweetness of her disposition had saved her from

becoming insolent and ill humoured; but the caprice which preferred the handsome and insinuating

Leicester before Tressilian, of whose high honour and unalterable affection she herself entertained so firm an

opinion that fatal error, which ruined the happiness of her life, had its origin in the mistaken kindness; that

had spared her childhood the painful but most necessary lesson of submission and selfcommand. From the

same indulgence it followed that she had only been accustomed to form and to express her wishes, leaving to

others the task of fulfilling them; and thus, at the most momentous period of her life, she was alike destitute

of presence of mind, and of ability to form for herself any reasonable or prudent plan of conduct.

These difficulties pressed on the unfortunate lady with overwhelming force on the morning which seemed to

be the crisis of her fate. Overlooking every intermediate consideration, she had only desired to be at

Kenilworth, and to approach her husband's presence; and now, when she was in the vicinity of both, a

thousand considerations arose at once upon her mind, startling her with accumulated doubts and dangers,

some real, some imaginary, and all exalted and exaggerated by a situation alike helpless and destitute of aid

A sleepless night rendered her so weak in the morning that she was altogether unable to attend Wayland's

early summons. The trusty guide became extremely distressed on the lady's account, and somewhat alarmed

on his own, and was on the point of going alone to Kenilworth, in the hope of discovering Tressilian, and

intimating to him the lady's approach, when about nine in the morning he was summoned to attend her. He

found her dressed, and ready for resuming her journey, but with a paleness of countenance which alarmed

him for her health. She intimated her desire that the horses might be got instantly ready, and resisted with

impatience her guide's request that she would take some refreshment before setting forward. "I have had," she

said, "a cup of waterthe wretch who is dragged to execution needs no stronger cordial, and that may serve

me which suffices for him. Do as I command you." Wayland Smith still hesitated. "What would you have?"

"Yes, madam," answered Wayland; "but may I ask what is your further purpose? I only wish to know, that I

may guide myself by your wishes. The whole country is afloat, and streaming towards the Castle of

Kenilworth. It will be difficult travelling thither, even if we had the necessary passports for safeconduct and

free admittance; unknown and unfriended, we may come by mishap. Your ladyship will forgive my speaking

my poor mind were we not better try to find out the maskers, and again join ourselves with them?" The

Countess shook her head, and her guide proceeded, "Then I see but one other remedy."

"Speak out, then," said the lady, not displeased, perhaps, that he should thus offer the advice which she was

"That I should warn Master Tressilian," said Wayland, "that you are in this place. I am right certain he would

get to horse with a few of Lord Sussex's followers, and ensure your personal safety."

"And is it to ME you advise," said the Countess, "to put myself under the protection of Sussex, the unworthy

rival of the noble Leicester?" Then, seeing the surprise with which Wayland stared upon her, and afraid of

having too strongly intimated her interest in Leicester, she added, "And for Tressilian, it must not

bemention not to him, I charge you, my unhappy name; it would but double MY misfortunes, and involve

HIM in dangers beyond the power of rescue." She paused; but when she observed that Wayland continued to

look on her with that anxious and uncertain gaze which indicated a doubt whether her brain was settled, she

assumed an air of composure, and added, "Do thou but guide me to Kenilworth Castle, good fellow, and thy

task is ended, since I will then judge what further is to be done. Thou hast yet been true to mehere is

She offered the artist a ring containing a valuable stone. Wayland looked at it, hesitated a moment, and then

returned it. "Not," he said, "that I am above your kindness, madam, being but a poor fellow, who have been

forced, God help me! to live by worse shifts than the bounty of such a person as you. But, as my old master

the farrier used to say to his customers, 'No cure, no pay.' We are not yet in Kenilworth Castle, and it is time

enough to discharge your guide, as they say, when you take your boots off. I trust in God your ladyship is as

well assured of fitting reception when you arrive, as you may hold yourself certain of my best endeavours to

conduct you thither safely. I go to get the horses; meantime, let me pray you once more, as your poor

"I willI will," said the lady hastily. "Begone, begone instantly!It is in vain I assume audacity," said she,

when he left the room; "even this poor groom sees through my affectation of courage, and fathoms the very

She then attempted to follow her guide's advice by taking some food, but was compelled to desist, as the

effort to swallow even a single morsel gave her so much uneasiness as amounted wellnigh to suffocation. A

moment afterwards the horses appeared at the latticed window. The lady mounted, and found that relief from

the free air and change of place which is frequently experienced in similar circumstances.

It chanced well for the Countess's purpose that Wayland Smith, whose previous wandering and unsettled life

had made him acquainted with almost all England, was intimate with all the by roads, as well as direct

communications, through the beautiful county of Warwick. For such and so great was the throng which

flocked in all directions towards Kenilworth, to see the entry of Elizabeth into that splendid mansion of her

prime favourite, that the principal roads were actually blocked up and interrupted, and it was only by

The Queen's purveyors had been abroad, sweeping the farms and villages of those articles usually exacted

during a royal Progress, and for which the owners were afterwards to obtain a tardy payment from the Board

of Green Cloth. The Earl of Leicester's household officers had been scouring the country for the same

purpose; and many of his friends and allies, both near and remote, took this opportunity of ingratiating

themselves by sending large quantities of provisions and delicacies of all kinds, with game in huge numbers,

and whole tuns of the best liquors, foreign and domestic. Thus the highroads were filled with droves of

bullocks, sheep, calves, and hogs, and choked with loaded wains, whose axletrees cracked under their

burdens of winecasks and hogsheads of ale, and huge hampers of grocery goods, and slaughtered game, and

salted provisions, and sacks of flour. Perpetual stoppages took place as these wains became entangled; and

their rude drivers, swearing and brawling till their wild passions were fully raised, began to debate

precedence with their wagonwhips and quarterstaves, which occasional riots were usually quieted by a

purveyor, deputymarshal's man, or some other person in authority, breaking the heads of both parties.

Here were, besides, players and mummers, jugglers and showmen, of every description, traversing in joyous

bands the paths which led to the Palace of Princely Pleasure; for so the travelling minstrels had termed

Kenilworth in the songs which already had come forth in anticipation of the revels which were there

expected. In the midst of this motley show, mendicants were exhibiting their real or pretended miseries,

forming a strange though common contrast betwixt the vanities and the sorrows of human existence. All these

floated along with the immense tide of population whom mere curiosity had drawn together; and where the

mechanic, in his leathern apron, elbowed the dink and dainty dame, his city mistress; where clowns, with

hobnailed shoes, were treading on the kibes of substantial burghers and gentlemen of worship; and where

Joan of the dairy, with robust pace, and red, sturdy arms, rowed her way unward, amongst those prim and

The throng and confusion was, however, of a gay and cheerful character. All came forth to see and to enjoy,

and all laughed at the trifling inconveniences which at another time might have chafed their temper.

Excepting the occasional brawls which we have mentioned among that irritable race the carmen, the mingled

sounds which arose from the multitude were those of lighthearted mirth and tiptoe jollity. The musicians

preluded on their instrumentsthe minstrels hummed their songsthe licensed jester whooped betwixt

mirth and madness, as he brandished his baublethe morricedancers jangled their bellsthe rustics

hallooed and whistledmen laughed loud, and maidens giggled shrill; while many a broad jest flew like a

shuttlecock from one party, to be caught in the air and returned from the opposite side of the road by another,

No infliction can be so distressing to a mind absorbed in melancholy, as being plunged into a scene of mirth

and revelry, forming an accompaniment so dissonant from its own feelings. Yet, in the case of the Countess

of Leicester, the noise and tumult of this giddy scene distracted her thoughts, and rendered her this sad

service, that it became impossible for her to brood on her own misery, or to form terrible anticipations of her

approaching fate. She travelled on like one in a dream, following implicitly the guidance of Wayland, who,

with great address, now threaded his way through the general throng of passengers, now stood still until a

favourable opportunity occurred of again moving forward, and frequently turning altogether out of the direct

road, followed some circuitous by path, which brought them into the highway again, after having given

them the opportunity of traversing a considerable way with greater ease and rapidity.

It was thus he avoided Warwick, within whose Castle (that fairest monument of ancient and chivalrous

splendour which yet remains uninjured by time) Elizabeth had passed the previous night, and where she was

to tarry until past noon, at that time the general hour of dinner throughout England, after which repast she was

to proceed to Kenilworth, In the meanwhile, each passing group had something to say in the Sovereign's

praise, though not absolutely without the usual mixture of satire which qualifies more or less our estimate of

"Heard you," said. one, "how graciously she spoke to Master Bailiff and the Recorder, and to good Master

"Ay, and how she said to little Aglionby, 'Master Recorder, men would have persuaded me that you were

afraid of me, but truly I think, so well did you reckon up to me the virtues of a sovereign, that I have more

reason to be afraid of you.' and then with what grace she took the fairwrought purse with the twenty gold

sovereigns, seeming as though she would not willingly handle it, and yet taking it withal."

"Ay, ay," said another, "her fingers closed on it pretty willingly methought, when all was done; and

methought, too, she weighed them for a second in her hand, as she would say, I hope they be avoirdupois."

"She needed not, neighbour," said a third; "it is only when the corporation pay the accounts of a poor

handicraft like me, that they put him off with clipped coin. Well, there is a God above alllittle Master

"Come, good neighbour," said the first speaker "be not envious. She is a good Queen, and a generous; she

"I envious?beshrew thy heart for the word!" replied the handicraft. "But she will give all to the Earl of

"You are turning ill, lady," said Wayland Smith to the Countess of Leicester, and proposed that she should

draw off from the road, and halt till she recovered. But, subduing her feelings at this and different speeches to

the same purpose, which caught her ear as they passed on, she insisted that her guide should proceed to

Kenilworth with all the haste which the numerous impediments of their journey permitted. Meanwhile,

Wayland's anxiety at her repeated fits of indisposition, and her obvious distraction of mind, was hourly

increasing, and he became extremely desirous that, according to her reiterated requests, she should be safely

introduced into the Castle, where, he doubted not, she was secure of a kind reception, though she seemed

"An I were once rid of this peril," thought he, "and if any man shall find me playing squire of the body to a

damoselerrant, he shall have leave to beat my brains out with my own sledge hammer!"

At length the princely Castle appeared, upon improving which, and the domains around, the Earl of Leicester

had, it is said, expended sixty thousand pounds sterling, a sum equal to half a million of our present money.

The outer wall of this splendid and gigantic structure enclosed seven acres, a part of which was occupied by

extensive stables, and by a pleasure garden, with its trim arbours and parterres, and the rest formed the large

basecourt or outer yard of the noble Castle. The lordly structure itself, which rose near the centre of this

spacious enclosure, was composed of a huge pile of magnificent castellated buildings, apparently of different

ages, surrounding an inner court, and bearing in the names attached to each portion of the magnificent mass,

and in the armorial bearings which were there blazoned, the emblems of mighty chiefs who had long passed

away, and whose history, could Ambition have lent ear to it, might have read a lesson to the haughty

favourite who had now acquired and was augmenting the fair domain. A large and massive Keep, which

formed the citadel of the Castle, was of uncertain though great antiquity. It bore the name of Caesar, perhaps

from its resemblance to that in the Tower of London so called. Some antiquaries ascribe its foundation to the

time of Kenelph, from whom the Castle had its name, a Saxon King of Mercia, and others to an early era after

the Norman Conquest. On the exterior walls frowned the scutcheon of the Clintons, by whom they were

founded in the reign of Henry I.; and of the yet more redoubted Simon de Montfort, by whom, during the

Barons' wars, Kenilworth was long held out against Henry III. Here Mortimer, Earl of March, famous alike

for his rise and his fall, had once gaily revelled in Kenilworth, while his dethroned sovereign, Edward II.,

languished in its dungeons. Old John of Gaunt, "timehonoured Lancaster," had widely extended the Castle,

erecting that noble and massive pile which yet bears the name of Lancaster's Buildings; and Leicester himself

had outdone the former possessors, princely and powerful as they were, by erecting another immense

structure, which now lies crushed under its own ruins, the monument of its owner's ambition. The external

wall of this royal Castle was, on the south and west sides, adorned and defended by a lake partly artificial,

across which Leicester had constructed a stately bridge, that Elizabeth might enter the Castle by a path

hitherto untrodden, instead of the usual entrance to the northward, over which he had erected a gatehouse or

barbican, which still exists, and is equal in extent, and superior in architecture, to the baronial castle of many

Beyond the lake lay an extensive chase, full of red deer, fallow deer, roes, and every species of game, and

abounding with lofty trees, from amongst which the extended front and massive towers of the Castle were

seen to rise in majesty and beauty. We cannot but add, that of this lordly palace, where princes feasted and

heroes fought, now in the bloody earnest of storm and siege, and now in the games of chivalry, where beauty

dealt the prize which valour won, all is now desolate. The bed of the lake is but a rushy swamp; and the

massive ruins of the Castle only serve to show what their splendour once was, and to impress on the musing

visitor the transitory value of human possessions, and the happiness of those who enjoy a humble lot in

It was with far different feelings that the unfortunate Countess of Leicester viewed those grey and massive

towers, when she first beheld them rise above the embowering and richlyshaded woods, over which they

seemed to preside. She, the undoubted wife of the great Earl, of Elizabeth's minion, and England's mighty

favourite, was approaching the presence of her husband, and that husband's sovereign, under the protection,

rather than the guidance, of a poor juggler; and though unquestioned Mistress of that proud Castle, whose

lightest word ought to have had force sufficient to make its gates leap from their massive hinges to receive

her, yet she could not conceal from herself the difficulty and peril which she must experience in gaining

The risk and difficulty, indeed, seemed to increase every moment, and at length threatened altogether to put a

stop to her further progress at the great gate leading to a broad and fair road, which, traversing the breadth of

the chase for the space of two miles, and commanding several most beautiful views of the Castle and lake,

terminated at the newly constructed bridge, to which it was an appendage, and which was destined to form

Here the Countess and Wayland found the gate at the end of this avenue, which opened on the Warwick road,

guarded by a body of the Queen's mounted yeomen of the guard, armed in corselets richly carved and gilded,

and wearing morions instead of bonnets, having their carabines resting with the buttend on their thighs.

These guards, distinguished for strength and stature, who did duty wherever the Queen went in person, were

here stationed under the direction of a pursuivant, graced with the Bear and Ragged Staff on his arm, as

belonging to the Earl of Leicester, and peremptorily refused all admittance, excepting to such as were guests

invited to the festival, or persons who were to perform some part in the mirthful exhibitions which were

The press was of consequence great around the entrance, and persons of all kinds presented every sort of plea

for admittance; to which the guards turned an inexorable ear, pleading, in return to fair words, and even to

fair offers, the strictness of their orders, founded on the Queen's wellknown dislike to the rude pressing of a

multitude. With those whom such reasons did not serve,they dealt more rudely, repelling them without

ceremony by the pressure of their powerful, barbed horses, and good round blows from the stock of their

carabines. These last manoeuvres produced undulations amongst the crowd, which rendered Wayland much

afraid that he might perforce be separated from his charge in the throng. Neither did he know what excuse to

make in order to obtain admittance, and he was debating the matter in his head with great uncertainty, when

the Earl's pursuivant, having cast an eye upon him, exclaimed, to his no small surprise, "Yeomen, make room

for the fellow in the orangetawny cloak.Come forward, Sir Coxcomb, and make haste. What, in the

fiend's name, has kept you waiting? Come forward with your bale of woman's gear."

While the pursuivant gave Wayland this pressing yet uncourteous invitation, which, for a minute or two, he

could not imagine was applied to him, the yeomen speedily made a free passage for him, while, only

cautioning his companion to keep the muffler close around her face, he entered the gate leading her palfrey,

but with such a drooping crest, and such a look of conscious fear and anxiety, that the crowd, not greatly

pleased at any rate with the preference bestowed upon them, accompanied their admission with hooting and a

Admitted thus within the chase, though with no very flattering notice or distinction, Wayland and his charge

rode forward, musing what difficulties it would be next their lot to encounter, through the broad avenue,

which was sentinelled on either side by a long line of retainers, armed with swords, and partisans richly

dressed in the Earl of Leicester's liveries, and bearing his cognizance of the Bear and Ragged Staff, each

placed within three paces of each other, so as to line the whole road from the entrance into the park to the

bridge. And, indeed, when the lady obtained the first commanding view of the Castle, with its stately towers

rising from within a long, sweeping line of outward walls, ornamented with battlements and turrets and

platforms at every point of defence, with many a banner streaming from its walls, and such a bustle of gay

crests and waving plumes disposed on the terraces and battlements, and all the gay and gorgeous scene, her

heart, unaccustomed to such splendour, sank as if it died within her, and for a moment she asked herself what

she had offered up to Leicester to deserve to become the partner of this princely splendour. But her pride and

"I have given him," she said, "all that woman has to give. Name and fame, heart and hand, have I given the

lord of all this magnificence at the altar, and England's Queen could give him no more. He is my husbandI

am his wifewhom God hath joined, man cannot sunder. I will be bold in claiming my right; even the

bolder, that I come thus unexpected, and thus forlorn. I know my noble Dudley well! He will be something

impatient at my disobeying him, but Amy will weep, and Dudley will forgive her."

These meditations were interrupted by a cry of surprise from her guide Wayland, who suddenly felt himself

grasped firmly round the body by a pair of long, thin black arms, belonging to some one who had dropped

himself out of an oak tree upon the croup of his horse, amidst the shouts of laughter which burst from the

"This must be the devil, or Flibbertigibbet again!" said Wayland, after a vain struggle to disengage himself,

"In sooth do they, Master Wayland," said his unexpected adjunct, "and many others, too hard for you to

crack, for as old as you are, without my teaching you. How would you have passed the pursuivant at the

upper gate yonder, had not I warned him our principal juggler was to follow us? And here have I waited for

you, having clambered up into the tree from the top of the wain; and I suppose they are all mad for want of

"Nay, then, thou art a limb of the devil in good earnest," said Wayland. "I give thee way, good imp, and will

As he spoke, they approached a strong tower, at the south extremity of the long bridge we have mentioned,

Under such disastrous circumstances, and in such singular company, did the unfortunate Countess of

Leicester approach, for the first time, the magnificent abode of her almost princely husband.

When the Countess of Leicester arrived at the outer gate of the Castle of Kenilworth, she found the tower,

beneath which its ample portal arch opened, guarded in a singular manner. Upon the battlements were placed

gigantic warders, with clubs, battle axes, and other implements of ancient warfare, designed to represent the

soldiers of King Arthur; those primitive Britons, by whom, according to romantic tradition, the Castle had

been first tenanted, though history carried back its antiquity only to the times of the Heptarchy.

Some of these tremendous figures were real men, dressed up with vizards and buskins; others were mere

pageants composed of pasteboard and buckram, which, viewed from beneath, and mingled with those that

were real, formed a sufficiently striking representation of what was intended. But the gigantic porter who

waited at the gate beneath, and actually discharged the duties of warder, owed none of his terrors to fictitious

means. We was a man whose huge stature, thews, sinews, and bulk in proportion, would have enabled him to

enact Colbrand, Ascapart, or any other giant of romance, without raising himself nearer to heaven even by the

altitude of a chopin. The legs and knees of this son of Anak were bare, as were his arms from a span below

the shoulder; but his feet were defended with sandals, fastened with cross straps of scarlet leather studded

with brazen knobs. A close jerkin of scarlet velvet looped with gold, with short breeches of the same, covered

his body and a part of his limbs; and he wore on his shoulders, instead of a cloak, the skin of a black bear.

The head of this formidable person was uncovered, except by his shaggy, black hair, which descended on

either side around features of that huge, lumpish, and heavy cast which are often annexed to men of very

uncommon size, and which, notwithstanding some distinguished exceptions, have created a general prejudice

against giants, as being a dull and sullen kind of persons. This tremendous warder was appropriately armed

with a heavy club spiked with steel. In fine, he represented excellently one of those giants of popular

The demeanour of this modern Titan, when Wayland Smith bent his attention to him, had in it something

arguing much mental embarrassment and vexation; for sometimes he sat down for an instant on a massive

stone bench, which seemed placed for his accommodation beside the gateway, and then ever and anon he

started up, scratching his huge head, and striding to and fro on his post, like one under a fit of impatience and

anxiety. It was while the porter was pacing before the gate in this agitated manner, that Wayland, modestly,

yet as a matter of course (not, however, without some mental misgiving), was about to pass him, and enter the

portal arch. The porter, however, stopped his progress, bidding him, in a thundering voice, "Stand back!" and

enforcing his injunction by heaving up his steelshod mace, and dashing it on the ground before Wayland's

horse's nose with such vehemence that the pavement flashed fire, and the archway rang to the clamour.

Wayland, availing himself of Dickie's hints, began to state that he belonged to a band of performers to which

his presence was indispensable, that he had been accidentally detained behind, and much to the same purpose.

But the warder was inexorable, and kept muttering and murmuring something betwixt his teeth, which

Wayland could make little of; and addressing betwixt whiles a refusal of admittance, couched in language

which was but too intelligible. A specimen of his speech might run thus:"What, how now, my masters?"

(to himself)"Here's a stirhere's a coil."(Then to Wayland) "You are a loitering knave, and shall

have no entrance."(Again to himself)"Here's a thronghere's a thrusting.I shall ne'er get through

with itHere's ahumphha."(To Wayland)"Back from the gate, or I'll break the pate of

"Stand still," whispered Flibbertigibbet into Wayland's ear, "I know where the shoe pinches, and will tame

He dropped down from the horse, and skipping up to the porter, plucked him by the tail of the bearskin, so as

to induce him to decline his huge head, and whispered something in his ear. Not at the command of the lord

of some Eastern talisman did ever Afrite change his horrid frown into a look of smooth submission more

suddenly than the gigantic porter of Kenilworth relaxed the terrors of his looks at the instant Flibbertigibbet's

whisper reached his ears. He flung his club upon the ground, and caught up Dickie Sludge, raising him to

such a distance from the earth as might have proved perilous had he chanced to let him slip.

"It is even so," he said, with a thundering sound of exultation "it is even so, my little dandieprat. But who

"Do not thou care about that," said Flibbertigibbet"but" he looked at Wayland and the lady, and then

sunk what he had to say in a whisper, which needed not be a loud one, as the giant held him for his

convenience close to his ear. The porter then gave Dickie a warm caress, and set him on the ground with the

same care which a careful housewife uses in replacing a cracked china cup upon her mantelpiece, calling out

at the same time to Wayland and the lady, "In with youin with you! and take heed how you come too late

"Ay, ay, in with you," added Flibbertigibbet; "I must stay a short space with mine honest Philistine, my

Goliath of Gath here; but I will be with you anon, and at the bottom of all your secrets, were they as deep and

"I do believe thou wouldst," said Wayland; "but I trust the secret will be soon out of my keeping, and then I

They now crossed the entrance tower, which obtained the name of the Gallerytower, from the following

circumstance: The whole bridge, extending from the entrance to another tower on the opposite side of the

lake, called Mortimer's Tower, was so disposed as to make a spacious tiltyard, about one hundred and thirty

yards in length, and ten in breadth, strewed with the finest sand, and defended on either side by strong and

high palisades. The broad and fair gallery, destined for the ladies who were to witness the feats of chivalry

presented on this area, was erected on the northern side of the outer tower, to which it gave name. Our

travellers passed slowly along the bridge or tiltyard, and arrived at Mortimer's Tower, at its farthest

extremity, through which the approach led into the outer or base court of the Castle. Mortimer's Tower bore

on its front the scutcheon of the Earl of March, whose daring ambition overthrew the throne of Edward II.,

and aspired to share his power with the "Shewolf of France," to whom the unhappy monarch was wedded.

The gate, which opened under this ominous memorial, was guarded by many warders in rich liveries; but they

offered no opposition to the entrance of the Countess and her guide, who, having passed by license of the

principal porter at the Gallerytower, were not, it may be supposed, liable to interruption from his deputies.

They entered accordingly, in silence, the great outward court of the Castle, having then full before them that

vast and lordly pile, with all its stately towers, each gate open, as if in sign of unlimited hospitality, and the

apartments filled with noble guests of every degree, besides dependants, retainers, domestics of every

Amid this stately and busy scene Wayland halted his horse, and looked upon the lady, as if waiting her

commands what was next to be done, since they had safely reached the place of destination. As she remained

silent, Wayland, after waiting a minute or two, ventured to ask her, in direct terms, what were her next

commands. She raised her hand to her forehead, as if in the act of collecting her thoughts and resolution,

while she answered him in a low and suppressed voice, like the murmurs of one who speaks in a

dream"Commands? I may indeed claim right to command, but who is there will obey me!"

Then suddenly raising her head, like one who has formed a decisive resolution, she addressed a gailydressed

domestic, who was crossing the court with importance and bustle in his countenance, "Stop, sir," she said; "I

"With whom, an it please you?" said the man, surprised at the demand; and then looking upon the mean

equipage of her who used towards him such a tone of authority, he added, with insolence, "Why, what Bess

"Friend," said the Countess, "be not insolentmy business with the Earl is most urgent."

"You must get some one else to do it, were it thrice as urgent," said the fellow. "I should summon my lord

from the Queen's royal presence to do YOUR business, should I?I were like to be thanked with a

horsewhip. I marvel our old porter took not measure of such ware with his club, instead of giving them

Two or three persons stopped, attracted by the fleering way in which the servingman expressed himself; and

Wayland, alarmed both for himself and the lady, hastily addressed himself to one who appeared the most

civil, and thrusting a piece of money into his hand, held a moment's counsel with him on the subject of

finding a place of temporary retreat for the lady. The person to whom he spoke, being one in some authority,

rebuked the others for their incivility, and commanding one fellow to take care of the strangers' horses, he

desired them to follow him. The Countess retained presence of mind sufficient to see that it was absolutely

necessary she should comply with his request; and leaving the rude lackeys and grooms to crack their brutal

jests about light heads, light heels, and so forth, Wayland and she followed in silence the deputyusher, who

They entered the inner court of the Castle by the great gateway, which extended betwixt the principal Keep,

or Donjon, called Caesar's Tower, and a stately building which passed by the name of King Henry's Lodging,

and were thus placed in the centre of the noble pile, which presented on its different fronts magnificent

specimens of every species of castellated architecture, from the Conquest to the reign of Elizabeth, with the

Across this inner court also they were conducted by their guide to a small but strong tower, occupying the

northeast angle of the building, adjacent to the great hall, and filling up a space betwixt the immense range

of kitchens and the end of the great hall itself. The lower part of this tower was occupied by some of the

household officers of Leicester, owing to its convenient vicinity to the places where their duty lay; but in the

upper story, which was reached by a narrow, winding stair, was a small octangular chamber, which, in the

great demand for lodgings, had been on the present occasion fitted up for the reception of guests, though

generally said to have been used as a place of confinement for some unhappy person who had been there

murdered. Tradition called this prisoner Mervyn, and transferred his name to the tower. That it had been used

as a prison was not improbable; for the floor of each story was arched, the walls of tremendous thickness,

while the space of the chamber did not exceed fifteen feet in diameter. The window, however, was pleasant,

though narrow, and commanded a delightful view of what was called the Pleasance; a space of ground

enclosed and decorated with arches, trophies, statues, fountains, and other architectural monuments, which

formed one access from the Castle itself into the garden. There was a bed in the apartment, and other

preparations for the reception of a guest, to which the Countess paid but slight attention, her notice being

instantly arrested by the sight of writing materials placed on the table (not very commonly to be found in the

bedrooms of those days), which instantly suggested the idea of writing to Leicester, and remaining private

The deputyusher having introduced them into this commodious apartment, courteously asked Wayland,

whose generosity he had experienced, whether he could do anything further for his service. Upon receiving a

gentle hint that some refreshment would not be unacceptable, he presently conveyed the smith to the

butteryhatch, where dressed provisions of all sorts were distributed, with hospitable profusion, to all who

asked for them. Wayland was readily supplied with some light provisions, such as he thought would best suit

the faded appetite of the lady, and did not omit the opportunity of himself making a hasty but hearty meal on

more substantial fare. He then returned to the apartment in the turret, where he found the Countess, who had

finished her letter to Leicester, and in lieu of a seal and silken thread, had secured it with a braid of her own

"Good friend," said she to Wayland, "whom God hath sent to aid me at my utmost need, I do beseech thee, as

the last trouble you shall take for an unfortunate lady, to deliver this letter to the noble Earl of Leicester. Be it

received as it may," she said, with features agitated betwixt hope and fear, "thou, good fellow, shalt have no

more cumber with me. But I hope the best; and if ever lady made a poor man rich, thou hast surely deserved

it at my hand, should my happy days ever come round again. Give it, I pray you, into Lord Leicester's own

Wayland, on his part, readily undertook the commission, but anxiously prayed the lady, in his turn, to partake

of some refreshment; in which he at length prevailed, more through importunity and her desire to see him

begone on his errand than from any inclination the Countess felt to comply with his request. He then left her,

advising her to lock her door on the inside, and not to stir from her little apartment; and went to seek an

opportunity of discharging her errand, as well as of carrying into effect a purpose of his own, which

In fact, from the conduct of the lady during the journeyher long fits of profound silence, the irresolution

and uncertainty which seemed to pervade all her movements, and the obvious incapacity of thinking and

acting for herself under which she seemed to labourWayland had formed the not improbable opinion that

the difficulties of her situation had in some degree affected her understanding.

When she had escaped from the seclusion of Cumnor Place, and the dangers to which she was there exposed,

it would have seemed her most rational course to retire to her father's, or elsewhere at a distance from the

power of those by whom these dangers had been created. When, instead of doing so, she demanded to be

conveyed to Kenilworth, Wayland had been only able to account for her conduct by supposing that she meant

to put herself under the tutelage of Tressilian, and to appeal to the protection of the Queen. But now, instead

of following this natural course, she entrusted him with a letter to Leicester, the patron of Varney, and within

whose jurisdiction at least, if not under his express authority, all the evils she had already suffered were

inflicted upon her. This seemed an unsafe and even a desperate measure, and Wayland felt anxiety for his

own safety, as well as that of the lady, should he execute her commission before he had secured the advice

He therefore resolved, before delivering the letter to Leicester, that he would seek out Tressilian, and

communicate to him the arrival of the lady at Kenilworth, and thus at once rid himself of all further

responsibility, and devolve the task of guiding and protecting this unfortunate lady upon the patron who had

"He will be a better judge than I am," said Wayland, "whether she is to be gratified in this humour of appeal

to my Lord of Leicester, which seems like an act of insanity; and, therefore, I will turn the matter over on his

hands, deliver him the letter, receive what they list to give me by way of guerdon, and then show the Castle

of Kenilworth a pair of light heels; for, after the work I have been engaged in, it will be, I fear, neither a safe

nor wholesome place of residence, and I would rather shoe colts an the coldest common in England than

Amid the universal bustle which filled the Castle and its environs, it was no easy matter to find out any

individual; and Wayland was still less likely to light upon Tressilian, whom he sought so anxiously, because,

sensible of the danger of attracting attention in the circumstances in which he was placed, he dared not make

general inquiries among the retainers or domestics of Leicester. He learned, however, by indirect questions,

that in all probability Tressilian must have been one of a large party of gentlemen in attendance on the Earl of

Sussex, who had accompanied their patron that morning to Kenilworth, when Leicester had received them

with marks of the most formal respect and distinction. He further learned that both Earls, with their followers,

and many other nobles, knights, and gentlemen, had taken horse, and gone towards Warwick several hours

Her Majesty's arrival, like other great events, was delayed from hour to hour; and it was now announced by a

breathless post that her Majesty, being detained by her gracious desire to receive the homage of her lieges

who had thronged to wait upon her at Warwick, it would be the hour of twilight ere she entered the Castle.

The intelligence released for a time those who were upon duty, in the immediate expectation of the Queen's

appearance, and ready to play their part in the solemnities with which it was to be accompanied; and

Wayland, seeing several horsemen enter the Castle, was not without hopes that Tressilian might be of the

number. That he might not lose an opportunity of meeting his patron in the event of this being the case,

Wayland placed himself in the basecourt of the Castle, near Mortimer's Tower, and watched every one who

went or came by the bridge, the extremity of which was protected by that building. Thus stationed, nobody

could enter or leave the Castle without his observation, and most anxiously did he study the garb and

countenance of every horseman, as, passing from under the opposite Gallerytower, they paced slowly, or

But while Wayland gazed thus eagerly to discover him whom he saw not, he was pulled by the sleeve by one

This was Dickie Sludge, or Flibbertigibbet, who, like the imp whose name he bore, and whom he had been

accoutred in order to resemble, seemed to be ever at the ear of those who thought least of him. Whatever

were Wayland's internal feelings, he judged it necessary to express pleasure at their unexpected meeting.

"Ha! is it thou, my minikinmy miller's thumbmy prince of cacodemonsmy little mouse?"

"Ay," said Dickie, "the mouse which gnawed asunder the toils, just when the lion who was caught in them

"Thy, thou little hopthegutter, thou art as sharp as vinegar this afternoon! But tell me, how didst thou come

off with yonder jolterheaded giant whom I left thee with? I was afraid he would have stripped thy clothes,

"Had he done so," replied the boy, "he would have had more brains in his guts than ever he had in his noddle.

But the giant is a courteous monster, and more grateful than many other folk whom I have helped at a pinch,

"Beshrew me, Flibbertigibbet," replied Wayland, "but thou art sharper than a Sheffield whittle! I would I

"Ay, that is in your own manner," answered Dickie; "you think fine speeches will pass muster instead of

goodwill. However, as to this honest porter, you must know that when we presented ourselves at the gate

yonder, his brain was overburdened with a speech that had been penned for him, and which proved rather an

overmatch for his gigantic faculties. Now this same pithy oration had been indited, like sundry others, by my

learned magister, Erasmus Holiday, so I had heard it often enough to remember every line. As soon as I heard

him blundering and floundering like a fish upon dry land, through the first verse, and perceived him at a

stand, I knew where the shoe pinched, and helped him to the next word, when he caught me up in an ecstasy,

even as you saw but now. I promised, as the price of your admission, to hide me under his bearish gaberdine,

and prompt him in the hour of need. I have just now been getting some food in the Castle, and am about to

"That's rightthat's right, my dear Dickie," replied Wayland; "haste thee, for Heaven's sake! else the poor

giant will be utterly disconsolate for want of his dwarfish auxiliary. Away with thee, Dickie!"

"Ay, ay!" answered the boy"away with Dickie, when we have got what good of him we can. You will not

let me know the story of this lady, then, who is as much sister of thine as I am?"

"Oh, stand ye on these terms?" said the boy. "Well, I care not greatly about the matteronly, I never smell

out a secret but I try to be either at the right or the wrong end of it, and so good evening to ye."

"Nay, but, Dickie," said Wayland, who knew the boy's restless and intriguing disposition too well not to fear

his enmity"stay, my dear Dickiepart not with old friends so shortly! Thou shalt know all I know of the

"Ay!" said Dickie; "and that day may prove a nigh one. Fare thee well, WaylandI will to my largelimbed

friend, who, if he have not so sharp a wit as some folk, is at least more grateful for the service which other

So saying, he cast a somerset through the gateway, and lighting on the bridge, ran with the extraordinary

agility which was one of his distinguishing attributes towards the Gallerytower, and was out of sight in an

"I would to God I were safe out of this Castle again!" prayed Wayland internally; "for now that this

mischievous imp has put his finger in the pie, it cannot but prove a mess fit for the devil's eating. I would to

Tressilian, whom he was thus anxiously expecting in one direction, had returned to Kenilworth by another

access. It was indeed true, as Wayland had conjectured, that in the earlier part of the day he had accompanied

the Earls on their cavalcade towards Warwick, not without hope that he might in that town hear some tidings

of his emissary. Being disappointed in this expectation, and observing Varney amongst Leicester's attendants,

seeming as if he had some purpose of advancing to and addressing him, he conceived, in the present

circumstances, it was wisest to avoid the interview. He, therefore, left the presencechamber when the

HighSheriff of the county was in the very midst of his dutiful address to her Majesty; and mounting his

horse, rode back to Kenilworth by a remote and circuitous road, and entered the Castle by a small sallyport in

the western wall, at which he was readily admitted as one of the followers of the Earl of Sussex, towards

whom Leicester had commanded the utmost courtesy to be exercised. It was thus that he met not Wayland,

who was impatiently watching his arrival, and whom he himself would have been at least equally desirous to

Having delivered his horse to the charge of his attendant, he walked for a space in the Pleasance and in the

garden, rather to indulge in comparative solitude his own reflections, than to admire those singular beauties

of nature and art which the magnificence of Leicester had there assembled. The greater part of the persons of

condition had left the Castle for the present, to form part of the Earl's cavalcade; others, who remained

behind, were on the battlements, outer walls, and towers, eager to view the splendid spectacle of the royal

entry. The garden, therefore, while every other part of the Castle resounded with the human voice, was silent

but for the whispering of the leaves, the emulous warbling of the tenants of a large aviary with their happier

companions who remained denizens of the free air, and the plashing of the fountains, which, forced into the

air from sculptures of fatastic and grotesque forms, fell down with ceaseless sound into the great basins of

The melancholy thoughts of Tressilian cast a gloomy shade on all the objects with which he was surrounded.

He compared the magnificent scenes which he here traversed with the deep woodland and wild moorland

which surrounded Lidcote Hall, and the image of Amy Robsart glided like a phantom through every

landscape which his imagination summoned up. Nothing is perhaps more dangerous to the future happiness

of men of deep thought and retired habits than the entertaining an early, long, and unfortunate attachment. It

frequently sinks so deep into the mind that it becomes their dream by night and their vision by daymixes

itself with every source of interest and enjoyment; and when blighted and withered by final disappointment, it

seems as if the springs of the heart were dried up along with it. This aching of the heart, this languishing after

a shadow which has lost all the gaiety of its colouring, this dwelling on the remembrance of a dream from

which we have been long roughly awakened, is the weakness of a gentle and generous heart, and it was that

He himself at length became sensible of the necessity of forcing other objects upon his mind; and for this

purpose he left the Pleasance, in order to mingle with the noisy crowd upon the walls, and view the

preparation for the pageants. But as he left the garden, and heard the busy hum, mixed with music and

laughter, which floated around him, he felt an uncontrollable reluctance to mix with society whose feelings

were in a tone so different from his own, and resolved, instead of doing so, to retire to the chamber assigned

him, and employ himself in study until the tolling of the great Castle bell should announce the arrival of

Tressilian crossed accordingly by the passage betwixt the immense range of kitchens and the great hall, and

ascended to the third story of Mervyn's Tower, and applying himself to the door of the small apartment which

had been allotted to him, was surprised to find it was locked. He then recollected that the deputy

chamberlain had given him a masterkey, advising him, in the present confused state of the Castle, to keep

his door as much shut as possible. He applied this key to the lock, the bolt revolved, he entered, and in the

same instant saw a female form seated in the apartment, and recognized that form to be, Amy Robsart. His

first idea was that a heated imagination had raised the image on which it doted into visible existence; his

second, that he beheld an apparition; the third and abiding conviction, that it was Amy herself, paler, indeed,

and thinner, than in the days of heedless happiness, when she possessed the form and hue of a woodnymph,

with the beauty of a sylphbut still Amy, unequalled in loveliness by aught which had ever visited his eyes.

The astonishment of the Countess was scarce less than that of Tressilian, although it was of shorter duration,

because she had heard from Wayland that he was in the Castle. She had started up at his first entrance, and

now stood facing him, the paleness of her cheeks having given way to a deep blush.

"Nay, why come you here, Amy," returned Tressilian, "unless it be at length to claim that aid, which, as far as

She was silent a moment, and then answered in a sorrowful rather than an angry tone, "I require no aid,

Tressilian, and would rather be injured than benefited by any which your kindness can offer me. Believe me,

"The villain, then, hath done you the poor justice which remained in his power," said Tressilian, "and I

"The wife of Varney!" she replied, with all the emphasis of scorn. "With what base name, sir, does your

boldness stigmatize thethethe" She hesitated, dropped her tone of scorn, looked down, and was

confused and silent; for she recollected what fatal consequences might attend her completing the sentence

with "the Countess of Leicester," which were the words that had naturally suggested themselves. It would

have been a betrayal of the secret, on which her husband had assured her that his fortunes depended, to

Tressilian, to Sussex, to the Queen, and to the whole assembled court. "Never," she thought, "will I break my

The tears rose to her eyes, as she stood silent before Tressilian; while, looking on her with mingled grief and

pity, he said, "Alas! Amy, your eyes contradict your tongue. That speaks of a protector, willing and able to

watch over you; but these tell me you are ruined, and deserted by the wretch to whom you have attached

She looked on him with eyes in which anger sparkled through her tears, but only repeated the word "wretch!"

"Yes, WRETCH!" said Tressilian; "for were he aught better, why are you here, and alone, in my apartment?

"In your apartment?" repeated Amy"in YOUR apartment? It shall instantly be relieved of my presence."

She hastened towards the door; but the sad recollection of her deserted state at once pressed on her mind, and

pausing on the threshold, she added, in a tone unutterably pathetic, "Alas! I had forgotI know not where to

"I seeI see it all," said Tressilian, springing to her side, and leading her back to the seat, on which she sunk

down. "You DO need aidyou do need protection, though you will not own it; and you shall not need it

long. Leaning on my arm, as the representative of your excellent and brokenhearted father, on the very

threshold of the Castle gate, you shall meet Elizabeth; and the first deed she shall do in the halls of

Kenilworth shall be an act of justice to her sex and her subjects. Strong in my good cause, and in the Queen's

justice, the power of her minion shall not shake my resolution. I will instantly seek Sussex."

"Not for all that is under heaven!" said the Countess, much alarmed, and feeling the absolute necessity of

obtaining time, at least, for consideration. "Tressilian, you were wont to be generous. Grant me one request,

and believe, if it be your wish to save me from misery and from madness, you will do more by making me the

"Ask me anything for which you can allege reason," said Tressilian; "but demand not of me"

"Oh, limit not your boon, dear Edmund!" exclaimed the Countess "you once loved that I should call you

solimit not your boon to reason; for my case is all madness, and frenzy must guide the counsels which

"If you speak thus wildly," said Tressilian, astonishment again overpowering both his grief and his resolution,

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed, sinking on one knee before him, "I am not madI am but a creature unutterably

miserable, and, from circumstances the most singular, dragged on to a precipice by the arm of him who thinks

he is keeping me from iteven by yours, Tressilianby yours, whom I have honoured, respectedall but

There was an energy, a selfpossession, an abandonment in her voice and manner, a total resignation of

herself to his generosity, which, together with the kindness of her expressions to himself, moved him deeply.

"I cannot," she said, "I will not be comforted, till you grant me my request! I will speak as plainly as I dare. I

am now awaiting the commands of one who has a right to issue them. The interference of a third personof

you in especial, Tressilian will be ruinutter ruin to me. Wait but fourandtwenty hours, and it may be

that the poor Amy may have the means to show that she values, and can reward, your disinterested

friendshipthat she is happy herself, and has the means to make you so. It is surely worth your patience, for

Tressilian paused, and weighing in his mind the various probabilities which might render a violent

interference on his part more prejudicial than advantageous, both to the happiness and reputation of Amy;

considering also that she was within the walls of Kenilworth, and could suffer no injury in a castle honoured

with the Queen's residence, and filled with her guards and attendantshe conceived, upon the whole, that he

might render her more evil than good service by intruding upon her his appeal to Elizabeth in her behalf. He

expressed his resolution cautiously, however, doubting naturally whether Amy's hopes of extricating herself

from her difficulties rested on anything stronger than a blinded attachment to Varney, whom he supposed to

"Amy," he said, while he fixed his sad and expressive eyes on hers, which, in her ecstasy of doubt, terror, and

perplexity, she cast up towards him, "I have ever remarked that when others called thee girlish and wilful,

there lay under that external semblance of youthful and selfwilled folly deep feeling and strong sense. In

this I will confide, trusting your own fate in your own hands for the space of twentyfour hours, without my

"Do you promise me this, Tressilian?" said the Countess. "Is it possible you can yet repose so much

confidence in me? Do you promise, as you are a gentleman and a man of honour, to intrude in my matters

neither by speech nor action, whatever you may see or hear that seems to you to demand your interference?

"Then that space is expired," she said, interrupting him, "you are free to act as your judgment shall

"Nothing," said she, "save to leave me,that is, ifI blush to acknowledge my helplessness by asking

"This is most wonderful!" said Tressilian; "what hope or interest can you have in a Castle where you cannot

"Argue not, but leave me," she said; and added, as he slowly and unwillingly retired, "Generous Edmund! the

Tressilian, in strange agitation of mind, had hardly stepped down the first two or three steps of the winding

staircase, when, greatly to his surprise and displeasure, he met Michael Lambourne, wearing an impudent

familiarity of visage, for which Tressilian felt much disposed to throw him downstairs; until he remembered

the prejudice which Amy, the only object of his solicitude, was likely to receive from his engaging in any act

He therefore contented himself with looking sternly upon Lambourne, as upon one whom he deemed

unworthy of notice, and attempted to pass him in his way downstairs, without any symptom of recognition.

But Lambourne, who, amidst the profusion of that day's hospitality, had not failed to take a deep though not

an overpowering cup of sack, was not in the humour of humbling himself before any man's looks. He stopped

Tressilian upon the staircase without the least bashfulness or embarrassment, and addressed him as if he had

been on kind and intimate terms: "What, no grudge between us, I hope, upon old scores, Master

Tressilian?nay, I am one who remembers former kindness rather than latter feud. I'll convince you that I

"I desire none of your intimacy," said Tressilian"keep company with your mates."

"Now, see how hasty he is!" said Lambourne; "and how these gentles, that are made questionless out of the

porcelain clay of the earth, look down upon poor Michael Lambourne! You would take Master Tressilian

now for the most maidlike, modest, simpering squire of dames that ever made love when candles were long

i' the stuffsnuff; call you it? Why, you would play the saint on us, Master Tressilian, and forget that even

now thou hast a commodity in thy very bedchamber, to the shame of my lord's castle, ha! ha! ha! Have I

"I know not what you mean," said Tressilian, inferring, however, too surely, that this licentious ruffian must

have been sensible of Amy's presence in his apartment; 'i but if," he continued, "thou art varlet of the

Lambourne looked at the piece of gold, and put it in his pocket saying, "Now, I know not but you might have

done more with me by a kind word than by this chiming rogue. But after all he pays well that pays with gold;

and Mike Lambourne was never a makebate, or a spoilsport, or the like. E'en live, and let others live, that is

my mottoonly, I would not let some folks cock their beaver at me neither, as if they were made of silver ore,

and I of Dutch pewter. So if I keep your secret, Master Tressilian, you may look sweet on me at least; and

were I to want a little backing or countenance, being caught, as you see the best of us may be, in a sort of

peccadillowhy, you owe it me and so e'en make your chamber serve you and that same bird in bower

"Make way, sir," said Tressilian, unable to bridle his indignation, "you have had your fee."

"Um!" said Lambourne, giving place, however, while he sulkily muttered between his teeth, repeating

Tressilian's words, "Make wayand you have had your fee; but it matters not, I will spoil no sport, as I said

He spoke louder and louder, as Tressilian, by whom he felt himself overawed, got farther and farther out of

"I am no dog in the manger; but I will not carry coals neither mind that, Master Tressilian; and I will have

a peep at this wench whom you have quartered so commodiously in your old haunted roomafraid of

ghosts, belike, and not too willing to sleep alone. If I had done this now in a strange lord's castle, the word

had been, The porter's lodge for the knave! and, have him floggedtrundle him downstairs like a turnip! Ay,

but your virtuous gentlemen take strange privileges over us, who are downright servants of our senses.

WellI have my Master Tressilian's head under my belt by this lucky discovery, that is one thing certain;

Tressilian walked into the outer yard of the Castle scarce knowing what to think of his late strange and most

unexpected interview with Amy Robsart, and dubious if he had done well, being entrusted with the delegated

authority of her father, to pass his word so solemnly to leave her to her own guidance for so many hours. Yet

how could he have denied her requestdependent as she had too probably rendered herself upon Varney?

Such was his natural reasoning. The happiness of her future life might depend upon his not driving her to

extremities; and since no authority of Tressilian's could extricate her from the power of Varney, supposing he

was to acknowledge Amy to be his wife, what title had he to destroy the hope of domestic peace, which

might yet remain to her, by setting enmity betwixt them? Tressilian resolved, therefore, scrupulously to

observe his word pledged to Amy, both because it had been given, and because, as he still thought, while he

considered and reconsidered that extraordinary interview, it could not with justice or propriety have been

In one respect, he had gained much towards securing effectual protection for this unhappy and still beloved

object of his early affection. Amy was no longer mewed up in a distant and solitary retreat under the charge

of persons of doubtful reputation. She was in the Castle of Kenilworth, within the verge of the Royal Court

for the time, free from all risk of violence, and liable to be produced before Elizabeth on the first summons.

These were circumstances which could not but assist greatly the efforts which he might have occasion to use

While he was thus balancing the advantages and perils which attended her unexpected presence in

Kenilworth, Tressilian was hastily and anxiously accosted by Wayland, who, after ejaculating, "Thank God,

your worship is found at last!" proceeded with breathless caution to pour into his ear the intelligence that the

"And is at present in this Castle," said Tressilian. "I know it, and I have seen her. Was it by her own choice

"No," answered Wayland; "but I could think of no other way of safely bestowing her, and was but too happy

to find a deputy usher who knew where you were quarteredin jolly society truly, the hall on the one hand,

"I wot that but too well," said the artist, "for I have felt these three days as if I had a halter round my neck.

This lady knows not her own mindshe will have none of your aidcommands you not to be named to

herand is about to put herself into the hands of my Lord Leicester. I had never got her safe into your

"Is it possible"" said Tressilian. "But she may have hopes the Earl will exert his influence in her favour over

"I know nothing of that," said Wayland; "but I believe, if she is to reconcile herself with either Leicester or

Varney, the side of the Castle of Kenilworth which will be safest for us will be the outside, from which we

can fastest fly away. It is not my purpose to abide an instant after delivery of the letter to Leicester, which

waits but your commands to find its way to him. See, here it isbut noa plague on itI must have left it

"Death and fury!" said Tressilian, transported beyond his usual patience; "thou hast not lost that on which

"Lost it!" answered Wayland readily; "that were a jest indeed! No, sir, I have it carefully put up with my

nightsack, and some matters I have occasion to use; I will fetch it in an instant."

"Do so," said Tressilian; "be faithful, and thou shalt be well rewarded. But if I have reason to suspect thee, a

Wayland bowed, and took his leave with seeming confidence and alacrity, but, in fact, filled with the utmost

dread and confusion. The letter was lost, that was certain, notwithstanding the apology which he had made to

appease the impatient displeasure of Tressilian. It was lostit might fall into wrong handsit would then

certainly occasion a discovery of the whole intrigue in which he had been engaged; nor, indeed, did Wayland

see much prospect of its remaining concealed, in any event. He felt much hurt, besides, at Tressilian's burst of

"Nay, if I am to be paid in this coin for services where my neck is concerned, it is time I should look to

myself. Here have I offended, for aught I know, to the death, the lord of this stately castle, whose word were

as powerful to take away my life as the breath which speaks it to blow out a farthing candle. And all this for a

mad lady, and a melancholy gallant, who, on the loss of a fournooked bit of paper, has his hand on his

poignado, and swears death and fury!Then there is the Doctor and Varney. I will save myself from the

whole mess of them. Life is dearer than gold. I will fly this instant, though I leave my reward behind me."

These reflections naturally enough occurred to a mind like Wayland's, who found himself engaged far deeper

than he had expected in a train of mysterious and unintelligible intrigues, in which the actors seemed hardly

to know their own course. And yet, to do him justice, his personal fears were, in some degree,

"I care not a groat for Master Tressilian," he said; "I have done more than bargain by him, and I have brought

his errantdamosel within his reach, so that he may look after her himself. But I fear the poor thing is in

much danger amongst these stormy spirits. I will to her chamber, and tell her the fate which has befallen her

letter, that she may write another if she list. She cannot lack a messenger, I trow, where there are so many

lackeys that can carry a letter to their lord. And I will tell her also that I leave the Castle, trusting her to God,

her own guidance, and Master Tressilian's care and looking after. Perhaps she may remember the ring she

offered meit was well earned, I trow; but she is a lovely creature, andmarry hang the ring! I will not

bear a base spirit for the matter. If I fare ill in this world for my goodnature, I shall have better chance in the

With the stealthy step and jealous eye of the cat that steals on her prey, Wayland resumed the way to the

Countess's chamber, sliding along by the side of the courts and passages, alike observant of all around him,

and studious himself to escape observation. In this manner he crossed the outward and inward Castle yard,

and the great arched passage, which, running betwixt the range of kitchen offices and the hall, led to the

bottom of the little windingstair that gave access to the chambers of Mervyn's Tower.

The artist congratulated himself on having escaped the various perils of his journey, and was in the act of

ascending by two steps at once, when he observed that the shadow of a man, thrown from a door which stood

ajar, darkened the opposite wall of the staircase. Wayland drew back cautiously, went down to the inner

courtyard, spent about a quarter of an hour, which seemed at least quadruple its usual duration, in walking

from place to place, and then returned to the tower, in hopes to find that the lurker had disappeared. He

ascended as high as the suspicious spotthere was no shadow on the wall; he ascended a few yards

fartherthe door was still ajar, and he was doubtful whether to advance or retreat, when it was suddenly

thrown wide open, and Michael Lambourne bolted out upon the astonished Wayland. "Who the devil art

thou? and what seekest thou in this part of the Castle? march into that chamber, and be hanged to thee!"

"I am no dog, to go at every man's whistle," said the artist, affecting a confidence which was belied by a timid

A huge, illmade and illlooked fellow, upwards of six feet high, appeared at the door, and Lambourne

proceeded: "If thou be'st so fond of this tower, my friend, thou shalt see its foundations, good twelve feet

below the bed of the lake, and tenanted by certain jolly toads, snakes, and so forth, which thou wilt find

mighty good company. Therefore, once more I ask you in fair play, who thou art, and what thou seekest

"If the dungeongrate once clashes behind me," thought Wayland, "I am a gone man." He therefore answered

submissively, "He was the poor juggler whom his honour had met yesterday in Weatherly Bottom."

"And what juggling trick art thou playing in this tower? Thy gang," said Lambourne, "lie over against

"I came here to see my sister," said the juggler, "who is in Master Tressilian's chamber, just above."

"Aha!" said Lambourne, smiling, "here be truths! Upon my honour, for a stranger, this same Master

Tressilian makes himself at home among us, and furnishes out his cell handsomely, with all sorts of

commodities. This will be a precious tale of the sainted Master Tressilian, and will be welcome to some

folks, as a purse of broad pieces to me.Hark ye, fellow," he continued, addressing Wayland, "thou shalt not

give Puss a hint to steal away we must catch her in her form. So, back with that pitiful sheepbiting visage of

thine, or I will fling thee from the window of the tower, and try if your juggling skill can save your bones."

"Your worship will not be so hardhearted, I trust," said Wayland; "poor folk must live. I trust your honour

"Sister on Adam's side, I warrant," said Lambourne; "or, if otherwise, the more knave thou. But sister or no

sister. thou diest on point of fox, if thou comest aprying to this tower once more. And now I think of

ituds daggers and death!I will see thee out of the Castle, for this is a more main concern than thy

"But, please your worship," said Wayland, "I am to enact Arion in the pageant upon the lake this very

"I will act it myself by Saint Christopher!" said Lambourne. "Orion, callest thou him?I will act Orion, his

belt and his seven stars to boot. Come along, for a rascal knave as thou art follow me! Or stayLawrence,

Lawrence seized by the collar of the cloak the unresisting juggler; while Lambourne, with hasty steps, led the

way to that same sallyport, or secret postern, by which Tressilian had returned to the Castle, and which

While traversing with a rapid foot the space betwixt the tower and the sallyport, Wayland in vain racked his

brain for some device which might avail the poor lady, for whom, notwithstanding his own imminent danger,

he felt deep interest. But when he was thrust out of the Castle, and informed by Lambourne, with a

tremendous oath, that instant death would be the consequence of his again approaching it, he cast up his

hands and eyes to heaven, as if to call God to witness he had stood to the uttermost in defence of the

oppressed; then turned his back on the proud towers of Kenilworth, and went his way to seek a humbler and

Lawrence and Lambourne gazed a little while after Wayland, and then turned to go back to their tower, when

the former thus addressed his companion: "Never credit me, Master Lambourne, if I can guess why thou hast

driven this poor caitiff from the Castle, just when he was to bear a part in the show that was beginning, and

"Ah, Lawrence," replied Lambourne, "thou art thinking of Black Joan Jugges of Slingdon, and hast sympathy

with human frailty. But, corragio, most noble Duke of the Dungeon and Lord of Limbo, for thou art as dark

in this matter as thine own dominions of Littleease. My most reverend Signior of the Low Countries of

Kenilworth, know that our most notable master, Richard Varney, would give as much to have a hole in this

same Tressilian's coat, as would make us some fifty midnight carousals, with the full leave of bidding the

"Nay, an that be the case, thou hast right," said Lawrence Staples, the upperwarder, or, in common phrase,

the first jailer, of Kenilworth Castle, and of the Liberty and Honour belonging thereto. "But how will you

manage when you are absent at the Queen's entrance, Master Lambourne; for methinks thou must attend thy

"Why thou, mine honest prince of prisons, must keep ward in my absence. Let Tressilian enter if he will, but

see thou let no one come out. If the damsel herself would make a break, as 'tis not unlike she may, scare her

"Nay for that matter," said Lawrence, "I might shut the iron wicket upon her that stands without the double

door, and so force per force she will be bound to her answer without more trouble."

"Then Tressilian will not get access to her," said Lambourne, reflecting a moment. "But 'tis no matter; she

will be detected in his chamber, and that is all one. But confess, thou old bat'seyed dungeonkeeper, that

"Why, as to fear, Master Lambourne," said the fellow, "I mind it not the turning of a key; but strange things

have been heard and seen in that tower. You must have heard, for as short time as you have been in

Kenilworth, that it is haunted by the spirit of Arthur ap Mervyn, a wild chief taken by fierce Lord Mortimer

when he was one of the Lords Marchers of Wales, and murdered, as they say, in that same tower which bears

"Oh, I have heard the tale five hundred times," said Lambourne, "and how the ghost is always most

vociferous when they boil leeks and stirabout, or fry toasted cheese, in the culinary regions. Santo Diavolo,

"Ay, but thou dost not, though," said the turnkey, " for as wise as thou wouldst make thyself. Ah, it is an

awful thing to murder a prisoner in his ward!you that may have given a man a stab in a dark street know

nothing of it. To give a mutinous fellow a knock on the head with the keys, and bid him be quiet, that's what I

call keeping order in the ward; but to draw weapon and slay him, as was done to this Welsh lord, THAT

raises you a ghost that will render your prisonhouse untenantable by any decent captive for some hundred

years. And I have that regard for my prisoners, poor things, that I have put good squires and men of worship,

that have taken a ride on the highway, or slandered my Lord of Leicester, or the like, fifty feet under ground,

rather than I would put them into that upper chamber yonder that they call Mervyn's Bower. Indeed, by good

Saint Peter of the Fetters, I marvel my noble lord, or Master Varney, could think of lodging guests there; and

if this Master Tressilian could get any one to keep him company, and in especial a pretty wench, why, truly, I

"I tell thee," said Lambourne, leading the way into the turnkey's apartment, "thou art an ass. Go bolt the

wicket on the stair, and trouble not thy noddle about ghosts. Give me the wine stoup, man; I am somewhat

While Lambourne drew a long draught from a pitcher of claret, which he made use of without any cup, the

"Thou hast been few hours in this Castle, and hast been for the whole space so drunk, Lambourne, that thou

art deaf, dumb, and blind. But we should hear less of your bragging were you to pass a night with us at full

moon; for then the ghost is busiest, and more especially when a rattling wind sets in from the northwest,

with some sprinkling of rain, and now and then a growl of thunder. Body o' me, what crackings and

clashings, what groanings and what howlings, will there be at such times in Mervyn's Bower, right as it were

over our heads, till the matter of two quarts of distilled waters has not been enough to keep my lads and me in

"Pshaw, man!" replied Lambourne, on whom his last draught, joined to repeated visitations of the pitcher

upon former occasions, began to make some innovation, "thou speakest thou knowest not what about spirits.

No one knows justly what to say about them; and, in short, least said may in that matter be soonest amended.

Some men believe in one thing, some in another it is all matter of fancy. I have known them of all sorts,

my dear Lawrence Lockthedoor, and sensible men too. There's a great lordwe'll pass his name,

Lawrencehe believes in the stars and the moon, the planets and their courses, and so forth, and that they

twinkle exclusively for his benefit, when in sober, or rather in drunken truth, Lawrence, they are only shining

to keep honest fellows like me out of the kennel. Well, sir, let his humour pass; he is great enough to indulge

it. Then, look ye, there is anothera very learned man, I promise you, and can vent Greek and Hebrew as

fast as I can Thieves' Latin he has an humour of sympathies and antipathiesof changing lead into gold, and

the like; why, via, let that pass too, and let him pay those in transmigrated coin who are fools enough to let it

be current with them. Then here comest thou thyself, another great man, though neither learned nor noble, yet

full six feet high, and thou, like a purblind mole, must needs believe in ghosts and goblins, and such like.

Now, there is, besides, a great man that is, a great little man, or a little great man, my dear Lawrenceand

his name begins with V, and what believes he? Why, nothing, honest Lawrencenothing in earth, heaven, or

hell; and for my part, if I believe there is a devil, it is only because I think there must be some one to catch

our aforesaid friend by the back 'when soul and body sever,' as the ballad says; for your antecedent will have

a consequentRARO ANTECEDENTEM, as Doctor Bircham was wont to say. But this is Greek to you

now, honest Lawrence, and in sooth learning is dry work. Hand me the pitcher once more."

"In faith, if you drink more, Michael," said the warder, "you will be in sorry case either to play Arion or to

wait on your master on such a solemn night; and I expect each moment to hear the great bell toll for the

While Staples remonstrated, Lambourne drank; and then setting down the pitcher, which was nearly emptied,

with a deep sigh, he said, in an undertone, which soon rose to a high one as his speech proceeded, "Never

mind, Lawrence; if I be drunk, I know that shall make Varney uphold me sober. But, as I said, never mind; I

can carry my drink discreetly. Moreover, I am to go on the water as Orion, and shall take cold unless I take

something comfortable beforehand. Not play Orion? Let us see the best roarer that ever strained his lungs for

twelve pence outmouth me! What if they see me a little disguised? Wherefore should any man be sober

tonight? answer me that. It is matter of loyalty to be merry; and I tell thee there are those in the Castle who,

if they are not merry when drunk, have little chance to be merry when soberI name no names, Lawrence.

But your pottle of sack is a fine shoeinghorn to pull on a loyal humour, and a merry one. Huzza for Queen

Elizabeth!for the noble Leicester!for the worshipful Master Varney!and for Michael Lambourne, that

The warder looked after him, shook his head, and while he drew close and locked a wicket, which, crossing

the staircase, rendered it impossible for any one to ascend higher than the story immediately beneath

Mervyn's Bower, as Tressilian's chamber was named, he thus soliloquized with himself"It's a good thing to

be a favourite. I wellnigh lost mine office, because one frosty morning Master Varney thought I smelled of

aqua vitae; and this fellow can appear before him drunk as a wineskin, and yet meet no rebuke. But then he is

a pestilent clever fellow withal, and no one can understand above one half of what he says."

Tressilian, when Wayland had left him, as mentioned in the last chapter, remained uncertain what he ought

next to do, when Raleigh and Blount came up to him arm in arm, yet, according to their wont, very eagerly

disputing together. Tressilian had no great desire for their society in the present state of his feelings, but there

was no possibility of avoiding them; and indeed he felt that, bound by his promise not to approach Amy, or

take any step in her behalf, it would be his best course at once to mix with general society, and to exhibit on

his brow as little as he could of the anguish and uncertainty which sat heavy at his heart. He therefore made a

virtue of necessity, and hailed his comrades with, "All mirth to you, gentlemen! Whence come ye?"

"From Warwick, to be sure," said Blount; "we must needs home to change our habits, like poor players, who

are fain to multiply their persons to outward appearance by change of suits; and you had better do the like,

"Blount is right," said Raleigh; "the Queen loves such marks of deference, and notices, as wanting in respect,

those who, not arriving in her immediate attendance, may appear in their soiled and ruffled ridingdress. But

look at Blount himself, Tressilian, for the love of laughter, and see how his villainous tailor hath apparelled

himin blue, green, and crimson, with carnation ribbons, and yellow roses in his shoes!"

"Why, what wouldst thou have?" said Blount. "I told the cross legged thief to do his best, and spare no cost;

and methinks these things are gay enoughgayer than thine own. I'll be judged by Tressilian."

"I agreeI agree," said Walter Raleigh. "Judge betwixt us, Tressilian, for the love of heaven!"

Tressilian, thus appealed to, looked at them both, and was immediately sensible at a single glance that honest

Blount had taken upon the tailor's warrant the pied garments which he had chosen to make, and was as much

embarrassed by the quantity of points and ribbons which garnished his dress, as a clown is in his holiday

clothes; while the dress of Raleigh was a well fancied and rich suit, which the wearer bore as a garb too well

adapted to his elegant person to attract particular attention. Tressilian said, therefore, "That Blount's dress

Blount was satisfied with his decision. "I knew mine was finest," he said; "if that knave Doublestitch had

brought me home such a simple doublet as that of Raleigh's, I would have beat his brains out with his own

pressingiron. Nay, if we must be fools, ever let us be fools of the first head, say I."

"I am excluded from my apartment by a silly mistake," said Tressilian, "and separated for the time from my

"And welcome," said Raleigh; "it is a noble one. My Lord of Leicester has done us that kindness, and lodged

us in princely fashion. If his courtesy be extorted reluctantly, it is at least extended far. I would advise you to

"Nay, it is not worth while, since you can spare me room," replied Tressilian"I would not be troublesome.

"Oh, ay," said Blount; "Varney and a whole tribe of Leicestrians, besides about a score of us honest Sussex

folk. We are all, it seems, to receive the Queen at what they call the Gallerytower, and witness some

fooleries there; and then we're to remain in attendance upon the Queen in the Great HallGod bless the

mark! while those who are now waiting upon her Grace get rid of their slough, and doff their ridingsuits.

Heaven help me, if her Grace should speak to me, I shall never know what to answer!"

"And what has detained them so long at Warwick?" said Tressilian, unwilling that their conversation should

"Such a succession of fooleries," said Blount, "as were never seen at Bartholomewfair. We have had

speeches and players, and dogs and bears, and men making monkeys and women moppets of themselvesI

marvel the Queen could endure it. But ever and anon came in something of 'the lovely light of her gracious

countenance,' or some such trash. Ah! vanity makes a fool of the wisest. But come, let us on to this same

Gallerytower though I see not what thou Tressilian, canst do with thy riding dress and boots."

"I will take my station behind thee, Blount," said Tressilian, who saw that his friend's unusual finery had

taken a strong hold of his imagination; "thy goodly size and gay dress will cover my defects."

"And so thou shalt, Edmund," said Blount. "In faith I am glad thou thinkest my garb wellfancied, for all Mr.

Wittypate here; for when one does a foolish thing, it is right to do it handsomely."

So saying, Blount cocked his beaver, threw out his leg, and marched manfully forward, as if at the head of his

brigade of pikemen, ever and anon looking with complaisance on his crimson stockings, and the huge yellow

roses which blossomed on his shoes. Tressilian followed, wrapt in his own sad thoughts, and scarce minding

Raleigh, whose quick fancy, amused by the awkward vanity of his respectable friend, vented itself in jests,

In this manner they crossed the long bridge, or tiltyard, and took their station, with other gentlemen of

quality, before the outer gate of the Gallery, or Entrancetower. The whole amounted to about forty persons,

all selected as of the first rank under that of knighthood, and were disposed in double rows on either side of

the gate, like a guard of honour, within the close hedge of pikes and partisans which was formed by

Leicester's retainers, wearing his liveries. The gentlemen carried no arms save their swords and daggers.

These gallants were as gaily dressed as imagination could devise; and as the garb of the time permitted a

great display of expensive magnificence, nought was to be seen but velvet and cloth of gold and silver,

ribbons, leathers, gems, and golden chains. In spite of his more serious subjects of distress, Tressilian could

not help feeling that he, with his ridingsuit, however handsome it might be, made rather an unworthy figure

among these "fierce vanities," and the rather because he saw that his deshabille was the subject of wonder

We could not suppress this fact, though it may seem something at variance with the gravity of Tressilian's

character; but the truth is, that a regard for personal appearance is a species of selflove, from which the

wisest are not exempt, and to which the mind clings so instinctively that not only the soldier advancing to

almost inevitable death, but even the doomed criminal who goes to certain execution, shows an anxiety to

It was the twilight of a summer night (9th July, 1575), the sun having for some time set, and all were in

anxious expectation of the Queen's immediate approach. The multitude had remained assembled for many

hours, and their numbers were still rather on the increase. A profuse distribution of refreshments, together

with roasted oxen, and barrels of ale set abroach in different places of the road, had kept the populace in

perfect love and loyalty towards the Queen and her favourite, which might have somewhat abated had fasting

been added to watching. They passed away the time, therefore, with the usual popular amusements of

whooping, hallooing, shrieking, and playing rude tricks upon each other, forming the chorus of discordant

sounds usual on such occasions. These prevailed all through the crowded roads and fields, and especially

beyond the gate of the Chase, where the greater number of the common sort were stationed; when, all of a

sudden, a single rocket was seen to shoot into the atmosphere, and, at the instant, far heard over flood and

Immediately there was a pause of dead silence, succeeded by a deep hum of expectation, the united voice of

many thousands, none of whom spoke above their breathor, to use a singular expression, the whisper of an

"They come now, for certain," said Raleigh. "Tressilian, that sound is grand. We hear it from this distance as

mariners, after a long voyage, hear, upon their nightwatch, the tide rush upon some distant and unknown

"Mass!" answered Blount, "I hear it rather as I used to hear mine own kine lowing from the close of

"He will assuredly graze presently," said Raleigh to Tressilian; "his thought is all of fat oxen and fertile

meadows. He grows little better than one of his own beeves, and only becomes grand when he is provoked to

"We shall have him at that presently," said Tressilian, "if you spare not your wit."

"Tush, I care not," answered Raleigh; "but thou too, Tressilian, hast turned a kind of owl, that flies only by

nighthast exchanged thy songs for screechings, and good company for an ivy tod."

"But what manner of animal art thou thyself, Raleigh," said Tressilian, "that thou holdest us all so lightly?"

"WhoI?" replied Raleigh. "An eagle am I, that never will think of dull earth while there is a heaven to soar

"Well bragged, by Saint Barnaby!" said Blount; "but, good Master Eagle, beware the cage, and beware the

fowler. Many birds have flown as high that I have seen stuffed with straw and hung up to scare kites.But

"The procession pauses," said Raleigh, "at the gate of the Chase, where a sibyl, one of the FATIDICAE,

meets the Queen, to tell her fortune. I saw the verses; there is little savour in them, and her Grace has been

already crammed full with such poetical compliments. She whispered to me, during the Recorder's speech

yonder, at Fordmill, as she entered the liberties of Warwick, how she was 'PERTAESA BARBARAE

"The Queen whispered to HIM!" said Blount, in a kind of soliloquy; "Good God, to what will this world

His further meditations were interrupted by a shout of applause from the multitude, so tremendously

vociferous that the country echoed for miles round. The guards, thickly stationed upon the road by which the

Queen was to advance, caught up the acclamation, which ran like wildfire to the Castle, and announced to all

within that Queen Elizabeth had entered the Royal Chase of Kenilworth. The whole music of the Castle

sounded at once, and a round of artillery, with a salvo of small arms, was discharged from the battlements;

but the noise of drums and trumpets, and even of the cannon themselves, was but faintly heard amidst the

As the noise began to abate, a broad glare of light was seen to appear from the gate of the Park, and

broadening and brightening as it came nearer, advanced along the open and fair avenue that led towards the

Gallerytower; and which, as we have already noticed, was lined on either hand by the retainers of the Earl

of Leicester. The word was passed along the line, "The Queen! The Queen! Silence, and stand fast!" Onward

came the cavalcade, illuminated by two hundred thick waxen torches, in the hands of as many horsemen,

which cast a light like that of broad day all around the procession, but especially on the principal group, of

which the Queen herself, arrayed in the most splendid manner, and blazing with jewels, formed the central

figure. She was mounted on a milkwhite horse, which she reined with peculiar grace and dignity; and in the

whole of her stately and noble carriage you saw the daughter of an hundred kings.

The ladies of the court, who rode beside her Majesty, had taken especial care that their own external

appearance should not be more glorious than their rank and the occasion altogether demanded, so that no

inferior luminary might appear to approach the orbit of royalty. But their personal charms, and the

magnificence by which, under every prudential restraint, they were necessarily distinguished, exhibited them

as the very flower of a realm so far famed for splendour and beauty. The magnificence of the courtiers, free

Leicester, who glittered like a golden image with jewels and cloth of gold, rode on her Majesty's right hand,

as well in quality of her host as of her master of the horse. The black steed which he mounted had not a single

white hair on his body, and was one of the most renowned chargers in Europe, having been purchased by the

Earl at large expense for this royal occasion. As the noble animal chafed at the slow pace of the procession,

and, arching his stately neck, champed on the silver bits which restrained him, the foam flew from his mouth,

and speckled his wellformed limbs as if with spots of snow. The rider well became the high place which he

held, and the proud steed which he bestrode; for no man in England, or perhaps in Europe, was more perfect

than Dudley in horsemanship, and all other exercises belonging to his quality. He was bareheaded as were all

the courtiers in the train; and the red torchlight shone upon his long, curled tresses of dark hair, and on his

noble features, to the beauty of which even the severest criticism could only object the lordly fault, as it may

be termed, of a forehead somewhat too high. On that proud evening those features wore all the grateful

solicitude of a subject, to show himself sensible of the high honour which the Queen was conferring on him,

and all the pride and satisfaction which became so glorious a moment. Yet, though neither eye nor feature

betrayed aught but feelings which suited the occasion, some of the Earl's personal attendants remarked that he

was unusually pale, and they expressed to each other their fear that he was taking more fatigue than consisted

Varney followed close behind his master, as the principal esquire in waiting, and had charge of his lordship's

black velvet bonnet, garnished with a clasp of diamonds and surmounted by a white plume. He kept his eye

constantly on his master, and, for reasons with which the reader is not unacquainted, was, among Leicester's

numerous dependants, the one who was most anxious that his lord's strength and resolution should carry him

successfully through a day so agitating. For although Varney was one of the few, the very few moral

monsters who contrive to lull to sleep the remorse of their own bosoms, and are drugged into moral

insensibility by atheism, as men in extreme agony are lulled by opium, yet he knew that in the breast of his

patron there was already awakened the fire that is never quenched, and that his lord felt, amid all the pomp

and magnificence we have described, the gnawing of the worm that dieth not. Still, however, assured as Lord

Leicester stood, by Varney's own intelligence, that his Countess laboured under an indisposition which

formed an unanswerable apology to the Queen for her not appearing at Kenilworth, there was little danger,

his wily retainer thought, that a man so ambitious would betray himself by giving way to any external

The train, male and female, who attended immediately upon the Queen's person, were, of course, of the

bravest and the fairest the highest born nobles, and the wisest counsellors, of that distinguished reign, to

repeat whose names were but to weary the reader. Behind came a long crowd of knights and gentlemen,

whose rank and birth, however distinguished, were thrown into shade, as their persons into the rear of a

Thus marshalled, the cavalcade approached the Gallerytower, which formed, as we have often observed, the

It was now the part of the huge porter to step forward; but the lubbard was so overwhelmed with confusion of

spiritthe contents of one immense black jack of double ale, which he had just drunk to quicken his

memory, having treacherously confused the brain it was intended to clearthat he only groaned piteously,

and remained sitting on his stone seat; and the Queen would have passed on without greeting, had not the

gigantic warder's secret ally, Flibbertigibbet, who lay perdue behind him, thrust a pin into the rear of the short

The porter uttered a sort of yell, which came not amiss into his part, started up with his club, and dealt a

sound douse or two on each side of him; and then, like a coachhorse pricked by the spur, started off at once

into the full career of his address, and by dint of active prompting on the part of Dickie Sludge, delivered, in

sounds of gigantic intonation, a speech which may be thus abridgedthe reader being to suppose that the

first lines were addressed to the throng who approached the gateway; the conclusion, at the approach of the

Queen, upon sight of whom, as struck by some heavenly vision, the gigantic warder dropped his club,

resigned his keys, and gave open way to the Goddess of the night, and all her magnificent train.

"What stir, what turmoil, have we for the nones? Stand back, my masters, or beware your bones! Sirs, I'm a

Yet softnay, staywhat vision have we here? What dainty darling's thiswhat peerless peer? What

loveliest face, that loving ranks unfold, Like brightest diamond chased in purest gold? Dazzled and blind,

mine office I forsake, My club, my key, my knee, my homage take. Bright paragon, pass on in joy and

[This is an imitation of Gascoigne's verses spoken by the Herculean porter, as mentioned in the text. The

original may be found in the republication of the Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth, by the same author, in the

Elizabeth received most graciously the homage of the Herculean porter, and, bending her head to him in

requital, passed through his guarded tower, from the top of which was poured a clamorous blast of warlike

music, which was replied to by other bands of minstrelsy placed at different points on the Castle walls, and

by others again stationed in the Chase; while the tones of the one, as they yet vibrated on the echoes, were

Amidst these bursts of music, which, as if the work of enchantment, seemed now close at hand, now softened

by distant space, now wailing so low and sweet as if that distance were gradually prolonged until only the last

lingering strains could reach the ear, Queen Elizabeth crossed the Gallerytower, and came upon the long

bridge, which extended from thence to Mortimer's Tower, and which was already as light as day, so many

torches had been fastened to the palisades on either side. Most of the nobles here alighted, and sent their

horses to the neighbouring village of Kenilworth, following the Queen on foot, as did the gentlemen who had

On this occasion, as at different times during the evening, Raleigh addressed himself to Tressilian, and was

not a little surprised at his vague and unsatisfactory answers; which, joined to his leaving his apartment

without any assigned reason, appearing in an undress when it was likely to be offensive to the Queen, and

some other symptoms of irregularity which he thought he discovered, led him to doubt whether his friend did

Meanwhile, the Queen had no sooner stepped on the bridge than a new spectacle was provided; for as soon as

the music gave signal that she was so far advanced, a raft, so disposed as to resemble a small floating island,

illuminated by a great variety of torches, and surrounded by floating pageants formed to represent

seahorses, on which sat Tritons, Nereids, and other fabulous deities of the seas and rivers, made its

appearance upon the lake, and issuing from behind a small heronry where it had been concealed, floated

On the islet appeared a beautiful woman, clad in a watchet coloured silken mantle, bound with a broad

girdle inscribed with characters like the phylacteries of the Hebrews. Her feet and arms were bare, but her

wrists and ankles were adorned with gold bracelets of uncommon size. Amidst her long, silky black hair she

wore a crown or chaplet of artificial mistletoe, and bore in her hand a rod of ebony tipped with silver. Two

The pageant was so well managed that this Lady of the Floating Island, having performed her voyage with

much picturesque effect, landed at Mortimer's Tower with her two attendants just as Elizabeth presented

herself before that outwork. The stranger then, in a wellpenned speech, announced herself as that famous

Lady of the Lake renowned in the stories of King Arthur, who had nursed the youth of the redoubted Sir

Lancelot, and whose beauty 'had proved too powerful both for the wisdom and the spells of the mighty

Merlin. Since that early period she had remained possessed of her crystal dominions, she said, despite the

various men of fame and might by whom Kenilworth had been successively tenanted. 'The Saxons, the

Danes, the Normans, the Saintlowes, the Clintons, the Montforts, the Mortimers, the Plantagenets, great

though they were in arms and magnificence, had never, she said, caused her to raise her head from the waters

which hid her crystal palace. But a greater than all these great names had now appeared, and she came in

homage and duty to welcome the peerless Elizabeth to all sport which the Castle and its environs, which lake

The Queen received this address also with great courtesy, and made answer in raillery, "We thought this lake

had belonged to our own dominions, fair dame; but since so famed a lady claims it for hers, we will be glad at

some other time to have further communing with you touching our joint interests."

With this gracious answer the Lady of the Lake vanished, and Arion, who was amongst the maritime deities,

appeared upon his dolphin. But Lambourne, who had taken upon him the part in the absence of Wayland,

being chilled with remaining immersed in an element to which he was not friendly, having never got his

speech by heart, and not having, like the porter, the advantage of a prompter, paid it off with impudence,

tearing off his vizard, and swearing, "Cogs bones! he was none of Arion or Orion either, but honest Mike

Lambourne, that had been drinking her Majesty's health from morning till midnight, and was come to bid her

This unpremeditated buffoonery answered the purpose probably better than the set speech would have done.

The Queen laughed heartily, and swore (in her turn) that he had made the best speech she had heard that day.

Lambourne, who instantly saw his jest had saved his bones, jumped on shore, gave his dolphin a kick, and

At the same time that the Queen was about to enter the Castle, that memorable discharge of fireworks by

water and land took place, which Master Laneham, formerly introduced to the reader, has strained all his

"Such," says the Clerk of the Councilchamber door "was the blaze of burning darts, the gleams of stars

coruscant, the streams and hail of fiery sparks, lightnings of wildfire, and flightshot of thunderbolts, with

continuance, terror, and vehemency, that the heavens thundered, the waters surged, and the earth shook; and

[See Laneham's Account of the Queen's Entertainment at Killingworth Castle, in 1575, a very diverting tract,

written by as great a coxcomb as ever blotted paper. [See Note 6] The original is extremely rare, but it has

been twice reprinted; once in Mr. Nichols's very curious and interesting collection of the Progresses and

Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, vol.i. and more lately in a beautiful antiquarian publication, termed

KENILWORTH ILLUSTRATED, printed at Chiswick, for Meridew of Coventry and Radcliffe of

Birmingham. It contains reprints of Laneham's Letter, Gascoigne's PrinceIy Progress, and other scarce pieces,

annotated with accuracy and ability. The author takes the liberty to refer to this work as his authority for the

I am indebted for a curious groundplan of the Castle of Kenilworth, as it existed in Queen Elizabeth's time,

to the voluntary kindness of Richard Badnall Esq. of Olivebank, near Liverpool. From his obliging

communication, I learn that the original sketch was found among the manuscripts of the celebrated J. J.

Rousseau, when he left England. These were entrusted by the philosopher to the care of his friend Mr.

It is by no means our purpose to detail minutely all the princely festivities of Kenilworth, after the fashion of

Master Robert Laneham, whom we quoted in the conclusion of the last chapter. It is sufficient to say that

under discharge of the splendid fireworks, which we have borrowed Laneham's eloquence to describe, the

Queen entered the basecourt of Kenilworth, through Mortimer's Tower, and moving on through pageants of

heathen gods and heroes of antiquity, who offered gifts and compliments on the bended knee, at length found

her way to the Great Hall of the Castle, gorgeously hung for her reception with the richest silken tapestry,

misty with perfumes, and sounding to strains of soft and delicious music. From the highlycarved oaken roof

hung a superb chandelier of gilt bronze, formed like a spread eagle, whose outstretched wings supported three

male and three female figures, grasping a pair of branches in each hand. The Hall was thus illuminated by

twentyfour torches of wax. At the upper end of the splendid apartment was a state canopy, overshadowing a

royal throne, and beside it was a door, which opened to a long suite of apartments, decorated with the utmost

magnificence for the Queen and her ladies, whenever it should be her pleasure to be private.

The Earl of Leicester having handed the Queen up to her throne, and seated her there, knelt down before her,

and kissing the hand which she held out, with an air in which romantic and respectful gallantry was happily

mingled with the air of loyal devotion, he thanked her, in terms of the deepest gratitude, for the highest

honour which a sovereign could render to a subject. So handsome did he look when kneeling before her, that

Elizabeth was tempted to prolong the scene a little longer than there was, strictly speaking, necessity for; and

ere she raised him, she passed her hand over his head, so near as almost to touch his long, curled, and

perfumed hair, and with a movement of fondness that seemed to intimate she would, if she dared, have made

[To justify what may be considered as a highcoloured picture, the author quotes the original of the courtly

and shrewd Sir James Melville, being then Queen Mary's envoy at the court of London.

"I was required," says Sir James, "to stay till I had seen him made Earle of Leicester, and Baron of Denbigh,

with great solemnity; herself (Elizabeth) helping to put on his ceremonial, he sitting on his knees before her,

keeping a great gravity and a discreet behaviour; but she could not refrain from putting her hand to his neck

to kittle (i.e., tickle) him, smilingly, the French Ambassador and I standing beside her."MELVILLE'S

She at length raised him, and standing beside the throne, he explained to her the various preparations which

had been made for her amusement and accommodation, all of which received her prompt and gracious

approbation. The Earl then prayed her Majesty for permission that he himself, and the nobles who had been

in attendance upon her during the journey, might retire for a few minutes, and put themselves into a guise

more fitting for dutiful attendance, during which space those gentlemen of worship (pointing to Varney,

Blount, Tressilian, and others), who had already put themselves into fresh attire, would have the honour of

"Be it so, my lord," answered the Queen; "you could manage a theatre well, who can thus command a double

set of actors. For ourselves, we will receive your courtesies this evening but clownishly, since it is not our

purpose to change our riding attire, being in effect something fatigued with a journey which the concourse of

our good people hath rendered slow, though the love they have shown our person hath, at the same time,

Leicester, having received this permission, retired accordingly, and was followed by those nobles who had

attended the Queen to Kenilworth in person. The gentlemen who had preceded them, and were, of course,

dressed for the solemnity, remained in attendance. But being most of them of rather inferior rank, they

remained at an awful distance from the throne which Elizabeth occupied. The Queen's sharp eye soon

distinguished Raleigh amongst them, with one or two others who were personally known to her, and she

instantly made them a sign to approach, and accosted them very graciously. Raleigh, in particular, the

adventure of whose cloak, as well as the incident of the verses, remained on her mind, was very graciously

received; and to him she most frequently applied for information concerning the names and rank of those who

were in presence. These he communicated concisely, and not without some traits of humorous satire, by

which Elizabeth seemed much amused. "And who is yonder clownish fellow?" she said, looking at Tressilian,

"I might have guessed that from his careless garb," said Elizabeth. "I have known some poets so thoughtless

"It must have been when the sun dazzled both their eyes and their judgment," answered Raleigh.

Elizabeth smiled, and proceeded, "I asked that slovenly fellow's name, and you only told me his profession."

"Tressilian is his name," said Raleigh, with internal reluctance, for he foresaw nothing favourable to his

"Tressilian!" answered Elizabeth. "Oh, the Menelaus of our romance. Why, he has dressed himself in a guise

that will go far to exculpate his fair and false Helen. And where is Farnham, or whatever his name ismy

With still greater reluctance Raleigh named and pointed out to her Varney, for whom the tailor had done all

that art could perform in making his exterior agreeable; and who, if he had not grace, had a sort of tact and

The Queen turned her eyes from the one to the other. "I doubt," she said, "this same poetical Master

Tressilian, who is too learned, I warrant me, to remember whose presence he was to appear in, may be one of

those of whom Geoffrey Chaucer says wittily, the wisest clerks are not the wisest men. I remember that

Varney is a smoothtongued varlet. I doubt this fair runaway hath had reasons for breaking her faith."

To this Raleigh durst make no answer, aware how little he should benefit Tressilian by contradicting the

Queen's sentiments, and not at all certain, on the whole, whether the best thing that could befall him would

not be that she should put an end at once by her authority to this affair, upon which it seemed to him

Tressilian's thoughts were fixed with unavailing and distressing pertinacity. As these reflections passed

through his active brain, the lower door of the hall opened, and Leicester, accompanied by several of his

kinsmen, and of the nobles who had embraced his faction, reentered the Castle Hall.

The favourite Earl was now apparelled all in white, his shoes being of white velvet; his understocks (or

stockings) of knit silk; his upper stocks of white velvet, lined with cloth of silver, which was shown at the

slashed part of the middle thigh; his doublet of cloth of silver, the close jerkin of white velvet, embroidered

with silver and seedpearl, his girdle and the scabbard of his sword of white velvet with golden buckles; his

poniard and sword hilted and mounted with gold; and over all a rich, loose robe of white satin, with a border

of golden embroidery a foot in breadth. The collar of the Garter, and the azure garter itself around his knee,

completed the appointments of the Earl of Leicester; which were so well matched by his fair stature, graceful

gesture, fine proportion of body, and handsome countenance, that at that moment he was admitted by all who

saw him as the goodliest person whom they had ever looked upon. Sussex and the other nobles were also

richly attired, but in point of splendour and gracefulness of mien Leicester far exceeded them all.

Elizabeth received him with great complacency. "We have one piece of royal justice," she said, "to attend to.

It is a piece of justice, too, which interests us as a woman, as well as in the character of mother and guardian

An involuntary shudder came over Leicester as he bowed low, expressive of his readiness to receive her royal

commands; and a similar cold fit came over Varney, whose eyes (seldom during that evening removed from

his patron) instantly perceived from the change in his looks, slight as that was, of what the Queen was

speaking. But Leicester had wrought his resolution up to the point which, in his crooked policy, he judged

necessary; and when Elizabeth added, "it is of the matter of Varney and Tressilian we speakis the lady

Elizabeth bent her brews and compressed her lips. "Our orders were strict and positive, my lord," was her

"And should have been obeyed, good my liege," replied Leicester, "had they been expressed in the form of

the lightest wish. But Varney, step forwardthis gentleman will inform your Grace of the cause why the

lady" (he could not force his rebellious tongue to utter the wordsHIS WIFE) "cannot attend on your royal

Varney advanced, and pleaded with readiness, what indeed he firmly believed, the absolute incapacity of the

party (for neither did he dare, in Leicester's presence, term her his wife) to wait on her Grace.

"Here," said he, "are attestations from a most learned physician, whose skill and honour are well known to

my good Lord of Leicester, and from an honest and devout Protestant, a man of credit and substance, one

Anthony Foster, the gentleman in whose house she is at present bestowed, that she now labours under an

illness which altogether unfits her for such a journey as betwixt this Castle and the neighbourhood of

"This alters the matter," said the Queen, taking the certificates in her hand, and glancing at their

contents."Let Tressilian come forward.Master Tressilian, we have much sympathy for your situation,

the rather that you seem to have set your heart deeply on this Amy Robsart, or Varney. Our power, thanks to

God, and the willing obedience of a loving people, is worth much, but there are some things which it cannot

compass. We cannot, for example, command the affections of a giddy young girl, or make her love sense and

learning better than a courtier's fine doublet; and we cannot control sickness, with which it seems this lady is

afflicted, who may not, by reason of such infirmity, attend our court here, as we had required her to do. Here

are the testimonials of the physician who hath her under his charge, and the gentleman in whose house she

"Under your Majesty's favour," said Tressilian hastily, and in his alarm for the consequence of the imposition

practised on the Queen forgetting in part at least his own promise to Amy, "these certificates speak not the

"How, sir!" said the Queen"impeach my Lord of Leicester's veracity! But you shall have a fair hearing. In

our presence the meanest of our subjects shall be heard against the proudest, and the least known against the

most favoured; therefore you shall be heard fairly, but beware you speak not without a warrant! Take these

certificates in your own hand, look at them carefully, and say manfully if you impugn the truth of them, and

As the Queen spoke, his promise and all its consequences rushed on the mind of the unfortunate Tressilian,

and while it controlled his natural inclination to pronounce that a falsehood which he knew from the evidence

of his senses to be untrue, gave an indecision and irresolution to his appearance and utterance which made

strongly against him in the mind of Elizabeth, as well as of all who beheld him. He turned the papers over and

over, as if he had been an idiot, incapable of comprehending their contents. The Queen's impatience began to

become visible. "You are a scholar, sir," she said, "and of some note, as I have heard; yet you seem wondrous

"Madam," said Tressilian, with obvious embarrassment and hesitation, anxious to avoid admitting evidence

which he might afterwards have reason to confute, yet equally desirous to keep his word to Amy, and to give

her, as he had promised, space to plead her own cause in her own way"MadamMadam, your Grace calls

on me to admit evidence which ought to be proved valid by those who found their defence upon them."

"Why, Tressilian, thou art critical as well as poetical," said the Queen, bending on him a brow of displeasure;

"methinks these writings, being produced in the presence of the noble Earl to whom this Castle pertains, and

his honour being appealed to as the guarantee of their authenticity, might be evidence enough for thee. But

since thou listest to be so formalVarney, or rather my Lord of Leicester, for the affair becomes yours"

(these words, though spoken at random, thrilled through the Earl's marrow and bones), "what evidence have

Varney hastened to reply, preventing Leicester"So please your Majesty, my young Lord of Oxford, who is

The Earl of Oxford, a young unthrift, whom Foster had more than once accommodated with loans on

usurious interest, acknowledged, on this appeal, that he knew him as a wealthy and independent franklin,

supposed to be worth much money, and verified the certificate produced to be his handwriting.

"And who speaks to the Doctor's certificate?" said the Queen. "Alasco, methinks, is his name."

Masters, her Majesty's physician (not the less willingly that he remembered his repulse from Sayes Court, and

thought that his present testimony might gratify Leicester, and mortify the Earl of Sussex and his faction),

acknowledged he had more than once consulted with Doctor Alasco, and spoke of him as a man of

extraordinary learning and hidden acquirements, though not altogether in the regular course of practice. The

Earl of Huntingdon, Lord Leicester's brotherinlaw, and the old Countess of Rutland, next sang his praises,

and both remembered the thin, beautiful Italian hand in which he was wont to write his receipts, and which

"And now, I trust, Master Tressilian, this matter is ended," said the Queen. "We will do something ere the

night is older to reconcile old Sir Hugh Robsart to the match. You have done your duty something more than

boldly; but we were no woman had we not compassion for the wounds which true love deals, so we forgive

your audacity, and your uncleansed boots withal, which have well nigh overpowered my Lord of Leicester's

So spoke Elizabeth, whose nicety of scent was one of the characteristics of her organization, as appeared long

afterwards when she expelled Essex from her presence, on a charge against his boots similar to that which she

But Tressilian had by this time collected himself, astonished as he had at first been by the audacity of the

falsehood so feasibly supported, and placed in array against the evidence of his own eyes. He rushed forward,

kneeled down, and caught the Queen by the skirt of her robe. "As you are Christian woman," he said,

"madam, as you are crowned Queen, to do equal justice among your subjectsas you hope yourself to have

fair hearing (which God grant you) at that last bar at which we must all plead, grant me one small request!

Decide not this matter so hastily. Give me but twentyfour hours' interval, and I will, at the end of that brief

space, produce evidence which will show to demonstration that these certificates, which state this unhappy

"Let go my train, sir!" said Elizabeth, who was startled at his vehemence, though she had too much of the lion

in her to fear; "the fellow must be distraught. That witty knave, my godson Harrington, must have him into

his rhymes of Orlando Furioso! And yet, by this light, there is something strange in the vehemence of his

demand.Speak, Tressilian, what wilt thou do if, at the end of these fourandtwenty hours, thou canst not

"Pshaw!" replied the Queen, "God's light! thou speakest like a fool. What head falls in England but by just

sentence of English law? I ask thee, manif thou hast sense to understand mewilt thou, if thou shalt fail

in this improbable attempt of thine, render me a good and sufficient reason why thou dost undertake it?"

Tressilian paused, and again hesitated; because he felt convinced that if, within the interval demanded, Amy

should become reconciled to her husband, he would in that case do her the worst of offices by again ripping

up the whole circumstances before Elizabeth, and showing how that wise and jealous princess had been

imposed upon by false testimonials. The consciousness of this dilemma renewed his extreme embarrassment

of look, voice, and manner; he hesitated, looked down, and on the Queen repeating her question with a stern

voice and flashing eye, he admitted with faltering words, "That it might behe could not positively that

"Now, by the soul of King Henry," said the Queen, "this is either moonstruck madness or very

knavery!Seest thou, Raleigh, thy friend is far too Pindaric for this presence. Have him away, and make us

quit of him, or it shall be the worse for him; for his flights are too unbridled for any place but Parnassus, or

Saint Luke's Hospital. But come back instantly thyself, when he is placed under fitting restraint.We wish

Tressilian was again endeavouring to address the Queen, when Raleigh, in obedience to the orders he had

received, interfered, and with Blount's assistance, half led, half forced him out of the presencechamber,

where he himself indeed began to think his appearance did his cause more harm than good.

When they had attained the antechamber, Raleigh entreated Blount to see Tressilian safely conducted into the

apartments allotted to the Earl of Sussex's followers, and, if necessary, recommended that a guard should be

"This extravagant passion," he said, "and, as it would seem, the news of the lady's illness, has utterly wrecked

his excellent judgment. But it will pass away if he be kept quiet. Only let him break forth again at no rate; for

he is already far in her Highness's displeasure, and should she be again provoked, she will find for him a

"I judged as much as that he was mad," said Nicholas Blount, looking down upon his own crimson stockings

and yellow roses, "whenever I saw him wearing yonder damned boots, which stunk so in her nostrils. I will

but see him stowed, and be back with you presently. But, Walter, did the Queen ask who I was?methought

"Twentytwenty eyeglances she sent! and I told her allhow thou wert a brave soldier, and a But for

"I willI will," said Blount; "but methinks this courthaunting is no such bad pastime, after all. We shall

rise by it, Walter, my brave lad. Thou saidst I was a good soldier, and a what besides, dearest Walter?"

Tressilian, without further resistance or expostulation followed, or rather suffered himself to be conducted by

Blount to Raleigh's lodging, where he was formally installed into a small trucklebed placed in a wardrobe,

and designed for a domestic. He saw but too plainly that no remonstrances would avail to procure the help or

sympathy of his friends, until the lapse of the time for which he had pledged himself to remain inactive

should enable him either to explain the whole circumstances to them, or remove from him every pretext or

desire of further interference with the fortunes of Amy, by her having found means to place herself in a state

With great difficulty, and only by the most patient and mild remonstrances with Blount, he escaped the

disgrace and mortification of having two of Sussex's stoutest yeomen quartered in his apartment. At last,

however, when Nicholas had seen him fairly deposited in his trucklebed, and had bestowed one or two

hearty kicks, and as hearty curses, on the boots, which, in his lately acquired spirit of foppery, he considered

as a strong symptom, if not the cause, of his friend's malady, he contented himself with the modified measure

of locking the door on the unfortunate Tressilian, whose gallant and disinterested efforts to save a female who

had treated him with ingratitude thus terminated for the present in the displeasure of his Sovereign and the

"It is a melancholy matter," said the Queen, when Tressilian was withdrawn, "to see a wise and learned man's

wit thus pitifully unsettled. Yet this public display of his imperfection of brain plainly shows us that his

supposed injury and accusation were fruitless; and therefore, my Lord of Leicester, we remember your suit

formerly made to us in behalf of your faithful servant Varney, whose good gifts and fidelity, as they are

useful to you, ought to have due reward from us, knowing well that your lordship, and all you have, are so

earnestly devoted to our service. And we render Varney the honour more especially that we are a guest, and,

we fear, a chargeable and troublesome one, under your lordship's roof; and also for the satisfaction of the

good old Knight of Devon, Sir Hugh Robsart, whose daughter he hath married, and we trust the especial mark

of grace which we are about to confer may reconcile him to his soninlaw.Your sword, my Lord of

The Earl unbuckled his sword, and taking it by the point, presented on bended knee the hilt to Elizabeth.

She took it slowly drew it from the scabbard, and while the ladies who stood around turned away their eyes

with real or affected shuddering, she noted with a curious eye the high polish and rich, damasked ornaments

"Had I been a man," she said, "methinks none of my ancestors would have loved a good sword better. As it is

with me, I like to look on one, and could, like the Fairy of whom I have read in some Italian rhymeswere

my godson Harrington here, he could tell me the passageeven trim my hair, and arrange my headgear, in

such a steel mirror as this is.Richard Varney, come forth, and kneel down. In the name of God and Saint

George, we dub thee knight! Be Faithful, Brave, and Fortunate. Arise, Sir Richard Varney."

[The incident alluded to occurs in the poem of Orlando Innamorato of Boiardo, libro ii. canto 4, stanza 25.

As then, perchance, unguarded was the tower, So enter'd free Anglante's dauntless knight. No monster and no

giant guard the bower In whose recess reclined the fairy light, Robed in a loose cymar of lily white, And on

her lap a sword of breadth and might, In whose broad blade, as in a mirror bright, Like maid that trims her for

Elizabeth's attachment to the Italian school of poetry was singularly manifested on a wellknown occasion.

Her godson, Sir John Harrington, having offended her delicacy by translating some of the licentious passages

of the Orlando Furioso, she imposed on him, as a penance, the task of rendering the WHOLE poem into

Varney arose and retired, making a deep obeisance to the Sovereign who had done him so much honour.

"The buckling of the spur, and what other rites remain," said the Queen, "may be finished tomorrow in the

chapel; for we intend Sir Richard Varney a companion in his honours. And as we must not be partial in

conferring such distinction, we mean on this matter to confer with our cousin of Sussex."

That noble Earl, who since his arrival at Kenilworth, and indeed since the commencement of this Progress,

had found himself in a subordinate situation to Leicester, was now wearing a heavy cloud on his brow; a

circumstance which had not escaped the Queen, who hoped to appease his discontent, and to follow out her

system of balancing policy by a mark of peculiar favour, the more gratifying as it was tendered at a moment

At the summons of Queen Elizabeth, Sussex hastily approached her person; and being asked on which of his

followers, being a gentleman and of merit, he would wish the honour of knighthood to be conferred, he

answered, with more sincerity than policy, that he would have ventured to speak for Tressilian, to whom he

conceived he owed his own life, and who was a distinguished soldier and scholar, besides a man of unstained

lineage, "only," he said, "he feared the events of that night" And then he stopped.

"I am glad your lordship is thus considerate," said Elizabeth. "The events of this night would make us, in the

eyes of our subjects, as mad as this poor brainsick gentleman himselffor we ascribe his conduct to no

"In that case," said the Earl of Sussex, somewhat discountenanced, your Majesty will allow me to name my

master of the horse, Master Nicholas Blount, a gentleman of fair estate and ancient name, who has served

your Majesty both in Scotland and Ireland, and brought away bloody marks on his person, all honourably

The Queen could not help shrugging her shoulders slightly even at this second suggestion; and the Duchess

of Rutland, who read in the Queen's manner that she had expected that Sussex would have named Raleigh,

and thus would have enabled her to gratify her own wish while she honoured his recommendation, only

waited the Queen's assent to what he had proposed, and then said that she hoped, since these two high nobles

had been each permitted to suggest a candidate for the honours of chivalry, she, in behalf of the ladies in

"Then," pursued the Duchess, "in the name of these fair ladies present, I request your Majesty to confer the

rank of knighthood on Walter Raleigh, whose birth, deeds of arms, and promptitude to serve our sex with

"Gramercy, fair ladies," said Elizabeth, smiling, "your boon is granted, and the gentle squire LackCloak

shall become the good knight LackCloak, at your desire. Let the two aspirants for the honour of chivalry

Blount was not as yet returned from seeing Tressilian, as he conceived, safely disposed of; but Raleigh came

forth, and kneeling down, received at the hand of the Virgin Queen that title of honour, which was never

Shortly afterwards Nicholas Blount entered, and hastily apprised by Sussex, who met him at the door of the

hall, of the Queen's gracious purpose regarding him, he was desired to advance towards the throne. It is a

sight sometimes seen, and it is both ludicrous and pitiable; when an honest man of plain common sense is

surprised, by the coquetry of a pretty woman, or any other cause, into those frivolous fopperies which only sit

well upon the youthful, the gay, and those to whom long practice has rendered them a second nature. Poor

Blount was in this situation. His head was already giddy from a consciousness of unusual finery, and the

supposed necessity of suiting his manners to the gaiety of his dress; and now this sudden view of promotion

altogether completed the conquest of the newly inhaled spirit of foppery over his natural disposition, and

converted a plain, honest, awkward man into a coxcomb of a new and most ridiculous kind.

The knightexpectant advanced up the hall, the whole length of which he had unfortunately to traverse,

turning out his toes with so much zeal that he presented his leg at every step with its broadside foremost, so

that it greatly resembled an oldfashioned tableknife with a curved point, when seen sideways. The rest of

his gait was in proportion to this unhappy amble; and the implied mixture of bashful rear and

selfsatisfaction was so unutterably ridiculous that Leicester's friends did not suppress a titter, in which many

of Sussex's partisans were unable to resist joining, though ready to eat their nails with mortification. Sussex

himself lost all patience, and could not forbear whispering into the ear of his friend, "Curse thee! canst thou

not walk like a man and a soldier?" an interjection which only made honest Blount start and stop, until a

glance at his yellow roses and crimson stockings restored his selfconfidence, when on he went at the same

The Queen conferred on poor Blount the honour of knighthood with a marked sense of reluctance. That wise

Princess was fully aware of the propriety of using great circumspection and economy in bestowing those

titles of honour, which the Stewarts, who succeeded to her throne, distributed with an imprudent liberality

which greatly diminished their value. Blount had no sooner arisen and retired than she turned to the Duchess

of Rutland. "Our woman wit," she said, "dear Rutland, is sharper than that of those proud things in doublet

and hose. Seest thou, out of these three knights, thine is the only true metal to stamp chivalry's imprint

"Sir Richard Varney, surelythe friend of my Lord of Leicester surely he has merit," replied the Duchess.

"Varney has a sly countenance and a smooth tongue," replied the Queen; "I fear me he will prove a knave.

But the promise was of ancient standing. My Lord of Sussex must have lost his own wits, I think, to

recommend to us first a madman like Tressilian, and then a clownish fool like this other fellow. I protest,

Rutland, that while he sat on his knees before me, mopping and mowing as if he had scalding porridge in his

mouth, I had much ado to forbear cutting him over the pate, instead of striking his shoulder."

"Your Majesty gave him a smart ACCOLADE," said the Duchess; "we who stood behind heard the blade

"I could not help it, wench," said the Queen, laughing. "But we will have this same Sir Nicholas sent to

Ireland or Scotland, or somewhere, to rid our court of so antic a chevalier; he may be a good soldier in the

The discourse became then more general, and soon after there was a summons to the banquet.

In order to obey this signal, the company were under the necessity of crossing the inner court of the Castle,

that they might reach the new buildings containing the large banqueting room, in which preparations for

supper were made upon a scale of profuse magnificence, corresponding to the occasion.

The livery cupboards were loaded with plate of the richest description, and the most variedsome articles

tasteful, some perhaps grotesque, in the invention and decoration, but all gorgeously magnificent, both from

the richness of the work and value of the materials. Thus the chief table was adorned by a salt, shipfashion,

made of motherofpearl, garnished with silver and divers warlike ensigns and other ornaments, anchors,

sails, and sixteen pieces of ordnance. It bore a figure of Fortune, placed on a globe, with a flag in her hand.

Another salt was fashioned of silver, in form of a swan in full sail. That chivalry might not be omitted amid

this splendour, a silver Saint George was presented, mounted and equipped in the usual fashion in which he

bestrides the dragon. The figures were moulded to be in some sort useful. The horse's tail was managed to

hold a case of knives, while the breast of the dragon presented a similar accommodation for oyster knives,

In the course of the passage from the hall of reception to the banquetingroom, and especially in the

courtyard, the newmade knights were assailed by the heralds, pursuivants, minstrels, etc., with the usual cry

of LARGESSE, LARGESSE, CHEVALIERS TRES HARDIS! an ancient invocation, intended to awaken the

bounty of the acolytes of chivalry towards those whose business it was to register their armorial bearings, and

celebrate the deeds by which they were illustrated. The call was, of course, liberally and courteously

answered by those to whom it was addressed. Varney gave his largesse with an affectation of complaisance

and humility. Raleigh bestowed his with the graceful ease peculiar to one who has attained his own place, and

is familiar with its dignity. Honest Blount gave what his tailor had left him of his halfyear's rent, dropping

some pieces in his hurry, then stooping down to look for them, and then distributing them amongst the

various claimants, with the anxious face and mien of the parish beadle dividing a dole among paupers.

The donations were accepted with the usual clamour and VIVATS of applause common on such occasions;

but as the parties gratified were chiefly dependants of Lord Leicester, it was Varney whose name was

repeated with the loudest acclamations. Lambourne, especially, distinguished himself by his vociferations of

"Long life to Sir Richard Varney!Health and honour to Sir Richard! Never was a more worthy knight

dubbed!"then, suddenly sinking his voice, he added"since the valiant Sir Pandarus of Troy,"a

windingup of his clamorous applause which set all men alaughing who were within hearing of it.

It is unnecessary to say anything further of the festivities of the evening, which were so brilliant in

themselves, and received with such obvious and willing satisfaction by the Queen, that Leicester retired to his

own apartment with all the giddy raptures of successful ambition. Varney, who had changed his splendid

attire, and now waited on his patron in a very modest and plain undress, attended to do the honours of the

"How! Sir Richard," said Leicester, smiling, "your new rank scarce suits the humility of this attendance."

"I would disown that rank, my Lord," said Varney, "could I think it was to remove me to a distance from your

"Thou art a grateful fellow," said Leicester; "but I must not allow you to do what would abate you in the

While thus speaking, he still accepted without hesitation the offices about his person, which the newmade

knight seemed to render as eagerly as if he had really felt, in discharging the task, that pleasure which his

"I am not afraid of men's misconstruction," he said, in answer to Leicester's remark, "since there is

not(permit me to undo the collar)a man within the Castle who does not expect very soon to see persons

of a rank far superior to that which, by your goodness, I now hold, rendering the duties of the bedchamber to

"It might, indeed, so have been"said the Earl, with an involuntary sigh; and then presently added, "My

There was an abutting window, which opened on a small projecting balcony of stone, battlemented as is usual

in Gothic castles. The Earl undid the lattice, and stepped out into the open air. The station he had chosen

commanded an extensive view of the lake and woodlands beyond, where the bright moonlight rested on the

clear blue waters and the distant masses of oak and elm trees. The moon rode high in the heavens, attended

by thousands and thousands of inferior luminaries. All seemed already to be hushed in the nether world,

excepting occasionally the voice of the watch (for the yeomen of the guard performed that duty wherever the

Queen was present in person) and the distant baying of the hounds, disturbed by the preparations amongst the

grooms and prickers for a magnificent hunt, which was to be the amusement of the next day.

Leicester looked out on the blue arch of heaven, with gestures and a countenance expressive of anxious

exultation, while Varney, who remained within the darkened apartment, could (himself unnoticed), with a

secret satisfaction, see his patron stretch his hands with earnest gesticulation towards the heavenly bodies.

"Ye distant orbs of living fire," so ran the muttered invocation of the ambitious Earl, "ye are silent while you

wheel your mystic rounds; but Wisdom has given to you a voice. Tell me, then, to what end is my high

course destined? Shall the greatness to which I have aspired be bright, preeminent, and stable as your own;

or am I but doomed to draw a brief and glittering train along the nightly darkness, and then to sink down to

earth, like the base refuse of those artificial fires with which men emulate your rays?"

He looked on the heavens in profound silence for a minute or two longer, and then again stepped into the

apartment, where Varney seemed to have been engaged in putting the Earl's jewels into a casket.

"What said Alasco of my horoscope?" demanded Leicester. "You already told me; but it has escaped me, for I

"Many learned and great men have thought otherwise," said Varney; "and, not to flatter your lordship, my

"Ay, Saul among the prophets?" said Leicester. "I thought thou wert sceptical in all such matters as thou

couldst neither see, hear, smell, taste, or touch, and that thy belief was limited by thy senses."

"Perhaps, my lord," said Varney, "I may be misled on the present occasion by my wish to find the predictions

of astrology true. Alasco says that your favourite planet is culminating, and that the adverse influencehe

would not use a plainer termthough not overcome, was evidently combust, I think he said, or retrograde."

"It is even so," said Leicester, looking at an abstract of astrological calculations which he had in his hand;

"the stronger influence will prevail, and, as I think, the evil hour pass away. Lend me your hand, Sir Richard,

to doff my gown; and remain an instant, if it is not too burdensome to your knighthood, while I compose

myself to sleep. I believe the bustle of this day has fevered my blood, for it streams through my veins like a

current of molten lead. Remain an instant, I pray youI would fain feel my eyes heavy ere I closed them."

Varney officiously assisted his lord to bed, and placed a massive silver nightlamp, with a short sword, on a

marble table which stood close by the head of the couch. Either in order to avoid the light of the lamp, or to

hide his countenance from Varney, Leicester drew the curtain, heavy with entwined silk and gold, so as

completely to shade his face. Varney took a seat near the bed, but with his back towards his master, as if to

intimate that he was not watching him, and quietly waited till Leicester himself led the way to the topic by

"And so, Varney," said the Earl, after waiting in vain till his dependant should commence the conversation,

"Ay, my good lord," said Varney; "of what can they else, since it is so strongly manifested?"

"She is indeed my good and gracious mistress," said Leicester, after another pause; "but it is written, 'Put not

"A good sentence and a true," said Varney, "unless you can unite their interest with yours so absolutely that

"I know what thou meanest," said Leicester impatiently, "though thou art tonight so prudentially careful of

what thou sayest to me. Thou wouldst intimate I might marry the Queen if I would?"

"It is your speech, my lord, not mine," answered Varney; "but whosesoever be the speech, it is the thought of

"Ay, but," said Leicester, turning himself in his bed, "the hundredth man knows better. Thou, for example,

"What, talkest thou of them," said Leicester, "that believest not in them or in aught else?"

"You mistake, my lord, under your gracious pardon," said Varney; "I believe in many things that predict the

future. I believe, if showers fall in April, that we shall have flowers in May; that if the sun shines, grain will

ripen; and I believe in much natural philosophy to the same effect, which, if the stars swear to me, I will say

the stars speak the truth. And in like manner, I will not disbelieve that which I see wished for and expected on

"Thou art right," said Leicester, again tossing himself on his couch "Earth does wish for it. I have had advices

from the reformed churches of Germanyfrom the Low Countriesfrom Switzerlandurging this as a

point on which Europe's safety depends. France will not oppose it. The ruling party in Scotland look to it as

their best security. Spain fears it, but cannot prevent it. And yet thou knowest it is impossible."

"Villain!" said Leicester, starting up on his couch, and seizing the sword which lay on the table beside him,

"For whom, or what, do you hold me, my lord?" said Varney, assuming the superiority of an innocent man

subjected to unjust suspicion. "I said nothing to deserve such a horrid imputation as your violence infers. I

said but that the Countess was ill. And Countess though she belovely and beloved as she issurely your

lordship must hold her to be mortal? She may die, and your lordship's hand become once more your own."

"Good night, my lord," said Varney, seeming to understand this as a command to depart; but Leicester's voice

"Thou 'scapest me not thus, Sir Fool," said he; "I think thy knighthood has addled thy brains. Confess thou

"My lord, long live your fair Countess," said Varney; "but neither your love nor my good wishes can make

her immortal. But God grant she live long to be happy herself, and to render you so! I see not but you may be

"I would I were myself within the same nearness to a good estate of freehold," said Varney. "Have we not

known in other countries how a lefthanded marriage might subsist betwixt persons of differing

degree?ay, and be no hindrance to prevent the husband from conjoining himself afterwards with a more

"Ay, and the most learned doctors in foreign universities justify the practice from the Old Testament," said

Varney. "And after all, where is the harm? The beautiful partner whom you have chosen for true love has

your secret hours of relaxation and affection. Her fame is safe her conscience may slumber securely. You

have wealth to provide royally for your issue, should Heaven bless you with offspring. Meanwhile you may

give to Elizabeth ten times the leisure, and ten thousand times the affection, that ever Don Philip of Spain

spared to her sister Mary; yet you know how she doted on him though so cold and neglectful. It requires but a

close mouth and an open brow, and you keep your Eleanor and your fair Rosamond far enough separate.

Leicester was silent for a moment, then sighed, and said, "It is impossible. Good night, Sir Richard

Varneyyet stay. Can you guess what meant Tressilian by showing himself in such careless guise before the

Queen today?to strike her tender heart, I should guess, with all the sympathies due to a lover abandoned

Varney, smothering a sneering laugh, answered, "He believed Master Tressilian had no such matter in his

"How!" said Leicester; "what meanest thou? There is ever knavery in that laugh of thine, Varney."

"I only meant, my lord," said Varney, "that Tressilian has taken the sure way to avoid heartbreaking. He

hath had a companiona female companiona mistressa sort of player's wife or sister, as I

believewith him in Mervyn's Bower, where I quartered him for certain reasons of my own."

"By my faith, time and space fitting, this were a good tale to tell," said Leicester. "I ever distrusted those

bookish, hypocritical, seemingvirtuous scholars. WellMaster Tressilian makes somewhat familiar with

my house; if I look it over, he is indebted to it for certain recollections. I would not harm him more than I can

"I lodged him for that reason," said Varney, "in Mervyn's Tower, where he is under the eye of my very

vigilant, if he were not also my very drunken, servant, Michael Lambourne, whom I have told your Grace

"It came unawares, my lord; and yet it sounds so very natural that I cannot recall it."

"It is thine own preferment that hath turned thy brain," said Leicester, laughing; "new honours are as heady as

"May your lordship soon have cause to say so from experience," said Varney; and wishing his patron good

We are now to return to Mervyn's Bower, the apartment, or rather the prison, of the unfortunate Countess of

Leicester, who for some time kept within bounds her uncertainty and her impatience. She was aware that, in

the tumult of the day, there might be some delay ere her letter could be safely conveyed to the hands of

Leicester, and that some time more might elapse ere he could extricate himself from the necessary attendance

on Elizabeth, to come and visit her in her secret bower. "I will not expect him," she said, "till night; he cannot

be absent from his royal guest, even to see me. He will, I know, come earlier if it be possible, but I will not

expect him before night." And yet all the while she did expect him; and while she tried to argue herself into a

contrary belief, each hasty noise of the hundred which she heard sounded like the hurried step of Leicester on

The fatigue of body which Amy had lately undergone, with the agitation of mind natural to so cruel a state of

uncertainty, began by degrees strongly to affect her nerves, and she almost feared her total inability to

maintain the necessary selfcommand through the scenes which might lie before her. But although spoiled by

an overindulgent system of education, Amy had naturally a mind of great power, united with a frame which

her share in her father's woodland exercises had rendered uncommonly healthy. She summoned to her aid

such mental and bodily resources; and not unconscious how much the issue of her fate might depend on her

own selfpossession, she prayed internally for strength of body and for mental fortitude, and resolved at the

Yet when the great bell of the Castle, which was placed in Caesar's Tower, at no great distance from that

called Mervyn's, began to send its pealing clamour abroad, in signal of the arrival of the royal procession, the

din was so painfully acute to ears rendered nervously sensitive by anxiety, that she could hardly forbear

shrieking with anguish, in answer to every stunning clash of the relentless peal.

Shortly afterwards, when the small apartment was at once enlightened by the shower of artificial fires with

which the air was suddenly filled, and which crossed each other like fiery spirits, each bent on his own

separate mission, or like salamanders executing a frolic dance in the region of the Sylphs, the Countess felt at

first as if each rocket shot close by her eyes, and discharged its sparks and flashes so nigh that she could feel

a sense of the heat. But she struggled against these fantastic terrors, and compelled herself to arise, stand by

the window, look out, and gaze upon a sight which at another time would have appeared to her at once

captivating and fearful. The magnificent towers of the Castle were enveloped in garlands of artificial fire, or

shrouded with tiaras of pale smoke. The surface of the lake glowed like molten iron, while many fireworks

(then thought extremely wonderful, though now common), whose flame continued to exist in the opposing

element, dived and rose, hissed and roared, and spouted fire, like so many dragons of enchantment sporting

Even Amy was for a moment interested by what was to her so new a scene. "I had thought it magical art," she

said, "but poor Tressilian taught me to judge of such things as they are. Great God! and may not these idle

splendours resemble my own hopedfor happinessa single spark, which is instantly swallowed up by

surrounding darknessa precarious glow, which rises but for a brief space into the air, that its fall may be

the lower? O Leicester! after allall that thou hast saidhast swornthat Amy was thy love, thy life, can

it be that thou art the magician at whose nod these enchantments arise, and that she sees them as an outcast, if

The sustained, prolonged, and repeated bursts of music, from so many different quarters, and at so many

varying points of distance, which sounded as if not the Castle of Kenilworth only, but the whole country

around, had been at once the scene of solemnizing some high national festival, carried the same oppressive

thought still closer to her heart, while some notes would melt in distant and falling tones, as if in compassion

for her sorrows, and some burst close and near upon her, as if mocking her misery, with all the insolence of

unlimited mirth. "These sounds," she said, "are minemine, because they are HIS; but I cannot say, Be still,

these loud strains suit me not; and the voice of the meanest peasant that mingles in the dance would have

more power to modulate the music than the command of her who is mistress of all."

By degrees the sounds of revelry died away, and the Countess withdrew from the window at which she had

sat listening to them. It was night, but the moon afforded considerable light in the room, so that Amy was

able to make the arrangement which she judged necessary. There was hope that Leicester might come to her

apartment as soon as the revel in the Castle had subsided; but there was also risk she might be disturbed by

some unauthorized intruder. She had lost confidence in the key since Tressilian had entered so easily, though

the door was locked on the inside; yet all the additional security she could think of was to place the table

across the door, that she might be warned by the noise should any one attempt to enter. Having taken these

necessary precautions, the unfortunate lady withdrew to her couch, stretched herself down on it, mused in

anxious expectation, and counted more than one hour after midnight, till exhausted nature proved too strong

Yes, she slept. The Indian sleeps at the stake in the intervals between his tortures; and mental torments, in

like manner, exhaust by long continuance the sensibility of the sufferer, so that an interval of lethargic repose

The Countess slept, then, for several hours, and dreamed that she was in the ancient house at Cumnor Place,

listening for the low whistle with which Leicester often used to announce his presence in the courtyard when

arriving suddenly on one of his stolen visits. But on this occasion, instead of a whistle, she heard the peculiar

blast of a buglehorn, such as her father used to wind on the fall of the stag, and which huntsmen then called

a MORT. She ran, as she thought, to a window that looked into the courtyard, which she saw filled with men

in mourning garments. The old Curate seemed about to read the funeral service. Mumblazen, tricked out in an

antique dress, like an ancient herald, held aloft a scutcheon, with its usual decorations of skulls, crossbones,

and hourglasses, surrounding a coatof arms, of which she could only distinguish that it was surmounted

with an Earl's coronet. The old man looked at her with a ghastly smile, and said, "Amy, are they not rightly

quartered?" Just as he spoke, the horns again poured on her ear the melancholy yet wild strain of the MORT,

The Countess awoke to hear a real buglenote, or rather the combined breath of many bugles, sounding not

the MORT. but the jolly REVEILLE, to remind the inmates of the Castle of Kenilworth that the pleasures of

the day were to commence with a magnificent staghunting in the neighbouring Chase. Amy started up from

her couch, listened to the sound, saw the first beams of the summer morning already twinkle through the

lattice of her window, and recollected, with feelings of giddy agony, where she was, and how circumstanced.

"He thinks not of me," she said; "he will not come nigh me! A Queen is his guest, and what cares he in what

corner of his huge Castle a wretch like me pines in doubt, which is fast fading into despair?" At once a sound

at the door, as of some one attempting to open it softly, filled her with an ineffable mixture of joy and fear;

and hastening to remove the obstacle she had placed against the door, and to unlock it, she had the precaution

She threw open the door, and exclaiming, "Leicester!" flung her arms around the neck of the man who stood

"Nonot quite Leicester," answered Michael Lambourne, for he it was, returning the caress with

vehemence"not quite Leicester, my lovely and most loving duchess, but as good a man."

With an exertion of force, of which she would at another time have thought herself incapable, the Countess

freed herself from the profane and profaning grasp of the drunken debauchee, and retreated into the midst of

As Lambourne, on entering, dropped the lap of his cloak from his face, she knew Varney's profligate servant,

the very last person, excepting his detested master, by whom she would have wished to be discovered. But

she was still closely muffled in her travelling dress, and as Lambourne had scarce ever been admitted to her

presence at Cumnor Place, her person, she hoped, might not be so well known to him as his was to her, owing

to Janet's pointing him frequently out as he crossed the court, and telling stories of his wickedness. She might

have had still greater confidence in her disguise had her experience enabled her to discover that he was much

intoxicated; but this could scarce have consoled her for the risk which she might incur from such a character

Lambourne flung the door behind him as he entered, and folding his arms, as if in mockery of the attitude of

distraction into which Amy had thrown herself, he proceeded thus: "Hark ye, most fair Calipolisor most

lovely Countess of clouts, and divine Duchess of dark cornersif thou takest all that trouble of skewering

thyself together, like a trussed fowl, that there may be more pleasure in the carving, even save thyself the

labour. I love thy first frank manner the bestlike thy present as little"(he made a step towards her, and

staggered)"as little assuch a damned uneven floor as this, where a gentleman may break his neck if he

"My peril!and stand back! Why, how now, madam? Must you have a better mate than honest Mike

Lambourne? I have been in America, girl, where the gold grows, and have brought off such a load on't"

"Good friend," said the Countess, in great terror at the ruffian's determined and audacious manner, "I prithee

"And so I will, pretty one, when we are tired of each other's companynot a jot sooner." He seized her by

the arm, while, incapable of further defence, she uttered shriek upon shriek. "Nay, scream away if you like

it," said he, still holding her fast; "I have heard the sea at the loudest, and I mind a squalling woman no more

than a miauling kitten. Damn me! I have heard fifty or a hundred screaming at once, when there was a town

The cries of the Countess, however, brought unexpected aid in the person of Lawrence Staples, who had

heard her exclamations from his apartment below, and entered in good time to save her from being

discovered, if not from more atrocious violence. Lawrence was drunk also from the debauch of the preceding

night, but fortunately his intoxication had taken a different turn from that of Lambourne.

"What the devil's noise is this in the ward?" he said. "What! man and woman together in the same cell?that

is against rule. I will have decency under my rule, by Saint Peter of the Fetters!"

"Get thee downstairs, thou drunken beast," said Lambourne; "seest thou not the lady and I would be private?"

"Good sir, worthy sir!" said the Countess, addressing the jailer, "do but save me from him, for the sake of

"She speaks fairly," said the jailer, "and I will take her part. I love my prisoners; and I have had as good

prisoners under my key as they have had in Newgate or the Compter. And so, being one of my lambkins, as I

say, no one shall disturb her in her penfold. So let go the woman: or I'll knock your brains out with my

"I'll make a bloodpudding of thy midriff first," answered Lambourne, laying his left hand on his dagger, but

still detaining the Countess by the arm with his right. "So have at thee, thou old ostrich, whose only living is

Lawrence raised the arm of Michael, and prevented him from drawing his dagger; and as Lambourne

struggled and strove to shake him off; the Countess made a sudden exertion on her side, and slipping her

hand out of the glove on which the ruffian still kept hold, she gained her liberty, and escaping from the

apartment, ran downstairs; while at the same moment she heard the two combatants fall on the floor with a

noise which increased her terror. The outer wicket offered no impediment to her flight, having been opened

for Lambourne's admittance; so that she succeeded in escaping down the stair, and fled into the Pleasance,

which seemed to her hasty glance the direction in which she was most likely to avoid pursuit.

Meanwhile, Lawrence and Lambourne rolled on the floor of the apartment, closely grappled together. Neither

had, happily, opportunity to draw their daggers; but Lawrence found space enough to clash his heavy keys

across Michael's face, and Michael in return grasped the turnkey so felly by the throat that the blood gushed

from nose and mouth, so that they were both gory and filthy spectacles when one of the other officers of the

household, attracted by the noise of the fray, entered the room, and with some difficulty effected the

"A murrain on you both," said the charitable mediator, "and especially on you, Master Lambourne! What the

fiend lie you here for, fighting on the floor like two butchers' curs in the kennel of the shambles?"

Lambourne arose, and somewhat sobered by the interposition of a third party, looked with something less

than his usual brazen impudence of visage. "We fought for a wench, an thou must know," was his reply.

"Why, vanished, I think," said Lambourne, looking around him, "unless Lawrence hath swallowed her, That

filthy paunch of his devours as many distressed damsels and oppressed orphans as e'er a giant in King

Arthur's history. They are his prime food; he worries them body, soul, and substance."

"Ay, ay! It's no matter," said Lawrence, gathering up his huge, ungainly form from the floor; "but I have had

your betters, Master Michael Lambourne, under the little turn of my forefinger and thumb, and I shall have

thee, before all's done, under my hatches. The impudence of thy brow will not always save thy shinbones

from iron, and thy foul, thirsty gullet from a hempen cord." The words were no sooner out of his mouth,

"Nay, go not to it again," said the sewer, "or I will call for him shall tame you both, and that is Master

VarneySir Richard, I mean. He is stirring, I promise you; I saw him cross the court just now."

"Didst thou, by G!" said Lambourne, seizing on the basin and ewer which stood in the apartment. "Nay,

then, element, do thy work. I thought I had enough of thee last night, when I floated about for Orion, like a

So saying, he fell to work to cleanse from his face and hands the signs of the fray, and get his apparel into

"What hast thou done to him?" said the sewer, speaking aside to the jailer; "his face is fearfully swelled."

"It is but the imprint of the key of my cabinettoo good a mark for his gallowsface. No man shall abuse or

insult my prisoners; they are my jewels, and I lock them in safe casket accordingly. And so, mistress, leave

"I think you are all mad this morning," said the sewer. "I saw no woman here, nor no man neither in a proper

"Nay, then I am undone," said the jailer; "the prison's broken, that is all. Kenilworth prison is broken," he

continued, in a tone of maudlin lamentation, "which was the strongest jail betwixt this and the Welsh

Marchesay, and a house that has had knights, and earls, and kings sleeping in it, as secure as if they had

been in the Tower of London. It is broken, the prisoners fled, and the jailer in much danger of being hanged!"

So saying, he retreated down to his own den to conclude his lamentations, or to sleep himself sober.

Lambourne and the sewer followed him close; and it was well for them, since the jailer, out of mere habit,

was about to lock the wicket after him, and had they not been within the reach of interfering, they would have

had the pleasure of being shut up in the turretchamber, from which the Countess had been just delivered.

That unhappy lady, as soon as she found herself at liberty, fled, as we have already mentioned, into the

Pleasance. She had seen this richlyornamented space of ground from the window of Mervyn's Tower; and it

occurred to her, at the moment of her escape, that among its numerous arbours, bowers, fountains, statues,

and grottoes, she might find some recess in which she could lie concealed until she had an opportunity of

addressing herself to a protector, to whom she might communicate as much as she dared of her forlorn

situation, and through whose means she might supplicate an interview with her husband.

"If I could see my guide," she thought, "I would learn if he had delivered my letter. Even did I but see

Tressilian, it were better to risk Dudley's anger, by confiding my whole situation to one who is the very soul

of honour, than to run the hazard of further insult among the insolent menials of this illruled place. I will not

again venture into an enclosed apartment. I will wait, I will watch; amidst so many human beings there must

In truth, more than one party entered and traversed the Pleasance. But they were in joyous groups of four or

five persons together, laughing and jesting in their own fullness of mirth and lightness of heart.

The retreat which she had chosen gave her the easy alternative of avoiding observation. It was but stepping

back to the farthest recess of a grotto, ornamented with rustic work and mossseats, and terminated by a

fountain, and she might easily remain concealed, or at her pleasure discover herself to any solitary wanderer

whose curiosity might lead him to that romantic retirement. Anticipating such an opportunity, she looked into

the clear basin which the silent fountain held up to her like a mirror, and felt shocked at her own appearance,

and doubtful at; the same time, muffled and disfigured as her disguise made her seem to herself, whether any

female (and it was from the compassion of her own sex that she chiefly expected sympathy) would engage in

conference with so suspicious an object. Reasoning thus like a woman, to whom external appearance is

scarcely in any circumstances a matter of unimportance, and like a beauty, who had some confidence in the

power of her own charms, she laid aside her travelling cloak and capotaine hat, and placed them beside her,

so that she could assume them in an instant, ere one could penetrate from the entrance of the grotto to its

extremity, in case the intrusion of Varney or of Lambourne should render such disguise necessary. The dress

which she wore under these vestments was somewhat of a theatrical cast, so as to suit the assumed personage

of one of the females who was to act in the pageant, Wayland had found the means of arranging it thus upon

the second day of their journey, having experienced the service arising from the assumption of such a

character on the preceding day. The fountain, acting both as a mirror and ewer, afforded Amy the means of a

brief toilette, of which she availed herself as hastily as possible; then took in her hand her small casket of

jewels, in case she might find them useful intercessors, and retiring to the darkest and most sequestered nook,

sat down on a seat of moss, and awaited till fate should give her some chance of rescue, or of propitiating an

It chanced, upon that memorable morning, that one of the earliest of the huntress train, who appeared from

her chamber in full array for the chase, was the Princess for whom all these pleasures were instituted,

England's Maiden Queen. I know not if it were by chance, or out of the befitting courtesy due to a mistress by

whom he was so much honoured, that she had scarcely made one step beyond the threshold of her chamber

ere Leicester was by her side, and proposed to her, until the preparations for the chase had been completed, to

To this new scene of pleasures they walked, the Earl's arm affording his Sovereign the occasional support

which she required, where flights of steps, then a favourite ornament in a garden, conducted them from

terrace to terrace, and from parterre to parterre. The ladies in attendance, gifted with prudence, or endowed

perhaps with the amiable desire of acting as they would be done by, did not conceive their duty to the

Queen's person required them, though they lost not sight of her, to approach so near as to share, or perhaps

disturb, the conversation betwixt the Queen and the Earl, who was not only her host, but also her most

trusted, esteemed, and favoured servant. They contented themselves with admiring the grace of this illustrious

couple, whose robes of state were now exchanged for hunting suits, almost equally magnificent.

Elizabeth's silvan dress, which was of a pale blue silk, with silver lace and AIGUILLETTES, approached in

form to that of the ancient Amazons, and was therefore well suited at once to her height and to the dignity of

her mien, which her conscious rank and long habits of authority had rendered in some degree too masculine

to be seen to the best advantage in ordinary female weeds. Leicester's hunting suit of Lincoln green, richly

embroidered with gold, and crossed by the gay baldric which sustained a buglehorn, and a woodknife

instead of a sword, became its master, as did his other vestments of court or of war. For such were the

perfections of his form and mien, that Leicester was always supposed to be seen to the greatest advantage in

The conversation of Elizabeth and the favourite Earl has not reached us in detail. But those who watched at

some distance (and the eyes of courtiers and court ladies are right sharp) were of opinion that on no occasion

did the dignity of Elizabeth, in gesture and motion, seem so decidedly to soften away into a mien expressive

of indecision and tenderness. Her step was not only slow, but even unequal, a thing most unwonted in her

carriage; her looks seemed bent on the ground; and there was a timid disposition to withdraw from her

companion, which external gesture in females often indicates exactly the opposite tendency in the secret

mind. The Duchess of Rutland, who ventured nearest, was even heard to aver that she discerned a tear in

Elizabeth's eye and a blush on her cheek; and still further, "She bent her looks on the ground to avoid mine,"

said the Duchess, "she who, in her ordinary mood, could look down a lion." To what conclusion these

symptoms led is sufficiently evident; nor were they probably entirely groundless. The progress of a private

conversation betwixt two persons of different sexes is often decisive of their fate, and gives it a turn very

different perhaps from what they themselves anticipated. Gallantry becomes mingled with conversation, and

affection and passion come gradually to mix with gallantry. Nobles, as well as shepherd swains, will, in such

a trying moment, say more than they intended; and Queens, like village maidens, will listen longer than they

Horses in the meanwhile neighed and champed the bits with impatience in the basecourt; hounds yelled in

their couples; and yeomen, rangers, and prickers lamented the exhaling of the dew, which would prevent the

scent from lying. But Leicester had another chase in viewor, to speak more justly towards him, had

become engaged in it without premeditation, as the highspirited hunter which follows the cry of the hounds

that have crossed his path by accident. The Queen, an accomplished and handsome woman, the pride of

England, the hope of France and Holland, and the dread of Spain, had probably listened with more than usual

favour to that mixture of romantic gallantry with which she always loved to be addressed; and the Earl had, in

vanity, in ambition, or in both, thrown in more and more of that delicious ingredient, until his importunity

"No, Dudley," said Elizabeth, yet it was with broken accents "no, I must be the mother of my people.

Other ties, that make the lowly maiden happy, are denied to her Sovereign. No, Leicester, urge it no more.

Were I as others, free to seek my own happiness, then, indeedbut it cannotcannot be. Delay the

"No, Leicester, not so!" answered the Queen hastily; "but it is madness, and must not be repeated. Gobut

While she spoke thus, Dudley bowed deeply, and retired with a slow and melancholy air. The Queen stood

gazing after him, and murmured to herself, "Were it possiblewere it BUT possible! but nono;

As she spoke thus, and in order to avoid some one whose step she heard approaching, the Queen turned into

the grotto in which her hapless, and yet but too successful, rival lay concealed.

The mind of England's Elizabeth, if somewhat shaken by the agitating interview to which she had just put a

period, was of that firm and decided character which soon recovers its natural tone. It was like one of those

ancient Druidical monuments called Rockingstones. The finger of Cupid, boy as he is painted, could put her

feelings in motion; but the power of Hercules could not have destroyed their equilibrium. As she advanced

with a slow pace towards the inmost extremity of the grotto, her countenance, ere she had proceeded half the

It was then the Queen became aware that a female figure was placed beside, or rather partly behind, an

alabaster column, at the foot of which arose the pellucid fountain which occupied the inmost recess of the

twilight grotto. The classical mind of Elizabeth suggested the story of Numa and Egeria, and she doubted not

that some Italian sculptor had here represented the Naiad whose inspirations gave laws to Rome. As she

advanced, she became doubtful whether she beheld a statue, or a form of flesh and blood. The unfortunate

Amy, indeed, remained motionless, betwixt the desire which she had to make her condition known to one of

her own sex, and her awe for the stately form which approached her, and which, though her eyes had never

before beheld, her fears instantly suspected to be the personage she really was. Amy had arisen from her seat

with the purpose of addressing the lady who entered the grotto alone, and, as she at first thought, so

opportunely. But when she recollected the alarm which Leicester had expressed at the Queen's knowing aught

of their union, and became more and more satisfied that the person whom she now beheld was Elizabeth

herself, she stood with one foot advanced and one withdrawn, her arms, head, and hands perfectly motionless,

and her cheek as pallid as the alabaster pedestal against which she leaned. Her dress was of pale sea green

silk, little distinguished in that imperfect light, and somewhat resembled the drapery of a Grecian Nymph,

such an antique disguise having been thought the most secure, where so many maskers and revellers were

assembled; so that the Queen's doubt of her being a living form was well justified by all contingent

Elizabeth remained in doubt, even after she had approached within a few paces, whether she did not gaze on a

statue so cunningly fashioned that by the doubtful light it could not be distinguished from reality. She

stopped, therefore, and fixed upon this interesting object her princely look with so much keenness that the

astonishment which had kept Amy immovable gave way to awe, and she gradually cast down her eyes, and

drooped her head under the commanding gaze of the Sovereign. Still, however, she remained in all respects,

From her dress, and the casket which she instinctively held in her hand, Elizabeth naturally conjectured that

the beautiful but mute figure which she beheld was a performer in one of the various theatrical pageants

which had been placed in different situations to surprise her with their homage; and that the poor player,

overcome with awe at her presence, had either forgot the part assigned her, or lacked courage to go through

it. It was natural and courteous to give her some encouragement; and Elizabeth accordingly said, in a, tone of

condescending kindness, "How now, fair Nymph of this lovely grotto, art thou spellbound and struck with

dumbness by the charms of the wicked enchanter whom men term Fear? We are his sworn enemy, maiden,

Instead of answering her by speech, the unfortunate Countess dropped on her knee before the Queen, let her

casket fall from her hand, and clasping her palms together, looked up in the Queen's face with such a mixed

"What may this mean?" she said; "this is a stronger passion than befits the occasion. Stand up, damselwhat

"Each daughter of England has it while she is worthy of it," replied the Queen; "but your distress seems to

have a deeper root than a forgotten task. Why, and in what, do you crave our protection?"

Amy hastily endeavoured to recall what she were best to say, which might secure herself from the imminent

dangers that surrounded her, without endangering her husband; and plunging from one thought to another,

amidst the chaos which filled her mind, she could at length, in answer to the Queen's repeated inquiries in

"This is folly, maiden," said Elizabeth impatiently; for there was something in the extreme confusion of the

suppliant which irritated her curiosity, as well as interested her feelings. "The sick man must tell his malady

to the physician; nor are WE accustomed to ask questions so oft without receiving an answer."

"I requestI implore," stammered forth the unfortunate Countess "I beseech your gracious

protectionagainstagainst one Varney." She choked wellnigh as she uttered the fatal word, which was

"What, VarneySir Richard Varneythe servant of Lord Leicester! what, damsel, are you to him, or he to

"To throw thyself on my protection, doubtless," said Elizabeth. "Thou shalt have itthat is, if thou art

worthy; for we will sift this matter to the uttermost. Thou art," she said, bending on the Countess an eye

which seemed designed to pierce her very inmost soul"thou art Amy, daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart of

"Forgive meforgive me, most gracious Princess!" said Amy, dropping once more on her knee, from which

"For what should I forgive thee, silly wench?" said Elizabeth; "for being the daughter of thine own father?

Thou art brain sick, surely. Well I see I must wring the story from thee by inches. Thou didst deceive thine

old and honoured fatherthy look confesses itcheated Master Tressilianthy blush avouches itand

Amy sprung on her feet, and interrupted the Queen eagerly with, "No, madam, no! as there is a God above us,

I am not the sordid wretch you would make me! I am not the wife of that contemptible slaveof that most

deliberate villain! I am not the wife of Varney! I would rather be the bride of Destruction!"

The Queen, overwhelmed in her turn by Amy's vehemence, stood silent for an instant, and then replied,

"Why, God ha' mercy, woman! I see thou canst talk fast enough when the theme likes thee. Nay, tell me,

woman," she continued, for to the impulse of curiosity was now added that of an undefined jealousy that

some deception had been practised on her"tell me, womanfor, by God's day, I WILL knowwhose

wife, or whose paramour, art thou! Speak out, and be speedy. Thou wert better daily with a lioness than with

Urged to this extremity, dragged as it were by irresistible force to the verge of the precipice which she saw,

but could not avoid permitted not a moment's respite by the eager words and menacing gestures of the

offended Queen, Amy at length uttered in despair, "The Earl of Leicester knows it all."

"The Earl of Leicester!" said Elizabeth, in utter astonishment. "The Earl of Leicester!" she repeated with

kindling anger. "Woman, thou art set on to thisthou dost belie himhe takes no keep of such things as

thou art. Thou art suborned to slander the noblest lord and the truesthearted gentleman in England! But were

he the right hand of our trust, or something yet dearer to us, thou shalt have thy hearing, and that in his

As Amy shrunk back with terror, which the incensed Queen interpreted as that of conscious guilt, Elizabeth

rapidly advanced, seized on her arm, and hastened with swift and long steps out of the grotto, and along the

principal alley of the Pleasance, dragging with her the terrified Countess, whom she still held by the arm, and

whose utmost exertions could but just keep pace with those of the indignant Queen.

Leicester was at this moment the centre of a splendid group of lords and ladies, assembled together under an

arcade, or portico, which closed the alley. The company had drawn together in that place, to attend the

commands of her Majesty when the hunting party should go forward, and their astonishment may be

imagined when, instead of seeing Elizabeth advance towards them with her usual measured dignity of

motion, they beheld her walking so rapidly that she was in the midst of them ere they were aware; and then

observed, with fear and surprise, that her features were flushed betwixt anger and agitation, that her hair was

loosened by her haste of motion, and that her eyes sparkled as they were wont when the spirit of Henry VIII.

mounted highest in his daughter. Nor were they less astonished at the appearance of the pale, attenuated,

halfdead, yet still lovely female, whom the Queen upheld by main strength with one hand, while with the

other she waved aside the ladies and nobles who pressed towards her, under the idea that she was taken

suddenly ill. "Where is my Lord of Leicester?" she said, in a tone that thrilled with astonishment all the

If, in the midst of the most serene day of summer, when all is light and laughing around, a thunderbolt were

to fall from the clear blue vault of heaven, and rend the earth at the very feet of some careless traveller, he

could not gaze upon the smouldering chasm, which so unexpectedly yawned before him, with half the

astonishment and fear which Leicester felt at the sight that so suddenly presented itself. He had that instant

been receiving, with a political affectation of disavowing and misunderstanding their meaning, the

halfuttered, halfintimated congratulations of the courtiers upon the favour of the Queen, carried apparently

to its highest pitch during the interview of that morning, from which most of them seemed to augur that he

might soon arise from their equal in rank to become their master. And now, while the subdued yet proud

smile with which he disclaimed those inferences was yet curling his cheek, the Queen shot into the circle, her

passions excited to the uttermost; and supporting with one hand, and apparently without an effort, the pale

and sinking form of his almost expiring wife, and pointing with the finger of the other to her halfdead

features, demanded in a voice that sounded to the ears of the astounded statesman like the last dread

trumpetcall that is to summon body and spirit to the judgmentseat, "Knowest thou this woman?"

As, at the blast of that last trumpet, the guilty shall call upon the mountains to cover them, Leicester's inward

thoughts invoked the stately arch which he had built in his pride to burst its strong conjunction, and

overwhelm them in its ruins. But the cemented stones, architrave and battlement, stood fast; and it was the

proud master himself who, as if some actual pressure had bent him to the earth, kneeled down before

"Leicester," said Elizabeth, in a voice which trembled with passion, "could I think thou hast practised on

meon me thy Sovereignon me thy confiding, thy too partial mistress, the base and ungrateful deception

which thy present confusion surmisesby all that is holy, false lord, that head of thine were in as great peril

Leicester had not conscious innocence, but he had pride to support him. He raised slowly his brow and

features, which were black and swoln with contending emotions, and only replied, "My head cannot fall but

by the sentence of my peers. To them I will plead, and not to a princess who thus requites my faithful

"What! my lords," said Elizabeth, looking around, "we are defied, I thinkdefied in the Castle we have

ourselves bestowed on this proud man!My Lord Shrewsbury, you are Marshal of England, attach him of

"Whom does your Grace mean?" said Shrewsbury, much surprised, for he had that instant joined the

"Whom should I mean, but that traitor Dudley, Earl of Leicester! Cousin of Hunsdon, order out your band

of gentlemen pensioners, and take him into instant custody. I say, villain, make haste!"

Hunsdon, a rough old noble, who, from his relationship to the Boleyns, was accustomed to use more freedom

with the Queen than almost any other dared to do, replied bluntly, "And it is like your Grace might order me

to the Tower tomorrow for making too much haste. I do beseech you to be patient."

"PatientGod's life!" exclaimed the Queen"name not the word to me; thou knowest not of what he is

Amy, who had by this time in some degree recovered herself, and who saw her husband, as she conceived, in

the utmost danger from the rage of an offended Sovereign, instantly (and alas! how many women have done

the same) forgot her own wrongs and her own danger in her apprehensions for him, and throwing herself

before the Queen, embraced her knees, while she exclaimed, "He is guiltless, madamhe is guiltless; no one

"Why, minion," answered the Queen, "didst not thou thyself say that the Earl of Leicester was privy to thy

"Did I say so?" repeated the unhappy Amy, laying aside every consideration of consistency and of

selfinterest. "Oh, if I did, I foully belied him. May God so judge me, as I believe he was never privy to a

"Woman!" said Elizabeth, "I will know who has moved thee to this; or my wrathand the wrath of kings is a

As the Queen uttered this threat, Leicester's better angel called his pride to his aid, and reproached him with

the utter extremity of meanness which would overwhelm him for ever if he stooped to take shelter under the

generous interposition of his wife, and abandoned her, in return for her kindness, to the resentment of the

Queen. He had already raised his head with the dignity of a man of honour to avow his marriage, and

proclaim himself the protector of his Countess, when Varney, born, as it appeared, to be his master's evil

genius, rushed into the presence with every mark of disorder on his face and apparel.

Varney, with the air of a man altogether overwhelmed with grief and confusion, prostrated himself before her

feet, exclaiming, "Pardon, my Liege, pardon!or at least let your justice avenge itself on me, where it is due;

Amy, who was yet kneeling, started up as she saw the man whom she deemed most odious place himself so

near her, and was about to fly towards Leicester, when, checked at once by the uncertainty and even timidity

which his looks had reassumed as soon as the appearance of his confidant seemed to open a new scene, she

hung back, and uttering a faint scream, besought of her Majesty to cause her to be imprisoned in the lowest

dungeon of the Castle to deal with her as the worst of criminals"but spare," she exclaimed, "my sight

and hearing what will destroy the little judgment I have leftthe sight of that unutterable and most

"And why, sweetheart?" said the Queen, moved by a new impulse; "what hath he, this false knight, since such

"Oh, worse than sorrow, madam, and worse than injuryhe has sown dissension where most there should be

"Beshrew me, but I think thou art distraught already," answered the Queen."My Lord Hunsdon, look to

this poor distressed young woman, and let her be safely bestowed, and in honest keeping, till we require her

Two or three of the ladies in attendance, either moved by compassion for a creature so interesting, or by some

other motive, offered their services to look after her; but the Queen briefly answered, "Ladies, under favour,

no. You have all (give God thanks) sharp ears and nimble tongues; our kinsman Hunsdon has ears of the

dullest, and a tongue somewhat rough, but yet of the slowest.Hunsdon, look to it that none have speech of

"By Our Lady," said Hunsdon, taking in his strong, sinewy arms the fading and almost swooning form of

Amy, "she is a lovely child! and though a rough nurse, your Grace hath given her a kind one. She is safe with

So saying, he carried her off; unresistingly and almost unconsciously, his warworn locks and long, grey

beard mingling with her lightbrown tresses, as her head reclined on his strong, square shoulder. The Queen

followed him with her eye. She had already, with that selfcommand which forms so necessary a part of a

Sovereign's accomplishments, suppressed every appearance of agitation, and seemed as if she desired to

banish all traces of her burst of passion from the recollection of those who had witnessed it. "My Lord of

Hunsdon says well," she observed, "he is indeed but a rough nurse for so tender a babe."

"My Lord of Hunsdon," said the Dean of St. Asaph"I speak it not in defamation of his more noble

qualitieshath a broad license in speech, and garnishes his discourse somewhat too freely with the cruel and

"It is the fault of his blood, Mr. Dean," said the Queen, turning sharply round upon the reverend dignitary as

she spoke; "and you may blame mine for the same distemperature. The Boleyns were ever a hot and

plainspoken race, more hasty to speak their mind than careful to choose their expressions. And by my

wordI hope there is no sin in that affirmationI question if it were much cooled by mixing with that of

As she made this last observation she smiled graciously, and stole her eyes almost insensibly round to seek

those of the Earl of Leicester, to whom she now began to think she had spoken with hasty harshness upon the

The Queen's eye found the Earl in no mood to accept the implied offer of conciliation. His own looks had

followed, with late and rueful repentance, the faded form which Hunsdon had just borne from the presence.

They now reposed gloomily on the ground, but moreso at least it seemed to Elizabethwith the

expression of one who has received an unjust affront, than of him who is conscious of guilt. She turned her

face angrily from him, and said to Varney, "Speak, Sir Richard, and explain these riddles thou hast sense

As she said this, she darted another resentful glance towards Leicester, while the wily Varney hastened to tell

"Your Majesty's piercing eye," he said, "has already detected the cruel malady of my beloved lady, which,

unhappy that I am, I would not suffer to be expressed in the certificate of her physician, seeking to conceal

"She is then distraught?" said the Queen. "Indeed we doubted not of it; her whole demeanour bears it out. I

found her moping in a corner of yonder grotto; and every word she spokewhich indeed I dragged from her

as by the rackshe instantly recalled and forswore. But how came she hither? Why had you her not in

"My gracious Liege," said Varney, "the worthy gentleman under whose charge I left her, Master Anthony

Foster, has come hither but now, as fast as man and horse can travel, to show me of her escape, which she

managed with the art peculiar to many who are afflicted with this malady. He is at hand for examination."

"Let it be for another time," said the Queen. "But, Sir Richard, we envy you not your domestic felicity; your

"It is the nature of persons in her disorder, so please your Grace," answered Varney, "to be ever most

inveterate in their spleen against those whom, in their better moments, they hold nearest and dearest."

"May your Grace then be pleased," said Varney, " to command my unfortunate wife to be delivered into the

Leicester partly started; but making a strong effort, he subdued his emotion, while Elizabeth answered

sharply, "You are something too hasty, Master Varney. We will have first a report of the lady's health and

state of mind from Masters, our own physician, and then determine what shall be thought just. You shall have

license, however, to see her, that if there be any matrimonial quarrel betwixt yousuch things we have heard

do occur, even betwixt a loving coupleyou may make it up, without further scandal to our court or trouble

Elizabeth again looked towards Leicester, and said, with a degree of condescension which could only arise

out of the most heartfelt interest, "Discord, as the Italian poet says, will find her way into peaceful convents,

as well as into the privacy of families; and we fear our own guards and ushers will hardly exclude her from

courts. My Lord of Leicester, you are offended with us, and we have right to be offended with you. We will

Leicester smoothed his brow, as by an effort; but the trouble was too deepseated that its placidity should at

once return. He said, however, that which fitted the occasion, "That he could not have the happiness of

forgiving, because she who commanded him to do so could commit no injury towards him."

Elizabeth seemed content with this reply, and intimated her pleasure that the sports of the morning should

proceed. The bugles sounded, the hounds bayed, the horses pranced but the courtiers and ladies sought the

amusement to which they were summoned with hearts very different from those which had leaped to the

morning's REVIELLE. There was doubt, and fear, and expectation on every brow, and surmise and intrigue

Blount took an opportunity to whisper into Raleigh's ear, "This storm came like a levanter in the

"Nay, I know nought of your Latin," said Blount; "but I thank God Tressilian took not the sea during that

hurricane. He could scarce have missed shipwreck, knowing as he does so little how to trim his sails to a

"Why, I have profited by my time as well as thou, Sir Walter," replied honest Blount. "I am knight as well as

"Now, God further thy wit," said Raleigh. "But for Tressilian, I would I knew what were the matter with him.

He told me this morning he would not leave his chamber for the space of twelve hours or thereby, being

bound by a promise. This lady's madness, when he shall learn it, will not, I fear, cure his infirmity. The moon

is at the fullest, and men's brains are working like yeast. But hark! they sound to mount. Let us to horse,

It was not till after a long and successful morning's sport, and a prolonged repast which followed the return of

the Queen to the Castle, that Leicester at length found himself alone with Varney, from whom he now learned

the whole particulars of the Countess's escape, as they had been brought to Kenilworth by Foster, who, in his

terror for the consequences, had himself posted thither with the tidings. As Varney, in his narrative, took

especial care to be silent concerning those practices on the Countess's health which had driven her to so

desperate a resolution, Leicester, who could only suppose that she had adopted it out of jealous impatience to

attain the avowed state and appearance belonging to her rank, was not a little offended at the levity with

which his wife had broken his strict commands, and exposed him to the resentment of Elizabeth.

"I have given," he said, "to this daughter of an obscure Devonshire gentleman the proudest name in England.

I have made her sharer of my bed and of my fortunes. I ask but of her a little patience, ere she launches forth

upon the full current of her grandeur; and the infatuated woman will rather hazard her own shipwreck and

minewill rather involve me in a thousand whirlpools, shoals, and quicksands, and compel me to a thousand

devices which shame me in mine own eyesthan tarry for a little space longer in the obscurity to which she

was born. So lovely, so delicate, so fond, so faithful, yet to lack in so grave a matter the prudence which one

"We may post it over yet well enough," said Varney, "if my lady will be but ruled, and take on her the

"It is but too true, Sir Richard," said Leicester; "there is indeed no other remedy. I have heard her termed thy

wife in my presence, without contradiction. She must bear the title until she is far from Kenilworth."

"And long afterwards, I trust," said Varney; then instantly added, "For I cannot but hope it will be long after

ere she bear the title of Lady LeicesterI fear me it may scarce be with safety during the life of this Queen.

But your lordship is best judge, you alone knowing what passages have taken place betwixt Elizabeth and

"You are right, Varney," said Leicester. "I have this morning been both fool and villain; and when Elizabeth

hears of my unhappy marriage, she cannot but think herself treated with that premeditated slight which

women never forgive. We have once this day stood upon terms little short of defiance; and to those, I fear, we

"Far from it," replied the Earl; "for, being what she is in spirit and in station, she has even this day been but

too condescending, in giving me opportunities to repair what she thinks my faulty heat of temper."

"Ay," answered Varney; "the Italians say rightin lovers' quarrels, the party that loves most is always most

willing to acknowledge the greater fault. So then, my lord, if this union with the lady could be concealed, you

"Varney, I think thou art true to me, and I will tell thee all. I do NOT stand where I did. I have spoken to

Elizabethunder what mad impulse I know noton a theme which cannot be abandoned without touching

every female feeling to the quick, and which yet I dare not and cannot prosecute. She can never, never

"There is nought to be done," answered Leicester, despondingly. "I am like one that has long toiled up a

dangerous precipice, and when he is within one perilous stride of the top, finds his progress arrested when

retreat has become impossible. I see above me the pinnacle which I cannot reachbeneath me the abyss into

which I must fall, as soon as my relaxing grasp and dizzy brain join to hurl me from my present precarious

"Think better of your situation, my lord," said Varney; "let us try the experiment in which you have but now

acquiesced. Keep we your marriage from Elizabeth's knowledge, and all may yet be well. I will instantly go

to the lady myself. She hates me, because I have been earnest with your lordship, as she truly suspects, in

opposition to what she terms her rights. I care not for her prejudicesshe SHALL listen to me; and I will

show her such reasons for yielding to the pressure of the times that I doubt not to bring back her consent to

"No, Varney," said Leicester; "I have thought upon what is to be done, and I will myself speak with Amy."

It was now Varney's turn to feel upon his own account the terrors which he affected to participate solely on

"It is my fixed purpose," said Leicester. "Fetch me one of the liverycloaks; I will pass the sentinel as thy

"I will have no BUTS," replied Leicester; "it shall be even thus, and not otherwise. Hunsdon sleeps, I think,

in Saintlowe's Tower. We can go thither from these apartments by the private passage, without risk of

meeting any one. Or what if I do meet Hunsdon? he is more my friend than enemy, and thickwitted enough

Varney had no alternative save obedience. In a few minutes Leicester was muffled in the mantle, pulled his

bonnet over his brows, and followed Varney along the secret passage of the Castle which communicated with

Hunsdon's apartments, in which there was scarce a chance of meeting any inquisitive person, and hardly light

enough for any such to have satisfied their curiosity. They emerged at a door where Lord Hunsdon had, with

military precaution, placed a sentinel, one of his own northern retainers as it fortuned, who readily admitted

Sir Richard Varney and his attendant, saying only, in his northern dialect, "I would, man, thou couldst make

the mad lady be still yonder; for her moans do sae dirl through my head that I would rather keep watch on a

"Now, good devil, if there be one," said Varney, within himself, "for once help a votary at a dead pinch, for

The Countess Amy, with her hair and her garments dishevelled, was seated upon a sort of couch, in an

attitude of the deepest affliction, out of which she was startled by the opening of the door. Size turned hastily

round, and fixing her eye on Varney, exclaimed, "Wretch! art thou come to frame some new plan of

Leicester cut short her reproaches by stepping forward and dropping his cloak, while he said, in a voice rather

of authority than of affection, "It is with me, madam, you have to commune, not with Sir Richard Varney."

The change effected on the Countess's look and manner was like magic. "Dudley!" she exclaimed, "Dudley!

and art thou come at last?" And with the speed of lightning she flew to her husband, clung round his neck,

and unheeding the presence of Varney, overwhelmed him with caresses, while she bathed his face in a flood

of tears, muttering, at the same time, but in broken and disjointed monosyllables, the fondest expressions

Leicester, as it seemed to him, had reason to be angry with his lady for transgressing his commands, and thus

placing him in the perilous situation in which he had that morning stood. But what displeasure could keep its

ground before these testimonies of affection from a being so lovely, that even the negligence of dress, and the

withering effects of fear, grief, and fatigue, which would have impaired the beauty of others, rendered hers

but the more interesting. He received and repaid her caresses with fondness mingled with melancholy, the last

of which she seemed scarcely to observe, until the first transport of her own joy was over, when, looking

"Then I will be well too. O Dudley! I have been ill!very ill, since we last met!for I call not this

morning's horrible vision a meeting. I have been in sickness, in grief, and in danger. But thou art come, and

"I, my lord?" said Amy, her cheek at once losing its transient flush of joy"how could I injure that which I

"I would not upbraid you, Amy," replied the Earl; "but are you not here contrary to my express

"Does it, does it indeed?" she exclaimed eagerly; "then why am I here a moment longer? Oh, if you knew by

what fears I was urged to quit Cumnor Place! But I will say nothing of myselfonly that if it might be

"We will think, Amy, of some other retreat," said Leicester; "and you shall go to one of my northern castles,

under the personage it will be but needful, I trust, for a very few daysof Varney's wife."

"How, my Lord of Leicester!" said the lady, disengaging herself from his embraces; "is it to your wife you

give the dishonourable counsel to acknowledge herself the bride of anotherand of all men, the bride of that

"Madam, I speak it in earnestVarney is my true and faithful servant, trusted in my deepest secrets. I had

better lose my right hand than his service at this moment. You have no cause to scorn him as you do."

"I could assign one, my lord," replied the Countess; "and I see he shakes even under that assured look of his.

But he that is necessary as your right hand to your safety is free from any accusation of mine. May he be true

to you; and that he may be true, trust him not too much or too far. But it is enough to say that I will not go

with him unless by violence, nor would I acknowledge him as my husband were all"

"It is a temporary deception, madam," said Leicester, irritated by her opposition, "necessary for both our

safeties, endangered by you through female caprice, or the premature desire to seize on a rank to which I gave

you title only under condition that our marriage, for a time, should continue secret. If my proposal disgust

you, it is yourself has brought it on both of us. There is no other remedyyou must do what your own

"I cannot put your commands, my lord," said Amy, "in balance with those of honour and conscience. I will

NOT, in this instance, obey you. You may achieve your own dishonour, to which these crooked policies

naturally tend, but I will do nought that can blemish mine. How could you again, my lord, acknowledge me

as a pure and chaste matron, worthy to share your fortunes, when, holding that high character, I had strolled

the country the acknowledged wife of such a profligate fellow as your servant Varney?"

"My lord," said Varney interposing, "my lady is too much prejudiced against me, unhappily, to listen to what

I can offer, yet it may please her better than what she proposes. She has good interest with Master Edmund

Tressilian, and could doubtless prevail on him to consent to be her companion to Lidcote Hall, and there she

Leicester was silent, but stood looking eagerly on Amy, with eyes which seemed suddenly to glow as much

The Countess only said, "Would to God I were in my father's house! When I left it, I little thought I was

Varney proceeded with a tone of deliberation. "Doubtless this will make it necessary to take strangers into my

lord's counsels; but surely the Countess will be warrant for the honour of Master Tressilian, and such of her

"Peace, Varney," said Leicester; "by Heaven I will strike my dagger into thee if again thou namest Tressilian

"And wherefore not!" said the Countess; "unless they be counsels fitter for such as Varney, than for a man of

stainless honour and integrity. My lord, my lord, bend no angry brows on me; it is the truth, and it is I who

speak it. I once did Tressilian wrong for your sake; I will not do him the further injustice of being silent when

his honour is brought in question. I can forbear," she said, looking at Varney, "to pull the mask off hypocrisy,

There was a dead pause. Leicester stood displeased, yet undetermined, and too conscious of the weakness of

his cause; while Varney, with a deep and hypocritical affectation of sorrow, mingled with humility, bent his

It was then that the Countess Amy displayed, in the midst of distress and difficulty, the natural energy of

character which would have rendered her, had fate allowed, a distinguished ornament of the rank which she

held. She walked up to Leicester with a composed step, a dignified air, and looks in which strong affection

essayed in vain to shake the firmness of conscious, truth and rectitude of principle. "You have spoken your

mind, my lord," she said, "in these difficulties, with which, unhappily, I have found myself unable to comply.

This gentlemanthis person I would sayhas hinted at another scheme, to which I object not but as it

displeases you. Will your lordship be pleased to hear what a young and timid woman, but your most

Leicester was silent, but bent his head towards the Countess, as an intimation that she was at liberty to

"There hath been but one cause for all these evils, my lord," she proceeded, "and it resolves itself into the

mysterious duplicity with which you, have been induced to surround yourself. Extricate yourself at once, my

lord, from the tyranny of these disgraceful trammels. Be like a true English gentleman, knight, and earl, who

holds that truth is the foundation of honour, and that honour is dear to him as the breath of his nostrils. Take

your illfated wife by the hand, lead her to the footstool of Elizabeth's thronesay that in a moment of

infatuation, moved by supposed beauty, of which none perhaps can now trace even the remains, I gave my

hand to this Amy Robsart. You will then have done justice to me, my lord, and to your own honour and

should law or power require you to part from me, I will oppose no objection, since I may then with honour

hide a grieved and broken heart in those shades from which your love withdrew me. Then have but a little

There was so much of dignity, so much of tenderness, in the Countess's remonstrance, that it moved all that

was noble and generous in the soul of her husband. The scales seemed to fall from his eyes, and the duplicity

and tergiversation of which he had been guilty stung him at once with remorse and shame.

"I am not worthy of you, Amy," he said, "that could weigh aught which ambition has to give against such a

heart as thine. I have a bitter penance to perform, in disentangling, before sneering foes and astounded

friends, all the meshes of my own deceitful policy. And the Queenbut let her take my head, as she has

"Take your head, my lord!" said the Countess, "because you used the freedom and liberty of an English

subject in choosing a wife? For shame! it is this distrust of the Queen's justice, this apprehension of danger,

which cannot but be imaginary, that, like scarecrows, have induced you to forsake the straightforward path,

"Ah, Amy, thou little knowest!" said Dudley but instantly checking himself, he added, "Yet she shall not find

in me a safe or easy victim of arbitrary vengeance. I have friendsI have alliesI will not, like Norfolk, be

dragged to the block as a victim to sacrifice. Fear not, Amy; thou shalt see Dudley bear himself worthy of his

name. I must instantly communicate with some of those friends on whom I can best rely; for, as things stand,

"Oh, my good lord," said Amy, "make no faction in a peaceful state! There is no friend can help us so well as

our own candid truth and honour. Bring but these to our assistance, and you are safe amidst a whole army of

the envious and malignant. Leave these behind you, and all other defence will be fruitless. Truth, my noble

"But Wisdom, Amy," answered Leicester, is arrayed in panoply of proof. Argue not with me on the means I

shall use to render my confessionsince it must be called soas safe as may be; it will be fraught with

enough of danger, do what we will.Varney, we must hence.Farewell, Amy, whom I am to vindicate as

mine own, at an expense and risk of which thou alone couldst be worthy. You shall soon hear further from

He embraced her fervently, muffled himself as before, and accompanied Varney from the apartment. The

latter, as he left the room, bowed low, and as he raised his body, regarded Amy with a peculiar expression, as

if he desired to know how far his own pardon was included in the reconciliation which had taken place

betwixt her and her lord. The Countess looked upon him with a fixed eye, but seemed no more conscious of

his presence than if there had been nothing but vacant air on the spot where he stood.

"She has brought me to the crisis," he muttered"she or I am lost. There was somethingI wot not if it was

fear or pity that prompted me to avoid this fatal crisis. It is now decided she or I must PERISH."

While he thus spoke, he observed, with surprise, that a boy, repulsed by the sentinel, made up to Leicester,

and spoke with him. Varney was one of those politicians whom not the slightest appearances escape without

inquiry. He asked the sentinel what the lad wanted with him, and received for answer that the boy had wished

him to transmit a parcel to the mad lady; but that he cared not to take charge of it, such communication being

beyond his commission, His curiosity satisfied in that particular, he approached his patron, and heard him

"Thanks, good Master Servingman," said the boy, and was out of sight in an instant.

Leicester and Varney returned with hasty steps to the Earl's private apartment, by the same passage which

They were no sooner in the Earl's cabinet than, taking his tablets from his pocket, he began to write, speaking

partly to Varney, and partly to himself"There are many of them close bounden to me, and especially those

in good estate and high officemany who, if they look back towards my benefits, or forward towards the

perils which may befall themselves, will not, I think, be disposed to see me stagger unsupported. Let me see

Knollis is sure, and through his means Guernsey and Jersey. Horsey commands in the Isle of Wight. My

brotherinlaw, Huntingdon, and Pembroke, have authority in Wales. Through Bedford I lead the Puritans,

with their interest, so powerful in all the boroughs. My brother of Warwick is equal, wellnigh, to myself, in

wealth, followers, and dependencies. Sir Owen Hopton is at my devotion; he commands the Tower of

London, and the national treasure deposited there. My father and grandfather needed never to have stooped

their heads to the block had they thus forecast their enterprises.Why look you so sad, Varney? I tell thee, a

"Alas! my lord," said Varney, with wellacted passion, and then resumed the same look of despondency

"Alas!" repeated Leicester; "and wherefore alas, Sir Richard? Doth your new spirit of chivalry supply no

more vigorous ejaculation when a noble struggle is impending? Or, if ALAS means thou wilt flinch from the

conflict, thou mayest leave the Castle, or go join mine enemies, whichever thou thinkest best."

"Not so, my lord," answered his confidant; "Varney will be found fighting or dying by your side. Forgive me,

if, in love to you, I see more fully than your noble heart permits you to do, the inextricable difficulties with

which you are surrounded. You are strong, my lord, and powerful; yet, let me say it without offence, you are

so only by the reflected light of the Queen's favour. While you are Elizabeth's favourite, you are all, save in

name, like an actual sovereign. But let her call back the honours she has bestowed, and the prophet's gourd

did not wither more suddenly. Declare against the Queen, and I do not say that in the wide nation, or in this

province alone, you would find yourself instantly deserted and outnumbered; but I will say, that even in this

very Castle, and in the midst of your vassals, kinsmen, and dependants, you would be a captive, nay, a

sentenced captive, should she please to say the word. Think upon Norfolk, my lordupon the powerful

Northumberlandthe splendid Westmoreland;think on all who have made head against this sage Princess.

They are dead, captive, or fugitive. This is not like other thrones, which can be overturned by a combination

of powerful nobles; the broad foundations which support it are in the extended love and affections of the

people. You might share it with Elizabeth if you would; but neither yours, nor any other power, foreign or

He paused, and Leicester threw his tablets from him with an air of reckless despite. "It may be as thou

sayest," he said? "and, in sooth, I care not whether truth or cowardice dictate thy forebodings. But it shall not

Give orders that those of my retainers who served under me in Ireland be gradually drawn into the main

Keep, and let our gentlemen and friends stand on their guard, and go armed, as if they expected arm onset

from the followers of Sussex. Possess the townspeople with some apprehension; let them take arms, and be

"Let me remind you, my lord," said Varney, with the same appearance of deep and melancholy interest, "that

you have given me orders to prepare for disarming the Queen's guard. It is an act of high treason, but you

"I care not," said Leicester desperately"I care not. Shame is behind me, ruin before me; I must on."

Here there was another pause, which Varney at length broke with the following words: "It is come to the

point I have long dreaded. I must either witness, like an ungrateful beast, the downfall of the best and kindest

of masters, or I must speak what I would have buried in the deepest oblivion, or told by any other mouth than

"What is that thou sayest, or wouldst say?" replied the Earl; "we have no time to waste on words when the

"My speech is soon made, my lordwould to God it were as soon answered! Your marriage is the sole cause

"Pardon me, my lord," said Varney; "the use lies here. Men will wager their lands and lives in defence of a

rich diamond, my lord; but were it not first prudent to look if there is no flaw in it?"

"What means this?" said Leicester, with eyes sternly fixed on his dependant; "of whom dost thou dare to

"It isof the Countess Amy, my lord, of whom I am unhappily bound to speak; and of whom I WILL speak,

"Thou mayest happen to deserve it at my hand," said the Earl; "but speak on, I will hear thee."

"Nay, then, my lord, I will be bold. I speak for my own life as well as for your lordship's. I like not this lady's

tampering and trickstering with this same Edmund Tressilian. You know him, my lord. You know he had

formerly an interest in her, which it cost your lordship some pains to supersede. You know the eagerness with

which he has pressed on the suit against me in behalf of this lady, the open object of which is to drive your

lordship to an avowal of what I must ever call your most unhappy marriage, the point to which my lady also

Leicester smiled constrainedly. "Thou meanest well, good Sir Richard, and wouldst, I think, sacrifice thine

own honour, as well as that of any other person, to save me from what thou thinkest a step so terrible. But

remember"he spoke these words with the most stern decision"you speak of the Countess of Leicester."

"I do, my lord," said Varney; "but it is for the welfare of the Earl of Leicester. My tale is but begun. I do most

strongly believe that this Tressilian has, from the beginning of his moving in her cause, been in connivance

"Thou speakest wild madness, Varney, with the sober face of a preacher. Where, or how, could they

"My lord," said Varney, "unfortunately I can show that but too well. It was just before the supplication was

presented to the Queen, in Tressilian's name, that I met him, to my utter astonishment, at the postern gate

"Thou met'st him, villain! and why didst thou not strike him dead?" exclaimed Leicester.

"I drew on him, my lord, and he on me; and had not my foot slipped, he would not, perhaps, have been again

Leicester seemed struck dumb with surprise. At length he answered, "What other evidence hast thou of this,

Varney, save thine own assertion?for, as I will punish deeply, I will examine coolly and warily. Sacred

Heaven!but noI will examine coldly and warilycoldly and warily." He repeated these words more than

once to himself, as if in the very sound there was a sedative quality; and again compressing his lips, as if he

feared some violent expression might escape from them, he asked again, "What further proof?"

"Enough, my lord," said Varney, "and to spare. I would it rested with me alone, for with me it might have

been silenced for ever. But my servant, Michael Lambourne, witnessed the whole, and was, indeed, the

means of first introducing Tressilian into Cumnor Place; and therefore I took him into my service, and

retained him in it, though something of a debauched fellow, that I might have his tongue always under my

own command." He then acquainted Lord Leicester how easy it was to prove the circumstance of their

interview true, by evidence of Anthony Foster, with the corroborative testimonies of the various persons at

Cumnor, who had heard the wager laid, and had seen Lambourne and Tressilian set off together. In the whole

narrative, Varney hazarded nothing fabulous, excepting that, not indeed by direct assertion, but by inference,

he led his patron to suppose that the interview betwixt Amy and Tressilian at Cumnor Place had been longer

"And wherefore was I not told of all this?" said Leicester sternly. "Why did all of yeand in particular thou,

"Because, my lord," replied Varney, "the Countess pretended to Foster and to me that Tressilian had intruded

himself upon her; and I concluded their interview had been in all honour, and that she would at her own time

tell it to your lordship. Your lordship knows with what unwilling ears we listen to evil surmises against those

whom we love; and I thank Heaven I am no makebate or informer, to be the first to sow them."

"You are but too ready to receive them, however, Sir Richard," replied his patron. "How knowest thou that

this interview was not in all honour, as thou hast said? Methinks the wife of the Earl of Leicester might speak

for a short time with such a person as Tressilian without injury to me or suspicion to herself."

"Questionless, my lord," answered Varney, "Had I thought otherwise, I had been no keeper of the secret. But

here lies the rubTressilian leaves not the place without establishing a correspondence with a poor man, the

landlord of an inn in Cumnor, for the purpose of carrying off the lady. He sent down an emissary of his,

whom I trust soon to have in right sure keeping under Mervyn's TowerKilligrew and Lambsbey are

scouring the country in quest of him. The host is rewarded with a ring for keeping counselyour lordship

may have noted it on Tressilian's handhere it is. This fellow, this agent, makes his way to the place as a

pedlar; holds conferences with the lady, and they make their escape together by night; rob a poor fellow of a

horse by the way, such was their guilty haste, and at length reach this Castle, where the Countess of Leicester

"Speak, I command thee," said Leicester"speak, while I retain sense enough to hear thee."

"Since it must be so," answered Varney, "the lady resorted immediately to the apartment of Tressilian, where

she remained many hours, partly in company with him, and partly alone. I told you Tressilian had a paramour

"Amy, thou wouldst say," answered Leicester; "but it is false, false as the smoke of hell! Ambitious she may

befickle and impatient'tis a woman's fault; but false to me!never, never. The proofthe proof of

"Carrol, the Deputy Marshal, ushered her thither by her own desire, on yesterday afternoon; Lambourne and

"No, my lord. You may remember," answered Varney, "that he was that night placed with Sir Nicholas

"No, my lord," replied Varney; "Carrol and the Warder had never seen the Countess, and Lambourne knew

her not in her disguise. But in seeking to prevent her leaving the cell, he obtained possession of one of her

He gave the glove, which had the Bear and Ragged Staff, the Earl's impress, embroidered upon it in

"I doI do recognize it," said Leicester. "They were my own gift. The fellow of it was on the arm which she

"Your lordship," said Varney, "might yet further inquire of the lady herself respecting the truth of these

"It needs notit needs not," said the tortured Earl; "it is written in characters of burning light, as if they were

branded on my very eyeballs! I see her infamyI can see nought else; andgracious Heaven!for this vile

woman was I about to commit to danger the lives of so many noble friends, shake the foundation of a lawful

throne, carry the sword and torch through the bosom of a peaceful land, wrong the kind mistress who made

me what I am, and would, but for that hellframed marriage, have made me all that man can be! All this I

was ready to do for a woman who trinkets and traffics with my worst foes!And thou, villain, why didst

"My lord," said Varney, "a tear from my lady would have blotted out all I could have said. Besides, I had not

these proofs until this very morning, when Anthony Foster's sudden arrival with the examinations and

declarations, which he had extorted from the innkeeper Gosling and others, explained the manner of her flight

from Cumnor Place, and my own researches discovered the steps which she had taken here."

"Now, may God be praised for the light He has given! so full, so satisfactory, that there breathes not a man in

England who shall call my proceeding rash, or my revenge unjust.And yet, Varney, so young, so fair, so

fawning, and so false! Hence, then, her hatred to thee, my trusty, my wellbeloved servant, because you

"I never gave her any other cause of dislike, my lord," replied Varney. "But she knew that my counsels went

directly to diminish her influence with your lordship; and that I was, and have been, ever ready to peril my

"It is too, too apparent," replied Leicester "yet with what an air of magnanimity she exhorted me to commit

my head to the Queen's mercy, rather than wear the veil of falsehood a moment longer! Methinks the angel of

truth himself can have no such tones of highsouled impulse. Can it be so, Varney?can falsehood use thus

boldly the language of truth?can infamy thus assume the guise of purity? Varney, thou hast been my

servant from a child. I have raised thee highcan raise thee higher. Think, think for me!thy brain was

ever shrewd and piercing may she not be innocent? Prove her so, and all I have yet done for thee shall be

The agony with which his master spoke had some effect even on the hardened Varney, who, in the midst of

his own wicked and ambitious designs, really loved his patron as well as such a wretch was capable of loving

anything. But he comforted himself, and subdued his selfreproaches, with the reflection that if he inflicted

upon the Earl some immediate and transitory pain, it was in order to pave his way to the throne, which, were

this marriage dissolved by death or otherwise, he deemed Elizabeth would willingly share with his

benefactor. He therefore persevered in his diabolical policy; and after a moment's consideration, answered the

anxious queries of the Earl with a melancholy look, as if he had in vain sought some exculpation for the

Countess; then suddenly raising his head, he said, with an expression of hope, which instantly communicated

itself to the countenance of his patron"Yet wherefore, if guilty, should she have perilled herself by coming

hither? Why not rather have fled to her father's, or elsewhere?though that, indeed, might have interfered

"True, true, true!" exclaimed Leicester, his transient gleam of hope giving way to the utmost bitterness of

feeling and expression; "thou art not fit to fathom a woman's depth of wit, Varney. I see it all. She would not

quit the estate and title of the wittol who had wedded her. Ay, and if in my madness I had started into

rebellion, or if the angry Queen had taken my head, as she this morning threatened, the wealthy dower which

law would have assigned to the Countess Dowager of Leicester had been no bad windfall to the beggarly

Tressilian. Well might she goad me on to danger, which could not end otherwise than profitably to

"My lord," replied Varney, "the wildness of your distress breaks forth in the wildness of your language,"

"I say, speak not for her!" replied Leicester; "she has dishonoured meshe would have murdered meall

ties are burst between us. She shall die the death of a traitress and adulteress, well merited both by the laws of

God and man! And what is this casket," he said, "which was even now thrust into my hand by a boy, with

the desire I would convey it to Tressilian, as he could not give it to the Countess? By Heaven! the words

surprised me as he spoke them, though other matters chased them from my brain; but now they return with

double force. It is her casket of jewels!Force it open, Varneyforce the hinges open with thy poniard!"

"She refused the aid of my dagger once," thought Varney, as he unsheathed the weapon, "to cut the string

which bound a letter, but now it shall work a mightier ministry in her fortunes."

With this reflection, by using the threecornered stilettoblade as a wedge, he forced open the slender silver

hinges of the casket. The Earl no sooner saw them give way than he snatched the casket from Sir Richard's

hand, wrenched off the cover, and tearing out the splendid contents, flung them on the floor in a transport of

rage, while he eagerly searched for some letter or billet which should make the fancied guilt of his innocent

Countess yet more apparent. Then stamping furiously on the gems, he exclaimed, "Thus I annihilate the

miserable toys for which thou hast sold thyself, body and soulconsigned thyself to an early and timeless

death, and me to misery and remorse for ever! Tell me not of forgiveness, Varneyshe is doomed!"

So saying, he left the room, and rushed into an adjacent closet, the door of which he locked and bolted.

Varney looked after him, while something of a more human feeling seemed to contend with his habitual

sneer. "I am sorry for his weakness," he said, "but love has made him a child. He throws down and treads on

these costly toyswith the same vehemence would he dash to pieces this frailest toy of all, of which he used

to rave so fondly. But that taste also will be forgotten when its object is no more. Well, he has no eye to value

things as they deserve, and that nature has given to Varney. When Leicester shall be a sovereign, he will

think as little of the gales of passion through which he gained that royal port, as ever did sailor in harbour of

the perils of a voyage. But these tell tale articles must not remain herethey are rather too rich vails for the

While Varney was employed in gathering together and putting them into a secret drawer of a cabinet that

chanced to be open, he saw the door of Leicester's closet open, the tapestry pushed aside, and the Earl's face

thrust out, but with eyes so dead, and lips and cheeks so bloodless and pale, that he started at the sudden

change. No sooner did his eyes encounter the Earl's, than the latter withdrew his head and shut the door of the

closet. This manoeuvre Leicester repeated twice, without speaking a word, so that Varney began to doubt

whether his brain was not actually affected by his mental agony. The third time, however, he beckoned, and

Varney obeyed the signal. When he entered, he soon found his patron's perturbation was not caused by

insanity, but by the fullness of purpose which he entertained contending with various contrary passions. They

passed a full hour in close consultation; after which the Earl of Leicester, with an incredible exertion, dressed

It was afterwards remembered that during the banquets and revels which occupied the remainder of this

eventful day the bearing of Leicester and of Varney were totally different from their usual demeanour. Sir

Richard Varney had been held rather a man of counsel and of action than a votary of pleasure. Business,

whether civil or military, seemed always to be his proper sphere; and while in festivals and revels, although

he well understood how to trick them up and present them, his own part was that of a mere spectator; or if he

exercised his wit, it was in a rough, caustic, and severe manner, rather as if he scoffed at the exhibition and

But upon the present day his character seemed changed. He mixed among the younger courtiers and ladies,

and appeared for the moment to be actuated by a spirit of lighthearted gaiety, which rendered him a match

for the liveliest. Those who had looked upon him as a man given up to graver and more ambitious pursuits, a

bitter sneerer and passer of sarcasms at the expense of those who, taking life as they find it, were disposed to

snatch at each pastime it presents, now perceived with astonishment that his wit could carry as smooth an

edge as their own, his laugh be as lively, and his brow as unclouded. By what art of damnable hypocrisy he

could draw this veil of gaiety over the black thoughts of one of the worst of human bosoms must remain

unintelligible to all but his compeers, if any such ever existed; but he was a man of extraordinary powers, and

those powers were unhappily dedicated in all their energy to the very worst of purposes.

It was entirely different with Leicester. However habituated his mind usually was to play the part of a good

courtier, and appear gay, assiduous, and free from all care but that of enhancing the pleasure of the moment,

while his bosom internally throbbed with the pangs of unsatisfied ambition, jealousy, or resentment, his heart

had now a yet more dreadful guest, whose workings could not be overshadowed or suppressed; and you

might read in his vacant eye and troubled brow that his thoughts were far absent from the scenes in which he

was compelling himself to play a part. He looked, moved, and spoke as if by a succession of continued

efforts; and it seemed as if his will had in some degree lost the promptitude of command over the acute mind

and goodly form of which it was the regent. His actions and gestures, instead of appearing the consequence of

simple volition, seemed, like those of an automaton, to wait the revolution of some internal machinery ere

they could be performed; and his words fell from him piecemeal, interrupted, as if he had first to think what

he was to say, then how it was to be said, and as if, after all, it was only by an effort of continued attention

The singular effects which these distractions of mind produced upon the behaviour and conversation of the

most accomplished courtier of England, as they were visible to the lowest and dullest menial who approached

his person, could not escape the notice of the most intelligent Princess of the age. Nor is there the least doubt

that the alternate negligence and irregularity of his manner would have called down Elizabeth's severe

displeasure on the Earl of Leicester, had it not occurred to her to account for it by supposing that the

apprehension of that displeasure which she had expressed towards him with such vivacity that very morning

was dwelling upon the spirits of her favourite, and, spite of his efforts to the contrary, distracted the usual

graceful tenor of his mien and the charms of his conversation. When this idea, so flattering to female vanity,

had once obtained possession of her mind, it proved a full and satisfactory apology for the numerous errors

and mistakes of the Earl of Leicester; and the watchful circle around observed with astonishment, that,

instead of resenting his repeated negligence, and want of even ordinary attention (although these were points

on which she was usually extremely punctilious), the Queen sought, on the contrary, to afford him time and

means to recollect himself, and deigned to assist him in doing so, with an indulgence which seemed

altogether inconsistent with her usual character. It was clear, however, that this could not last much longer,

and that Elizabeth must finally put another and more severe construction on Leicester's uncourteous conduct,

when the Earl was summoned by Varney to speak with him in a different apartment.

After having had the message twice delivered to him, he rose, and was about to withdraw, as it were, by

instinct; then stopped, and turning round, entreated permission of the Queen to absent himself for a brief

"Go, my lord," said the Queen. "We are aware our presence must occasion sudden and unexpected

occurrences, which require to be provided for on the instant. Yet, my lord, as you would have us believe

ourself your welcome and honoured guest, we entreat you to think less of our good cheer, and favour us with

more of your good countenance than we have this day enjoyed; for whether prince or peasant be the guest,

the welcome of the host will always be the better part of the entertainment. Go, my lord; and we trust to see

you return with an unwrinkled brow, and those free thoughts which you are wont to have at the disposal of

Leicester only bowed low in answer to this rebuke, and retired. At the door of the apartment he was met by

"He has, my lord; and as she would neither answer his queries, nor allege any reason for her refusal, he will

give full testimony that she labours under a mental disorder, and may be best committed to the charge of her

"He will not know of her departure for some time," replied Varney; "it shall take place this very evening, and

"No, by my soul," answered Leicester; "I will take vengeance on him with mine own hand!"

"You, my lord, and on so inconsiderable a man as Tressilian! No, my lord, he hath long wished to visit

foreign parts. Trust him to meI will take care he returns not hither to tell tales."

"Not so, by Heaven, Varney!" exclaimed Leicester. "Inconsiderable do you call an enemy that hath had

power to wound me so deeply that my whole afterlife must be one scene of remorse and misery?No;

rather than forego the right of doing myself justice with my own hand on that accursed villain, I will unfold

the whole truth at Elizabeth's footstool, and let her vengeance descend at once on them and on myself."

Varney saw with great alarm that his lord was wrought up to such a pitch of agitation, that if he gave not way

to him he was perfectly capable of adopting the desperate resolution which he had announced, and which was

instant ruin to all the schemes of ambition which Varney had formed for his patron and for himself. But the

Earl's rage seemed at once uncontrollable and deeply concentrated, and while he spoke his eyes shot fire, his

His confidant made a bold and successful effort to obtain the mastery of him even in this hour of emotion.

"My lord," he said, leading him to a mirror, "behold your reflection in that glass, and think if these agitated

features belong to one who, in a condition so extreme, is capable of forming a resolution for himself"

"What, then, wouldst thou make me?" said Leicester, struck at the change in his own physiognomy, though

offended at the freedom with which Varney made the appeal. "Am I to be thy ward, thy vassal,the property

"No, my lord," said Varney firmly, "but be master of yourself, and of your own passion. My lord, I, your born

servant, am ashamed to see how poorly you bear yourself in the storm of fury. Go to Elizabeth's feet, confess

your marriageimpeach your wife and her paramour of adulteryand avow yourself, amongst all your

peers, the wittol who married a country girl, and was cozened by her and her booklearned gallant. Go, my

lordbut first take farewell of Richard Varney, with all the benefits you ever conferred on him. He served

the noble, the lofty, the high minded Leicester, and was more proud of depending on him than he would be

of commanding thousands. But the abject lord who stoops to every adverse circumstance, whose judicious

resolves are scattered like chaff before every wind of passion, him Richard Varney serves not. He is as much

Varney spoke thus without hypocrisy, for though the firmness of mind which he boasted was hardness and

impenetrability, yet he really felt the ascendency which he vaunted; while the interest which he actually felt

Leicester was overpowered by his assumed superiority it seemed to the unfortunate Earl as if his last friend

was about to abandon him. He stretched his hand towards Varney as he uttered the words, "Do not leave me.

"Be thyself, my noble master," said Varney, touching the Earl's hand with his lips, after having respectfully

grasped it in his own; "be yourself, superior to those storms of passion which wreck inferior minds. Are you

the first who has been cozened in lovethe first whom a vain and licentious woman has cheated into an

affection, which she has afterwards scorned and misused? And will you suffer yourself to be driven frantic

because you have not been wiser than the wisest men whom the world has seen? Let her be as if she had not

beenlet her pass from your memory, as unworthy of ever having held a place there. Let your strong resolve

of this morning, which I have both courage, zeal, and means enough to execute, be like the fiat of a superior

While he was speaking, the Earl held his hand fast, compressed his lips hard, and frowned, as if he laboured

to catch from Varney a portion of the cold, ruthless, and dispassionate firmness which he recommended.

When he was silent, the Earl still continued to rasp his hand, until, with an effort at calm decision, he was

"Not one, my lord," interrupted Varney, who saw by the quivering eye and convulsed cheek of his patron that

he was about to give way to a burst of emotion"not a tearthe time permits it not. Tressilian must be

"That indeed is a name," said the Earl, "to convert tears into blood. Varney, I have thought on this, and I have

determined neither entreaty nor argument shall move meTressilian shall be my own victim."

"It is madness, my lord; but you are too mighty for me to bar your way to your revenge. Yet resolve at least

to choose fitting time and opportunity, and to forbear him until these shall be found."

"Thou shalt order me in what thou wilt," said Leicester, "only thwart me not in this."

"Then, my lord," said Varney, "I first request of you to lay aside the wild, suspected, and halffrenzied

demeanour which hath this day drawn the eyes of all the court upon you, and which, but for the Queen's

partial indulgence, which she hath extended towards you in a degree far beyond her nature, she had never

"Have I indeed been so negligent?" said Leicester, as one who awakes from a dream. "I thought I had

coloured it well. But fear nothing, my mind is now easedI am calm. My horoscope shall be fulfilled; and

that it may be fulfilled, I will tax to the highest every faculty of my mind. Fear me not, I say. I will to the

Queen instantlynot thine own looks and language shall be more impenetrable than mine. Hast thou aught

"I must crave your signetring," said Varney gravely, "in token to those of your servants whom I must

Leicester drew off the signetring which he commonly used, and gave it to Varney, with a haggard and stern

expression of countenance, adding only, in a low, halfwhispered tone, but with terrific emphasis, the words,

Some anxiety and wonder took place, meanwhile, in the presence hall, at the prolonged absence of the noble

Lord of the Castle, and great was the delight of his friends when they saw him enter as a man from whose

bosom, to all human seeming, a weight of care had been just removed. Amply did Leicester that day redeem

the pledge he had given to Varney, who soon saw himself no longer under the necessity of maintaining a

character so different from his own as that which he had assumed in the earlier part of the day, and gradually

relapsed into the same grave, shrewd, caustic observer of conversation and incident which constituted his

With Elizabeth, Leicester played his game as one to whom her natural strength of talent and her weakness in

one or two particular points were well known. He was too wary to exchange on a sudden the sullen personage

which he had played before he retired with Varney; but on approaching her it seemed softened into a

melancholy, which had a touch of tenderness in it, and which, in the course of conversing with Elizabeth, and

as she dropped in compassion one mark of favour after another to console him, passed into a flow of

affectionate gallantry, the most assiduous, the most delicate, the most insinuating, yet at the same time the

most respectful, with which a Queen was ever addressed by a subject. Elizabeth listened as in a sort of

enchantment. Her jealousy of power was lulled asleep; her resolution to forsake all social or domestic ties,

and dedicate herself exclusively to the care of her people, began to be shaken; and once more the star of

But Leicester did not enjoy this triumph over nature, and over conscience, without its being embittered to

him, not only by the internal rebellion of his feelings against the violence which he exercised over them, but

by many accidental circumstances, which, in the course of the banquet, and during the subsequent

amusements of the evening, jarred upon that nerve, the least vibration of which was agony.

The courtiers were, for example, in the Great Hall, after having left the banquetingroom, awaiting the

appearance of a splendid masque, which was the expected entertainment of this evening, when the Queen

interrupted a wild career of wit which the Earl of Leicester was running against Lord Willoughby, Raleigh,

and some other courtiers, by saying, "We will impeach you of high treason, my lord, if you proceed in this

attempt to slay us with laughter. And here comes a thing may make us all grave at his pleasure, our learned

physician Masters, with news belike of our poor suppliant, Lady Varney;nay, my lord, we will not have

you leave us, for this being a dispute betwixt married persons, we do not hold our own experience deep

enough to decide thereon without good counsel.How now, Masters, what thinkest thou of the runaway

The smile with which Leicester had been speaking, when the Queen interrupted him, remained arrested on his

lips, as if it had been carved there by the chisel of Michael Angelo or of Chantrey; and he listened to the

"The Lady Varney, gracious Sovereign," said the court physician Masters, "is sullen, and would hold little

conference with me touching the state of her health, talking wildly of being soon to plead her own cause

"Now the heavens forfend!" said the Queen; "we have already suffered from the misconstructions and broils

which seem to follow this poor brainsick lady wherever she comes.Think you not so, my lord?" she

added, appealing to Leicester with something in her look that indicated regret, even tenderly expressed, for

their disagreement of that morning. Leicester compelled himself to bow low. The utmost force he could exert

was inadequate to the further effort of expressing in words his acquiescence in the Queen's sentiment.

"You are vindictive," she said, "my lord; but we will find time and place to punish you. But once more to this

"She is sullen, madam, as I already said," replied Masters, "and refuses to answer interrogatories, or be

amenable to the authority of the mediciner. I conceive her to be possessed with a delirium, which I incline to

term rather HYPOCHONDRIA than PHRENESIS; and I think she were best cared for by her husband in his

own house, and removed from all this bustle of pageants, which disturbs her weak brain with the most

fantastic phantoms. She drops hints as if she were some great person in disguise some Countess or

Princess perchance. God help them, such are often the hallucinations of these infirm persons!"

"Nay, then," said the Queen, "away with her with all speed. Let Varney care for her with fitting humanity; but

let them rid the Castle of her forthwith she will think herself lady of all, I warrant you. It is pity so fair a form,

"It is pity indeed," said the Earl, repeating the words like a task which was set him.

"But, perhaps," said Elizabeth, "you do not join with us in our opinion of her beauty; and indeed we have

known men prefer a statelier and more Junolike form to that drooping fragile one that hung its head like a

broken lily. Ay, men are tyrants, my lord, who esteem the animation of the strife above the triumph of an

unresisting conquest, and, like sturdy champions, love best those women who can wage contest with

them.I could think with you, Rutland, that give my Lord of Leicester such a piece of painted wax for a

As she said this, she looked on Leicester so expressively that, while his heart revolted against the egregious

falsehood, he did himself so much violence as to reply in a whisper that Leicester's love was more lowly than

her Majesty deemed, since it was settled where he could never command, but must ever obey.

The Queen blushed, and bid him be silent; yet looked as of she expected that he would not obey her

commands. But at that moment the flourish of trumpets and kettledrums from a high balcony which

overlooked the hall announced the entrance of the maskers, and relieved Leicester from the horrible state of

constraint and dissimulation in which the result of his own duplicity had placed him.

The masque which entered consisted of four separate bands, which followed each other at brief intervals,

each consisting of six principal persons and as many torchbearers, and each representing one of the various

The aboriginal Britons, who first entered, were ushered in by two ancient Druids, whose hoary hair was

crowned with a chaplet of oak, and who bore in their hands branches of mistletoe. The maskers who followed

these venerable figures were succeeded by two Bards, arrayed in white, and bearing harps, which they

occasionally touched, singing at the same time certain stanzas of an ancient hymn to Belus, or the Sun. The

aboriginal Britons had been selected from amongst the tallest and most robust young gentlemen in attendance

on the court. Their masks were accommodated with long, shaggy beards and hair; their vestments were of the

hides of wolves and bears; while their legs, arms, and the upper parts of their bodies, being sheathed in flesh

coloured silk, on which were traced in grotesque lines representations of the heavenly bodies, and of animals

and other terrestrial objects, gave them the lively appearance of our painted ancestors, whose freedom was

The sons of Rome, who came to civilize as well as to conquer, were next produced before the princely

assembly; and the manager of the revels had correctly imitated the high crest and military habits of that

celebrated people, accommodating them with the light yet strong buckler and the short twoedged sword, the

use of which had made them victors of the world. The Roman eagles were borne before them by two

standardbearers, who recited a hymn to Mars, and the classical warriors followed with the grave and

The third quadrille represented the Saxons, clad in the bearskins which they had brought with them from the

German forests, and bearing in their hands the redoubtable battleaxes which made such havoc among the

natives of Britain. They were preceded by two Scalds, who chanted the praises of Odin.

Last came the knightly Normans, in their mailshirts and hoods of steel, with all the panoply of chivalry, and

These four bands entered the spacious hall with the utmost order, a short pause being made, that the

spectators might satisfy their curiosity as to each quadrille before the appearance of the next. They then

marched completely round the hall, in order the more fully to display themselves, regulating their steps to

organs, shalms, hautboys, and virginals, the music of the Lord Leicester's household. At length the four

quadrilles of maskers, ranging their torchbearers behind them, drew up in their several ranks on the two

opposite sides of the hall, so that the Romans confronting the Britons, and the Saxons the Normans, seemed

to look on each other with eyes of wonder, which presently appeared to kindle into anger, expressed by

menacing gestures. At the burst of a strain of martial music from the gallery the maskers drew their swords

on all sides, and advanced against each other in the measured steps of a sort of Pyrrhic or military dance,

clashing their swords against their adversaries' shields, and clattering them against their blades as they passed

each other in the progress of the dance. It was a very pleasant spectacle to see how the various bands,

preserving regularity amid motions which seemed to be totally irregular, mixed together, and then

disengaging themselves, resumed each their own original rank as the music varied.

In this symbolical dance were represented the conflicts which had taken place among the various nations

At length, after many mazy evolutions, which afforded great pleasure to the spectators, the sound of a

loudvoiced trumpet was heard, as if it blew for instant battle, or for victory won. The maskers instantly

ceased their mimic strife, and collecting themselves under their original leaders, or presenters, for such was

the appropriate phrase, seemed to share the anxious expectation which the spectators experienced concerning

The doors of the hall were thrown wide, and no less a person entered than the fiendborn Merlin, dressed in a

About him and behind him fluttered or gambolled many extraordinary forms, intended to represent the spirits

who waited to do his powerful bidding; and so much did this part of the pageant interest the menials and

others of the lower class then in the Castle, that many of them forgot even the reverence due to the Queen's

The Earl of Leicester, seeing his officers had some difficulty to repel these intruders, without more

disturbance than was fitting where the Queen was in presence, arose and went himself to the bottom of the

hall; Elizabeth, at the same time, with her usual feeling for the common people, requesting that they might be

permitted to remain undisturbed to witness the pageant. Leicester went under this pretext; but his real motive

was to gain a moment to himself, and to relieve his mind, were it but for one instant, from the dreadful task of

hiding, under the guise of gaiety and gallantry, the lacerating pangs of shame, anger, remorse, and thirst for

vengeance. He imposed silence by his look and sign upon the vulgar crowd at the lower end of the apartment;

but instead of instantly returning to wait on her Majesty, he wrapped his cloak around him, and mixing with

the crowd, stood in some degree an undistinguished spectator of the progress of the masque.

Merlin having entered, and advanced into the midst of the hall, summoned the presenters of the contending

bands around him by a wave of his magical rod, and announced to them, in a poetical speech, that the isle of

Britain was now commanded by a Royal Maiden, to whom it was the will of fate that they should all do

homage, and request of her to pronounce on the various pretensions which each set forth to be esteemed the

preeminent stock, from which the present natives, the happy subjects of that angelical Princess, derived their

In obedience to this mandate, the bands, each moving to solemn music, passed in succession before

Elizabeth, doing her, as they passed, each after the fashion of the people whom they represented, the lowest

and most devotional homage, which she returned with the same gracious courtesy that had marked her whole

The presenters of the several masques or quadrilles then alleged, each in behalf of his own troop, the reasons

which they had for claiming preeminence over the rest; and when they had been all heard in turn, she

returned them this gracious answer: "That she was sorry she was not better qualified to decide upon the

doubtful question which had been propounded to her by the direction of the famous Merlin, but that it seemed

to her that no single one of these celebrated nations could claim preeminence over the others, as having

most contributed to form the Englishman of her own time, who unquestionably derived from each of them

some worthy attribute of his character. Thus," she said, "the Englishman had from the ancient Briton his bold

and tameless spirit of freedom; from the Roman his disciplined courage in war, with his love of letters and

civilization in time of peace; from the Saxon his wise and equitable laws; and from the chivalrous Norman

Merlin answered with readiness that it did indeed require that so many choice qualities should meet in the

English, as might render them in some measure the muster of the perfections of other nations, since that alone

could render them in some degree deserving of the blessings they enjoyed under the reign of England's

The music then sounded, and the quadrilles, together with Merlin and his assistants, had begun to remove

from the crowded hall, when Leicester, who was, as we have mentioned, stationed for the moment near the

bottom of the hall, and consequently engaged in some degree in the crowd, felt himself pulled by the cloak,

while a voice whispered in his ear, "My Lord, I do desire some instant conference with you."

"I desire some conference with you." The words were simple in themselves, but Lord Leicester was in that

alarmed and feverish state of mind when the most ordinary occurrences seem fraught with alarming import;

and he turned hastily round to survey the person by whom they had been spoken. There was nothing

remarkable in the speaker's appearance, which consisted of a black silk doublet and short mantle, with a black

vizard on his face; for it appeared he had been among the crowd of masks who had thronged into the hall in

the retinue of Merlin, though he did not wear any of the extravagant disguises by which most of them were

"Who are you, or what do you want with me?" said Leicester, not without betraying, by his accents, the

"No evil, my lord," answered the mask, "but much good and honour, if you will rightly understand my

"I can speak with no nameless stranger," answered Leicester, dreading he knew not precisely what from the

request of the stranger; "and those who are known to me must seek another and a fitter time to ask an

"Those who talk to your lordship of what your own honour demands have a right over your time, whatever

"Your own conduct alone can furnish grounds for accusing it, my lord, and it is that topic on which I would

"You are insolent," said Leicester, "and abuse the hospitable license of the time, which prevents me from

"Edmund Tressilian of Cornwall," answered the mask. "My tongue has been bound by a promise for

fourandtwenty hours. The space is passed,I now speak, and do your lordship the justice to address

The thrill of astonishment which had penetrated to Leicester's very heart at hearing that name pronounced by

the voice of the man he most detested, and by whom he conceived himself so deeply injured, at first rendered

him immovable, but instantly gave way to such a thirst for revenge as the pilgrim in the desert feels for the

waterbrooks. He had but sense and selfgovernment enough left to prevent his stabbing to the heart the

audacious villain, who, after the ruin he had brought upon him, dared, with such unmoved assurance, thus to

practise upon him further. Determined to suppress for the moment every symptom of agitation, in order to

perceive the full scope of Tressilian's purpose, as well as to secure his own vengeance, he answered in a tone

so altered by restrained passion as scarce to be intelligible, "And what does Master Edmund Tressilian

"Justice," said Leicester, "all men are entitled to. YOU, Master Tressilian, are peculiarly so, and be assured

"I expect nothing less from your nobleness," answered Tressilian; "but time presses, and I must speak with

"No," answered Leicester sternly, "not under a roof, and that roof mine own. We will meet under the free

"You are discomposed or displeased, my lord," replied Tressilian; "yet there is no occasion for

distemperature. The place is equal to me, so you allow me one halfhour of your time uninterrupted."

"A shorter time will, I trust, suffice," answered Leicester. "Meet me in the Pleasance when the Queen has

"Enough," said Tressilian, and withdrew; while a sort of rapture seemed for the moment to occupy the mind

"Heaven," he said, "is at last favourable to me, and has put within my reach the wretch who has branded me

with this deep ignominywho has inflicted on me this cruel agony. I will blame fate no more, since I am

afforded the means of tracing the wiles by which he means still further to practise on me, and then of at once

convicting and punishing his villainy. To my taskto my task! I will not sink under it now, since midnight,

While these reflections thronged through Leicester's mind, he again made his way amid the obsequious

crowd, which divided to give him passage, and resumed his place, envied and admired, beside the person of

his Sovereign. But could the bosom of him thus admired and envied have been laid open before the

inhabitants of that crowded hall, with all its dark thoughts of guilty ambition, blighted affection, deep

vengeance, and conscious sense of meditated cruelty, crossing each other like spectres in the circle of some

foul enchantress, which of them, from the most ambitious noble in the courtly circle down to the most

wretched menial who lived by shifting of trenchers, would have desired to change characters with the

"You come in time, my lord," she said, "to decide a dispute between us ladies. Here has Sir Richard Varney

asked our permission to depart from the Castle with his infirm lady, having, as he tells us, your lordship's

consent to his absence, so he can obtain ours. Certes, we have no will to withhold him from the affectionate

charge of this poor young person; but you are to know that Sir Richard Varney hath this day shown himself

so much captivated with these ladies of ours, that here is our Duchess of Rutland says he will carry his poor

insane wife no farther than the lake, plunge her in to tenant the crystal palaces that the enchanted nymph told

us of, and return a jolly widower, to dry his tears and to make up the loss among our train. How say you, my

lord? We have seen Varney under two or three different guisesyou know what are his proper attributes

Leicester was confounded, but the danger was urgent, and a reply absolutely necessary. "The ladies," he said,

"think too lightly of one of their own sex, in supposing she could deserve such a fate; or too ill of ours, to

"Hear him, my ladies," said Elizabeth; "like all his sex, he would excuse their cruelty by imputing fickleness

"Say not US, madam," replied the Earl. "We say that meaner women, like the lesser lights of heaven, have

revolutions and phases; but who shall impute mutability to the sun, or to Elizabeth?"

The discourse presently afterwards assumed a less perilous tendency, and Leicester continued to support his

part in it with spirit, at whatever expense of mental agony. So pleasing did it seem to Elizabeth, that the

Castle bell had sounded midnight ere she retired from the company, a circumstance unusual in her quiet and

regular habits of disposing of time. Her departure was, of course, the signal for breaking up the company,

who dispersed to their several places of repose, to dream over the pastimes of the day, or to anticipate those

The unfortunate Lord of the Castle, and founder of the proud festival, retired to far different thoughts. His

direction to the valet who attended him was to send Varney instantly to his apartment. The messenger

returned after some delay, and informed him that an hour had elapsed since Sir Richard Varney had left the

Castle by the postern gate with three other persons, one of whom was transported in a horselitter.

"How came he to leave the Castle after the watch was set?" said Leicester. "I thought he went not till

"He gave satisfactory reasons, as I understand," said the domestic, "to the guard, and, as I hear, showed your

"Truetrue," said the Earl; "yet he has been hasty. Do any of his attendants remain behind?"

"Michael Lambourne, my lord," said the valet, "was not to be found when Sir Richard Varney departed, and

his master was much incensed at his absence. I saw him but now saddling his horse to gallop after his

"Bid him come hither instantly," said Leicester; "I have a message to his master."

The servant left the apartment, and Leicester traversed it for some time in deep meditation. "Varney is

overzealous," he said, "overpressing. He loves me, I think; but he hath his own ends to serve, and he is

inexorable in pursuit of them. If I rise, he rises; and he hath shown himself already but too, eager to rid me of

this obstacle which seems to stand betwixt me and sovereignty. Yet I will not stoop to bear this disgrace. She

shall be punished, but it shall be more advisedly. I already feel, even in anticipation, that overhaste would

light the flames of hell in my bosom. Noone victim is enough at once, and that victim already waits me."

He seized upon writing materials, and hastily traced these words: "Sir Richard Varney, we have resolved

to defer the matter entrusted to your care, and strictly command you to proceed no further in relation to our

Countess until our further order. We also command your instant return to Kenilworth as soon as you have

safely bestowed that with which you are entrusted. But if the safeplacing of your present charge shall detain

you longer than we think for, we command you in that case to send back our signetring by a trusty and

speedy messenger, we having present need of the same. And requiring your strict obedience in these things,

and commending you to God's keeping, we rest your assured good friend and master, R. LEICESTER.

"Given at our Castle of Kenilworth, the tenth of July, in the year of Salvation one thousand five hundred and

As Leicester had finished and sealed this mandate, Michael Lambourne, booted up to midthigh, having his

ridingcloak girthed around him with a broad belt, and a felt cap on his head, like that of a courier, entered

"Equerry to your lordship's master of the horse," answered Lambourne, with his customary assurance.

"Tie up thy saucy tongue, sir," said Leicester; "the jests that may suit Sir Richard Varney's presence suit not

"In one hour's riding, my lord, if man and horse hold good," said Lambourne, with an instant alteration of

demeanour, from an approach to familiarity to the deepest respect. The Earl measured him with his eye from

"I have heard of thee," he said "men say thou art a prompt fellow in thy service, but too much given to

"My lord," said Lambourne, "I have been soldier, sailor, traveller, and adventurer; and these are all trades in

which men enjoy today, because they have no surety of tomorrow. But though I may misuse mine own

"See that it be so in this instance," said Leicester, "and it shall do thee good. Deliver this letter speedily and

"No," answered Leicester; "but it deeply concerns me that it be carefully as well as hastily executed."

"I will spare neither care nor horseflesh," answered Lambourne, and immediately took his leave.

"So, this is the end of my private audience, from which I hoped so much!" he muttered to himself, as he went

through the long gallery, and down the back staircase. Cogs bones! I thought the Earl had wanted a cast of

mine office in some secret intrigue, and it all ends in carrying a letter! Well, his pleasure shall be done,

however; and as his lordship well says, it may do me good another time. The child must creep ere he walk,

and so must your infant courtier. I will have a look into this letter, however, which he hath sealed so

slovenlike." Having accomplished this, he clapped his hands together in ecstasy, exclaiming, "The Countess

the Countess! I have the secret that shall make or mar me.But come forth, Bayard," he added, leading his

horse into the courtyard, "for your flanks and my spurs must be presently acquainted."

Lambourne mounted, accordingly, and left the Castle by the postern gate, where his free passage was

permitted, in consequence of a message to that effect left by Sir Richard Varney.

As soon as Lambourne and the valet had left the apartment, Leicester proceeded to change his dress for a

very plain one, threw his mantle around him, and taking a lamp in his hand, went by the private passage of

communication to a small secret postern door which opened into the courtyard, near to the entrance of the

Pleasance. His reflections were of a more calm and determined character than they had been at any late

period, and he endeavoured to claim, even in his own eyes, the character of a man more sinned against than

"I have suffered the deepest injury," such was the tenor of his meditations, "yet I have restricted the instant

revenge which was in my power, and have limited it to that which is manly and noble. But shall the union

which this false woman has this day disgraced remain an abiding fetter on me, to check me in the noble

career to which my destinies invite me? No; there are other means of disengaging such ties, without

unloosing the cords of life. In the sight of God, I am no longer bound by the union she has broken. Kingdoms

shall divide us, oceans roll betwixt us, and their waves, whose abysses have swallowed whole navies, shall be

By such a train of argument did Leicester labour to reconcile his conscience to the prosecution of plans of

vengeance, so hastily adopted, and of schemes of ambition, which had become so woven in with every

purpose and action of his life that he was incapable of the effort of relinquishing them, until his revenge

In this mood the vindictive and ambitious Earl entered the superb precincts of the Pleasance, then illumined

by the full moon. The broad, yellow light was reflected on all sides from the white freestone, of which the

pavement, balustrades, and architectural ornaments of the place were constructed; and not a single fleecy

cloud was visible in the azure sky, so that the scene was nearly as light as if the sun had but just left the

horizon. The numerous statues of white marble glimmered in the pale light like so many sheeted ghosts just

arisen from their sepulchres, and the fountains threw their jets into the air as if they sought that their waters

should be brightened by the moonbeams ere they fell down again upon their basins in showers of sparkling

silver. The day had been sultry, and the gentle nightbreeze which sighed along the terrace of the Pleasance

raised not a deeper breath than the fan in the hand of youthful beauty. The bird of summer night had built

many a nest in the bowers of the adjacent garden, and the tenants now indemnified themselves for silence

during the day by a full chorus of their own unrivalled warblings, now joyous, now pathetic, now united, now

responsive to each other, as if to express their delight in the placid and delicious scene to which they poured

Musing on matters far different from the fall of waters, the gleam of moonlight, or the song of the

nightingale, the stately Leicester walked slowly from the one end of the terrace to the other, his cloak

wrapped around him, and his sword under his arm, without seeing anything resembling the human form.

"I have been fooled by my own generosity," he said, "if I have suffered the villain to escape meay, and

These were his thoughts, which were instantly dispelled when, turning to look back towards the entrance, he

saw a human form advancing slowly from the portico, and darkening the various objects with its shadow, as

"Shall I strike ere I again hear his detested voice?" was Leicester's thought, as he grasped the hilt of the

sword. "But no! I will see which way his vile practice tends. I will watch, disgusting as it is, the coils and

His hand quitted the swordhilt, and he advanced slowly towards Tressilian, collecting, for their meeting, all

the self possession he could command, until they came front to front with each other.

Tressilian made a profound reverence, to which the Earl replied with a haughty inclination of the head, and

the words, "You sought secret conference with me, sir; I am here, and attentive."

"My lord," said Tressilian, "I am so earnest in that which I have to say, and so desirous to find a patient, nay,

a favourable hearing, that I will stoop to exculpate myself from whatever might prejudice your lordship

"Have I not some apparent cause?" answered Leicester, perceiving that Tressilian paused for a reply.

"You do me wrong, my lord. I am a friend, but neither a dependant nor partisan, of the Earl of Sussex, whom

courtiers call your rival; and it is some considerable time since I ceased to consider either courts or court

"No doubt, sir," answered Leicester "there are other occupations more worthy a scholar, and for such the

"I perceive, my lord," replied Tressilian, "you give much weight to my early attachment for the unfortunate

young person of whom I am about to speak, and perhaps think I am prosecuting her cause out of rivalry, more

"No matter for my thoughts, sir," said the Earl; "proceed. You have as yet spoken of yourself onlyan

important and worthy subject doubtless, but which, perhaps, does not altogether so deeply concern me that I

should postpone my repose to hear it. Spare me further prelude, sir, and speak to the purpose if indeed you

have aught to say that concerns me. When you have done, I, in my turn, have something to communicate."

"I will speak, then, without further prelude, my lord," answered Tressilian, "having to say that which, as it

concerns your lordship's honour, I am confident you will not think your time wasted in listening to. I have to

request an account from your lordship of the unhappy Amy Robsart, whose history is too well known to you.

I regret deeply that I did not at once take this course, and make yourself judge between me and the villain by

whom she is injured. My lord, she extricated herself from an unlawful and most perilous state of

confinement, trusting to the effects of her own remonstrance upon her unworthy husband, and extorted from

me a promise that I would not interfere in her behalf until she had used her own efforts to have her rights

"I speak of her unworthy husband, my lord," repeated Tressilian, "and my respect can find no softer language.

The unhappy young woman is withdrawn from my knowledge, and sequestered in some secret place of this

Castleif she be not transferred to some place of seclusion better fitted for bad designs. This must be

reformed, my lordI speak it as authorized by her fatherand this illfated marriage must be avouched and

proved in the Queen's presence, and the lady placed without restraint and at her own free disposal. And

permit me to say it concerns no one's honour that these most just demands of mine should be complied with

The Earl stood as if he had been petrified at the extreme coolness with which the man, whom he considered

as having injured him so deeply, pleaded the cause of his criminal paramour, as if she had been an innocent

woman and he a disinterested advocate; nor was his wonder lessened by the warmth with which Tressilian

seemed to demand for her the rank and situation which she had disgraced, and the advantages of which she

was doubtless to share with the lover who advocated her cause with such effrontery. Tressilian had been

silent for more than a minute ere the Earl recovered from the excess of his astonishment; and considering the

prepossessions with which his mind was occupied, there is little wonder that his passion gained the mastery

of every other consideration. "I have heard you, Master Tressilian," said he, "without interruption, and I bless

God that my ears were never before made to tingle by the words of so frontless a villain. The task of

chastising you is fitter for the hangman's scourge than the sword of a nobleman, but yetVillain, draw and

As he spoke the last words, he dropped his mantle on the ground, struck Tressilian smartly with his sheathed

sword, and instantly drawing his rapier, put himself into a posture of assault. The vehement fury of his

language at first filled Tressilian, in his turn, with surprise equal to what Leicester had felt when he addressed

him. But astonishment gave place to resentment when the unmerited insults of his language were followed by

a blow which immediately put to flight every thought save that of instant combat. Tressilian's sword was

instantly drawn; and though perhaps somewhat inferior to Leicester in the use of the weapon, he understood it

well enough to maintain the contest with great spirit, the rather that of the two he was for the time the more

cool, since he could not help imputing Leicester's conduct either to actual frenzy or to the influence of some

The rencontre had continued for several minutes, without either party receiving a wound, when of a sudden

voices were heard beneath the portico which formed the entrance of the terrace, mingled with the steps of

men advancing hastily. "We are interrupted," said Leicester to his antagonist; "follow me."

At the same time a voice from the portico said, "The jackanape is rightthey are tilting here."

Leicester, meanwhile, drew off Tressilian into a sort of recess behind one of the fountains, which served to

conceal them, while six of the yeomen of the Queen's guard passed along the middle walk of the Pleasance,

and they could hear one say to the rest, "We shall never find them tonight among all these squirting funnels,

squirrel cages, and rabbitholes; but if we light not on them before we reach the farther end, we will return,

"A proper matter," said another, "the drawing of swords so near the Queen's presence, ay, and in her very

palace as 'twere! Hang it, they must be some poor drunken gamecocks fallen to sparring 'twere pity

almost we should find themthe penalty is chopping off a hand, is it not?'twere hard to lose hand for

"Thou art a brawler thyself, George," said another; "but take heed, for the law stands as thou sayest."

"Ay," said the first, "an the act be not mildly construed; for thou knowest 'tis not the Queen's palace, but my

"Why, for that matter, the penalty may be as severe," said another "for an our gracious Mistress be Queen, as

They passed on, making a kind of careless search, but seemingly more intent on their own conversation than

They had no sooner passed forward along the terrace, than Leicester, making a sign to Tressilian to follow

him, glided away in an opposite direction, and escaped through the portico undiscovered. He conducted

Tressilian to Mervyn's Tower, in which he was now again lodged; and then, ere parting with him, said these

words, "If thou hast courage to continue and bring to an end what is thus broken off, be near me when the

court goes forth tomorrow; we shall find a time, and I will give you a signal when it is fitting."

"My lord," said Tressilian, "at another time I might have inquired the meaning of this strange and furious

inveteracy against me. But you have laid that on my shoulder which only blood can wash away; and were you

as high as your proudest wishes ever carried you, I would have from you satisfaction for my wounded

On these terms they parted, but the adventures of the night were not yet ended with Leicester. He was

compelled to pass by Saintlowe's Tower, in order to gain the private passage which led to his own chamber;

and in the entrance thereof he met Lord Hunsdon half clothed, and with a naked sword under his arm.

"Are you awakened, too, with this 'larum, my Lord of Leicester?" said the old soldier. "'Tis well. By gog's

nails, the nights are as noisy as the day in this Castle of yours. Some two hours since I was waked by the

screams of that poor brainsick Lady Varney, whom her husband was forcing away. I promise you it required

both your warrant and the Queen's to keep me from entering into the game, and cutting that Varney of yours

over the head. And now there is a brawl down in the Pleasance, or what call you the stone terracewalk

The first part of the old man's speech went through the Earl's heart like a knife; to the last he answered that he

himself had heard the clash of swords, and had come down to take order with those who had been so insolent

Leicester was thus compelled to turn back with the rough old Lord to the Pleasance, where Hunsdon heard

from the yeomen of the guard, who were under his immediate command, the unsuccessful search they had

made for the authors of the disturbance; and bestowed for their pains some round dozen of curses on them, as

lazy knaves and blind whoresons. Leicester also thought it necessary to seem angry that no discovery had

been effected; but at length suggested to Lord Hunsdon, that after all it could only be some foolish young

men who had been drinking healths pottle deep, and who should be sufficiently scared by the search which

had taken place after them. Hunsdon, who was himself attached to his cup, allowed that a pintflagon might

cover many of the follies which it had caused, "But," added he, "unless your lordship will be less liberal in

your housekeeping, and restrain the overflow of ale, and wine, and wassail, I foresee it will end in my having

some of these good fellows into the guardhouse, and treating them to a dose of the strappado. And with this

Joyful at being rid of his company, Leicester took leave of him at the entrance of his lodging, where they had

first met, and entering the private passage, took up the lamp which he had left there, and by its expiring light

The amusement with which Elizabeth and her court were next day to be regaled was an exhibition by the

truehearted men of Coventry, who were to represent the strife between the English and the Danes, agreeably

to a custom long preserved in their ancient borough, and warranted for truth by old histories and chronicles.

In this pageant one party of the townsfolk presented the Saxons and the other the Danes, and set forth, both in

rude rhymes and with hard blows, the contentions of these two fierce nations, and the Amazonian courage of

the English women, who, according to the story, were the principal agents in the general massacre of the

Danes, which took place at Hocktide, in the year of God 1012. This sport, which had been long a favourite

pastime with the men of Coventry, had, it seems, been put down by the influence of some zealous clergymen

of the more precise cast, who chanced to have considerable influence with the magistrates. But the generality

of the inhabitants had petitioned the Queen that they might have their play again, and be honoured with

permission to represent it before her Highness. And when the matter was canvassed in the little council which

usually attended the Queen for dispatch of business, the proposal, although opposed by some of the stricter

sort, found favour in the eyes of Elizabeth, who said that such toys occupied, without offence, the minds of

many who, lacking them, might find worse subjects of pastime; and that their pastors, however commendable

for learning and godliness, were somewhat too sour in preaching against the pastimes of their flocks and so

Accordingly, after a morning repast, which Master Laneham calls an ambrosial breakfast, the principal

persons of the court in attendance upon her Majesty pressed to the Gallerytower, to witness the approach of

the two contending parties of English and Danes; and after a signal had been given, the gate which opened in

the circuit of the Chase was thrown wide to admit them. On they came, foot and horse; for some of the more

ambitious burghers and yeomen had put themselves into fantastic dresses, imitating knights, in order to

resemble the chivalry of the two different nations. However, to prevent fatal accidents, they were not

permitted to appear on real horses, but had only license to accoutre themselves with those hobbyhorses, as

they are called, which anciently formed the chief delight of a morrice dance, and which still are exhibited on

the stage, in the grand battle fought at the conclusion of Mr. Bayes's tragedy. The infantry followed in similar

disguises. The whole exhibition was to be considered as a sort of antimasque, or burlesque of the more

stately pageants in which the nobility and gentry bore part in the show, and, to the best of their knowledge,

imitated with accuracy the personages whom they represented. The Hocktide play was of a different

character, the actors being persons of inferior degree, and their habits the better fitted for the occasion, the

more incongruous and ridiculous that they were in themselves. Accordingly their array, which the progress of

our tale allows us no time to describe, was ludicrous enough; and their weapons, though sufficiently

formidable to deal sound blows, were long alderpoles instead of lances, and sound cudgels for swords; and

for fence, both cavalry and infantry were well equipped with stout headpieces and targets, both made of thick

Captain Coxe, that celebrated humorist of Coventry, whose library of ballads, almanacs, and penny histories,

fairly wrapped up in parchment, and tied round for security with a piece of whipcord, remains still the envy

of antiquaries, being himself the ingenious person under whose direction the pageant had been set forth, rode

valiantly on his hobbyhorse before the bands of English, hightrussed, saith Laneham, and brandishing his

long sword, as became an experienced man of war, who had fought under the Queen's father, bluff King

Henry, at the siege of Boulogne. This chieftain was, as right and reason craved, the first to enter the lists, and

passing the Gallery at the head of his myrmidons, kissed the hilt of his sword to the Queen, and executed at

the same time a gambade, the like whereof had never been practised by twolegged hobbyhorse. Then

passing on with all his followers of cavaliers and infantry, he drew them up with martial skill at the opposite

extremity of the bridge, or tilt yard, until his antagonist should be fairly prepared for the onset.

This was no long interval; for the Danish cavalry and infantry, no way inferior to the English in number,

valour, and equipment, instantly arrived, with the northern bagpipe blowing before them in token of their

country, and headed by a cunning master of defence, only inferior to the renowned Captain Coxe, if to him, in

the discipline of war. The Danes, as invaders, took their station under the Gallerytower, and opposite to that

of Mortimer; and when their arrangements were completely made, a signal was given for the encounter.

Their first charge upon each other was rather moderate, for either party had some dread of being forced into

the lake. But as reinforcements came up on either side, the encounter grew from a skirmish into a blazing

battle. They rushed upon one another, as Master Laneham testifies, like rams inflamed by jealousy, with such

furious encounter that both parties were often overthrown, and the clubs and targets made a most horrible

clatter. In many instances that happened which had been dreaded by the more experienced warriors who

began the day of strife. The rails which defended the ledges of the bridge had been, perhaps on purpose, left

but slightly fastened, and gave way under the pressure of those who thronged to the combat, so that the hot

courage of many of the combatants received a sufficient cooling. These incidents might have occasioned

more serious damage than became such an affray, for many of the champions who met with this mischance

could not swim, and those who could were encumbered with their suits of leathern and of paper armour; but

the case had been provided for, and there were several boats in readiness to pick up the unfortunate warriors

and convey them to the dry land, where, dripping and dejected, they comforted themselves with the hot ale

and strong waters which were liberally allowed to them, without showing any desire to reenter so desperate

Captain Coxe alone, that paragon of BlackLetter antiquaries, after twice experiencing, horse and man, the

perilous leap from the bridge into the lake, equal to any extremity to which the favourite heroes of chivalry,

whose exploits he studied in an abridged form, whether Amadis, Belianis, Bevis, or his own Guy of

Warwick, had ever been subjected toCaptain Coxe, we repeat, did alone, after two such mischances, rush

again into the heat of conflict, his bases and the footcloth of his hobbyhorse dropping water, and twice

reanimated by voice and example the drooping spirits of the English; so that at last their victory over the

Danish invaders became, as was just and reasonable, complete and decisive. Worthy he was to be rendered

immortal by the pen of Ben Jonson, who, fifty years afterwards, deemed that a masque, exhibited at

Kenilworth, could be ushered in by none with so much propriety as by the ghost of Captain Coxe, mounted

These rough, rural gambols may not altogether agree with the reader's preconceived idea of an entertainment

presented before Elizabeth, in whose reign letters revived with such brilliancy, and whose court, governed by

a female whose sense of propriety was equal to her strength of mind, was no less distinguished for delicacy

and refinement than her councils for wisdom and fortitude. But whether from the political wish to seem

interested in popular sports, or whether from a spark of old Henry's rough, masculine spirit, which Elizabeth

sometimes displayed, it is certain the Queen laughed heartily at the imitation, or rather burlesque, of chivalry

which was presented in the Coventry play. She called near her person the Earl of Sussex and Lord Hunsdon,

partly perhaps to make amends to the former for the long and private audiences with which she had indulged

the Earl of Leicester, by engaging him in conversation upon a pastime which better suited his taste than those

pageants that were furnished forth from the stores of antiquity. The disposition which the Queen showed to

laugh and jest with her military leaders gave the Earl of Leicester the opportunity he had been watching for

withdrawing from the royal presence, which to the court around, so well had he chosen his time, had the

graceful appearance of leaving his rival free access to the Queen's person, instead of availing himself of his

right as her landlord to stand perpetually betwixt others and the light of her countenance.

Leicester's thoughts, however, had a far different object from mere courtesy; for no sooner did he see the

Queen fairly engaged in conversation with Sussex and Hunsdon, behind whose back stood Sir Nicholas

Blount, grinning from ear to ear at each word which was spoken, than, making a sign to Tressilian, who,

according to appointment, watched his motions at a little distance, he extricated himself from the press, and

walking towards the Chase, made his way through the crowds of ordinary spectators, who, with open mouth,

stood gazing on the battle of the English and the Danes. When he had accomplished this, which was a work

of some difficulty, he shot another glance behind him to see that Tressilian had been equally successful; and

as soon as he saw him also free from the crowd, he led the way to a small thicket, behind which stood a

lackey, with two horses ready saddled. He flung himself on the one, and made signs to Tressilian to mount

Leicester then spurred his horse, and galloped without stopping until he reached a sequestered spot, environed

by lofty oaks, about a mile's distance from the Castle, and in an opposite direction from the scene to which

curiosity was drawing every spectator. He there dismounted, bound his horse to a tree, and only pronouncing

the words, "Here there is no risk of interruption," laid his cloak across his saddle, and drew his sword.

Tressilian imitated his example punctually, yet could not forbear saying, as he drew his weapon, "My lord, as

I have been known to many as one who does not fear death when placed in balance with honour, methinks I

may, without derogation, ask wherefore, in the name of all that is honourable, your lordship has dared to offer

me such a mark of disgrace as places us on these terms with respect to each other?"

"If you like not such marks of my scorn," replied the Earl, "betake yourself instantly to your weapon, lest I

"It shall not need, my lord," said Tressilian. "God judge betwixt us! and your blood, if you fall, be on your

But Leicester, who was a perfect master of defence among all other exterior accomplishments of the time,

had seen on the preceding night enough of Tressilian's strength and skill to make him fight with more caution

than heretofore, and prefer a secure revenge to a hasty one. For some minutes they fought with equal skill and

fortune, till, in a desperate lunge which Leicester successfully put aside, Tressilian exposed himself at

disadvantage; and in a subsequent attempt to close, the Earl forced his sword from his hand, and stretched

him on the ground. With a grim smile he held the point of his rapier within two inches of the throat of his

fallen adversary, and placing his foot at the same time upon his breast, bid him confess his villainous wrongs

"I have no villainy nor wrong towards thee to confess," answered Tressilian, "and am better prepared for

death than thou. Use thine advantage as thou wilt, and may God forgive you! I have given you no cause for

"No cause!" exclaimed the Earl, "no cause!but why parley with such a slave? Die a liar, as thou hast

He had withdrawn his arm for the purpose of striking the fatal blow, when it was suddenly seized from

The Earl turned in wrath to shake off the unexpected obstacle, but was surprised to find that a

strangelooking boy had hold of his swordarm, and clung to it with such tenacity of grasp that he could not

shake him of without a considerable struggle, in the course of which Tressilian had opportunity to rise and

possess himself once more of his weapon. Leicester again turned towards him with looks of unabated

ferocity, and the combat would have recommenced with still more desperation on both sides, had not the boy

clung to Lord Leicester's knees, and in a shrill tone implored him to listen one moment ere he prosecuted this

"Stand up, and let me go," said Leicester, "or, by Heaven, I will pierce thee with my rapier! What hast thou to

"Muchmuch!" exclaimed the undaunted boy, "since my folly has been the cause of these bloody quarrels

between you, and perchance of worse evils. Oh, if you would ever again enjoy the peace of an innocent mind,

if you hope again to sleep in peace and unhaunted by remorse, take so much leisure as to peruse this letter,

While he spoke in this eager and earnest manner, to which his singular features and voice gave a goblinlike

effect, he held up to Leicester a packet, secured with a long tress of woman's hair of a beautiful lightbrown

colour. Enraged as he was, nay, almost blinded with fury to see his destined revenge so strangely frustrated,

the Earl of Leicester could not resist this extraordinary supplicant. He snatched the letter from his hand

changed colour as he looked on the superscriptionundid with faltering hand the knot which secured

itglanced over the contents, and staggering back, would have fallen, had he not rested against the trunk of

a tree, where he stood for an instant, his eyes bent on the letter, and his swordpoint turned to the ground,

without seeming to be conscious of the presence of an antagonist towards whom he had shown little mercy,

and who might in turn have taken him at advantage. But for such revenge Tressilian was too nobleminded.

He also stood still in surprise, waiting the issue of this strange fit of passion, but holding his weapon ready to

defend himself in case of need against some new and sudden attack on the part of Leicester, whom he again

suspected to be under the influence of actual frenzy. The boy, indeed, he easily recognized as his old

acquaintance Dickon, whose face, once seen, was scarcely to be forgotten; but how he came hither at so

critical a moment, why his interference was so energetic, and, above all, how it came to produce so powerful

But the letter was of itself powerful enough to work effects yet more wonderful. It was that which the

unfortunate Amy had written to her husband, in which she alleged the reasons and manner of her flight from

Cumnor Place, informed him of her having made her way to Kenilworth to enjoy his protection, and

mentioned the circumstances which had compelled her to take refuge in Tressilian's apartment, earnestly

requesting he would, without delay, assign her a more suitable asylum. The letter concluded with the most

earnest expressions of devoted attachment and submission to his will in all things, and particularly respecting

her situation and place of residence, conjuring him only that she might not be placed under the guardianship

or restraint of Varney. The letter dropped from Leicester's hand when he had perused it. "Take my sword," he

"My lord," said Tressilian, "you have done me great wrong, but something within my breast ever whispered

"Error, indeed!" said Leicester, and handed him the letter; "I have been made to believe a man of honour a

villain, and the best and purest of creatures a false profligate.Wretched boy, why comes this letter now,

"I dare not tell you, my lord," said the boy, withdrawing, as if to keep beyond his reach; "but here comes one

Wayland at the same moment came up; and interrogated by Leicester, hastily detailed all the circumstances of

his escape with Amy, the fatal practices which had driven her to flight, and her anxious desire to throw

herself under the instant protection of her husbandpointing out the evidence of the domestics of

Kenilworth, "who could not," he observed, "but remember her eager inquiries after the Earl of Leicester on

"The villains!" exclaimed Leicester; "but oh, that worst of villains, Varney!and she is even now in his

"But not, I trust in God," said Tressilian, "with any commands of fatal import?"

"No, no, no!" exclaimed the Earl hastily. "I said something in madness; but it was recalled, fully recalled, by

"Yes," said Tressilian," she MUST be safe, and I MUST be assured of her safety. My own quarrel with you is

ended, my lord; but there is another to begin with the seducer of Amy Robsart, who has screened his guilt

"The SEDUCER of Amy!" replied Leicester, with a voice like thunder; "say her husband!her misguided,

blinded, most unworthy husband! She is as surely Countess of Leicester as I am belted Earl. Nor can you, sir,

point out that manner of justice which I will not render her at my own free will. I need scarce say I fear not

The generous nature of Tressilian was instantly turned from consideration of anything personal to himself,

and centred at once upon Amy's welfare. He had by no means undoubting confidence in the fluctuating

resolutions of Leicester, whose mind seemed to him agitated beyond the government of calm reason; neither

did he, notwithstanding the assurances he had received, think Amy safe in the hands of his dependants. "My

lord," he said calmly, "I mean you no offence, and am far from seeking a quarrel. But my duty to Sir Hugh

Robsart compels me to carry this matter instantly to the Queen, that the Countess's rank may be

"You shall not need, sir," replied the Earl haughtily; "do not dare to interfere. No voice but Dudley's shall

proclaim Dudley's infamy. To Elizabeth herself will I tell it; and then for Cumnor Place with the speed of life

So saying, he unbound his horse from the tree, threw himself into the saddle, and rode at full gallop towards

"Take me before you, Master Tressilian," said the boy, seeing Tressilian mount in the same haste; "my tale is

Tressilian complied, and followed the Earl, though at a less furious rate. By the way the boy confessed, with

much contrition, that in resentment at Wayland's evading all his inquiries concerning the lady, after Dickon

conceived he had in various ways merited his confidence, he had purloined from him in revenge the letter

with which Amy had entrusted him for the Earl of Leicester. His purpose was to have restored it to him that

evening, as he reckoned himself sure of meeting with him, in consequence of Wayland's having to perform

the part of Arion in the pageant. He was indeed something alarmed when he saw to whom the letter was

addressed; but he argued that, as Leicester did not return to Kenilworth until that evening, it would be again

in the possession of the proper messenger as soon as, in the nature of things, it could possibly be delivered.

But Wayland came not to the pageant, having been in the interim expelled by Lambourne from the Castle;

and the boy, not being able to find him, or to get speech of Tressilian, and finding himself in possession of a

letter addressed to no less a person than the Earl of Leicester, became much afraid of the consequences of his

frolic. The caution, and indeed the alarm, which Wayland had expressed respecting Varney and Lambourne,

led him to judge that the letter must be designed for the Earl's own hand, and that he might prejudice the lady

by giving it to any of the domestics. He made an attempt or two to obtain an audience of Leicester; but the

singularity of his features and the meanness of his appearance occasioned his being always repulsed by the

insolent menials whom he applied to for that purpose. Once, indeed, he had nearly succeeded, when, in

prowling about, he found in the grotto the casket, which he knew to belong to the unlucky Countess, having

seen it on her journey; for nothing escaped his prying eye. Having striven in vain to restore it either to

Tressilian or the Countess, he put it into the hands, as we have seen, of Leicester himself, but unfortunately

At length the boy thought he was on the point of succeeding when the Earl came down to the lower part of

the hall; but just as he was about to accost him, he was prevented by Tressilian. As sharp in ear as in wit, the

boy heard the appointment settled betwixt them, to take place in the Pleasance, and resolved to add a third to

the party, in hope that, either in coming or returning, he might find an opportunity of delivering the letter to

Leicester; for strange stories began to flit among the domestics, which alarmed him for the lady's safety.

Accident, however, detained Dickon a little behind the Earl, and as he reached the arcade he saw them

engaged in combat; in consequence of which he hastened to alarm the guard, having little doubt that what

bloodshed took place betwixt them might arise out of his own frolic. Continuing to lurk in the portico, he

heard the second appointment which Leicester at parting assigned to Tressilian; and was keeping them in

view during the encounter of the Coventry men, when, to his surprise, he recognized Wayland in the crowd,

much disguised, indeed, but not sufficiently so to escape the prying glance of his old comrade. They drew

aside out of the crowd to explain their situation to each other. The boy confessed to Wayland what we have

above told; and the artist, in return, informed him that his deep anxiety for the fate of the unfortunate lady had

brought him back to the neighbourhood of the Castle, upon his learning that morning, at a village about ten

miles distant, that Varney and Lambourne, whose violence he dreaded, had both left Kenilworth overnight.

While they spoke, they saw Leicester and Tressilian separate themselves from the crowd, dogged them until

they mounted their horses, when the boy, whose speed of foot has been before mentioned, though he could

not possibly keep up with them, yet arrived, as we have seen, soon enough to save Tressilian's life. The boy

As Tressilian rode along the bridge, lately the scene of so much riotous sport, he could not but observe that

men's countenances had singularly changed during the space of his brief absence. The mock fight was over,

but the men, still habited in their masking suits, stood together in groups, like the inhabitants of a city who

When he reached the basecourt, appearances were the same domestics, retainers, and underofficers

stood together and whispered, bending their eyes towards the windows of the Great Hall, with looks which

Sir Nicholas Blount was the first person of his own particular acquaintance Tressilian saw, who left him no

time to make inquiries, but greeted him with, "God help thy heart, Tressilian! thou art fitter for a clown than a

courtier thou canst not attend, as becomes one who follows her Majesty. Here you are called for, wished for,

waited forno man but you will serve the turn; and hither you come with a misbegotten brat on thy horse's

neck, as if thou wert dry nurse to some sucking devil, and wert just returned from airing."

"Why, what is the matter?" said Tressilian, letting go the boy, who sprung to ground like a feather, and

"Why, no one knows the matter," replied Blount; "I cannot smell it out myself, though I have a nose like

other courtiers. Only, my Lord of Leicester has galloped along the bridge as if he would have rode over all in

his passage, demanded an audience of the Queen, and is closeted even now with her, and Burleigh and

Walsinghamand you are called for; but whether the matter be treason or worse, no one knows."

"He speaks true, by Heaven!" said Raleigh, who that instant appeared; "you must immediately to the Queen's

"Be not rash, Raleigh," said Blount, "remember his boots.For Heaven's sake, go to my chamber, dear

Tressilian, and don my new bloomcoloured silken hose; I have worn them but twice."

"Pshaw!" answered Tressilian; "do thou take care of this boy, Blount; be kind to him, and look he escapes

So saying, he followed Raleigh hastily, leaving honest Blount with the bridle of his horse in one hand, and

"Nobody," he said, "calls me to these mysteriesand he leaves me here to play horsekeeper and

childkeeper at once. I could excuse the one, for I love a good horse naturally; but to be plagued with a

"Umph!" said Blount, looking down on his own immense roses. "Nay, then, the devil take him asks thee more

Meantime Tressilian traversed the full length of the Great Hall, in which the astonished courtiers formed

various groups, and were whispering mysteriously together, while all kept their eyes fixed on the door which

led from the upper end of the hall into the Queen's withdrawing apartment. Raleigh pointed to the door.

Tressilian knocked, and was instantly admitted. Many a neck was stretched to gain a view into the interior of

the apartment; but the tapestry which covered the door on the inside was dropped too suddenly to admit the

Upon entrance, Tressilian found himself, not without a strong palpitation of heart, in the presence of

Elizabeth, who was walking to and fro in a violent agitation, which she seemed to scorn to conceal, while two

or three of her most sage and confidential counsellors exchanged anxious looks with each other, but delayed

speaking till her wrath abated. Before the empty chair of state in which she had been seated, and which was

half pushed aside by the violence with which she had started from it, knelt Leicester, his arms crossed, and

his brows bent on the ground, still and motionless as the effigies upon a sepulchre. Beside him stood the Lord

Shrewsbury, then Earl Marshal of England, holding his baton of office. The Earl's sword was unbuckled, and

"Ho, sir!" said the Queen, coming close up to Tressilian, and stamping on the floor with the action and

manner of Henry himself; "you knew of this fair workyou are an accomplice in this deception which has

been practised on usyou have been a main cause of our doing injustice?" Tressilian dropped on his knee

before the Queen, his good sense showing him the risk of attempting any defence at that moment of irritation.

"Nor shall any one know her for such," said Elizabeth. "Death of my life! Countess of Leicester!I say

Dame Amy Dudley; and well if she have not cause to write herself widow of the traitor Robert Dudley."

"Madam," said Leicester, "do with me what it may be your will to do, but work no injury on this gentleman;

"And will he be the better for thy intercession," said the Queen, leaving Tressilian, who slowly arose, and

rushing to Leicester, who continued kneeling"the better for thy intercession, thou doubly falsethou

doubly forsworn;of thy intercession, whose villainy hath made me ridiculous to my subjects and odious to

"Madam," he said, "remember that you are a QueenQueen of Englandmother of your people. Give not

Elizabeth turned round to him, while a tear actually twinkled in her proud and angry eye. "Burleigh," she

said, "thou art a statesmanthou dost not, thou canst not, comprehend half the scorn, half the misery, that

With the utmost cautionwith the deepest reverenceBurleigh took her hand at the moment he saw her

heart was at the fullest, and led her aside to an oriel window, apart from the others.

"Madam," he said, "I am a statesman, but I am also a mana man already grown old in your councilswho

have not and cannot have a wish on earth but your glory and happiness; I pray you to be composed."

"Ah! Burleigh," said Elizabeth, "thou little knowest" here her tears fell over her cheeks in despite of her.

"I doI do know, my honoured sovereign. Oh, beware that you lead not others to guess that which they

"Ha!" said Elizabeth, pausing as if a new train of thought had suddenly shot across her brain. "Burleigh, thou

art rightthou art rightanything but disgraceanything but a confession of weaknessanything rather

"Be but yourself, my Queen," said Burleigh; "and soar far above a weakness which no Englishman will ever

believe his Elizabeth could have entertained, unless the violence of her disappointment carries a sad

"What weakness, my lord?" said Elizabeth haughtily; "would you too insinuate that the favour in which I held

yonder proud traitor derived its source from aught" But here she could no longer sustain the proud tone

which she had assumed, and again softened as she said, "But why should I strive to deceive even thee, my

Burleigh stooped to kiss her hand with affection, andrare in the annals of courtsa tear of true sympathy

It is probable that the consciousness of possessing this sympathy aided Elizabeth in supporting her

mortification, and suppressing her extreme resentment; but she was still more moved by fear that her passion

should betray to the public the affront and the disappointment, which, alike as a woman and a Queen, she was

so anxious to conceal. She turned from Burleigh, and sternly paced the hall till her features had recovered

"Our Sovereign is her noble self once more," whispered Burleigh to Walsingham; "mark what she does, and

She then approached Leicester, and said with calmness, "My Lord Shrewsbury, we discharge you of your

prisoner.My Lord of Leicester, rise and take up your sword; a quarter of an hour's restraint under the

custody of our Marshal, my lord, is, we think, no high penance for months of falsehood practised upon us.

We will now hear the progress of this affair." She then seated herself in her chair, and said, "You, Tressilian,

Tressilian told his story generously, suppressing as much as he could what affected Leicester, and saying

nothing of their having twice actually fought together. It is very probable that, in doing so, he did the Earl

good service; for had the Queen at that instant found anything on account of which she could vent her wrath

upon him, without laying open sentiments of which she was ashamed, it might have fared hard with him. She

"We will take that Wayland," she said, "into our own service, and place the boy in our Secretary office for

instruction, that he may in future use discretion towards letters. For you, Tressilian, you did wrong in not

communicating the whole truth to us, and your promise not to do so was both imprudent and undutiful. Yet,

having given your word to this unhappy lady, it was the part of a man and a gentleman to keep it; and on the

whole, we esteem you for the character you have sustained in this matter.My Lord of Leicester, it is now

your turn to tell us the truth, an exercise to which you seem of late to have been too much a stranger."

Accordingly, she extorted, by successive questions, the whole history of his first acquaintance with Amy

Robsarttheir marriagehis jealousythe causes on which it was founded, and many particulars besides.

Leicester's confession, for such it might be called, was wrenched from him piecemeal, yet was upon the

whole accurate, excepting that he totally omitted to mention that he had, by implication or otherwise,

assented to Varney's designs upon the life of his Countess. Yet the consciousness of this was what at that

moment lay nearest to his heart; and although he trusted in great measure to the very positive counterorders

which he had sent by Lambourne, it was his purpose to set out for Cumnor Place in person as soon as he

should be dismissed from the presence of the Queen, who, he concluded, would presently leave Kenilworth.

But the Earl reckoned without his host. It is true his presence and his communications were gall and

wormwood to his once partial mistress. But barred from every other and more direct mode of revenge, the

Queen perceived that she gave her false suitor torture by these inquiries, and dwelt on them for that reason,

no more regarding the pain which she herself experienced, than the savage cares for the searing of his own

hands by grasping the hot pincers with which he tears the flesh of his captive enemy.

At length, however, the haughty lord, like a deer that turns to bay, gave intimation that his patience was

failing. "Madam," he said, "I have been much to blamemore than even your just resentment has expressed.

Yet, madam, let me say that my guilt, if it be unpardonable, was not unprovoked, and that if beauty and

condescending dignity could seduce the frail heart of a human being, I might plead both as the causes of my

The Queen was so much struck with this reply, which Leicester took care should be heard by no one but

herself, that she was for the moment silenced, and the Earl had the temerity to pursue his advantage. "Your

Grace, who has pardoned so much, will excuse my throwing myself on your royal mercy for those

The Queen fixed her eyes on him while she replied, "Now, by Heaven, my lord, thy effrontery passes the

bounds of belief, as well as patience! But it shall avail thee nothing.What ho! my lords, come all and hear

the newsmy Lord of Leicester's stolen marriage has cost me a husband, and England a king. His lordship is

patriarchal in his tastesone wife at a time was insufficient, and he designed US the honour of his left hand.

Now, is not this too insolentthat I could not grace him with a few marks of courtfavour, but he must

presume to think my hand and crown at his disposal? You, however, think better of me; and I can pity this

ambitious man, as I could a child, whose bubble of soap has burst between his hands. We go to the presence

All was eager expectation in the hall, and what was the universal astonishment when the Queen said to those

next her, "The revels of Kenilworth are not yet exhausted, my lords and ladieswe are to solemnize the

"It is true, on our royal word," said the Queen; "he hath kept this a secret even from us, that he might surprise

us with it at this very place and time. I see you are dying of curiosity to know the happy bride. It is Amy

Robsart, the same who, to make up the Maygame yesterday, figured in the pageant as the wife of his servant

"For God's sake, madam," said the Earl, approaching her with a mixture of humility, vexation, and shame in

his countenance, and speaking so low as to be heard by no one else, "take my head, as you threatened in your

anger, and spare me these taunts! Urge not a falling mantread not on a crushed worm."

"A worm, my lord?" said the Queen, in the same tone; "nay, a snake is the nobler reptile, and the more exact

"For your own sakefor mine, madam," said the Earl"while there is yet some reason left in me"

"Speak aloud, my lord," said Elizabeth, "and at farther distance, so please youyour breath thaws our ruff.

"To fetch home your bride belike?Why, aythat is but right, for, as we have heard, she is indifferently

cared for there. But, my lord, you go not in person; we have counted upon passing certain days in this Castle

of Kenilworth, and it were slight courtesy to leave us without a landlord during our residence here. Under

your favour, we cannot think to incur such disgrace in the eyes of our subjects. Tressilian shall go to Cumnor

Place instead of you, and with him some gentleman who hath been sworn of our chamber, lest my Lord of

Leicester should be again jealous of his old rival.Whom wouldst thou have to be in commission with thee,

"Why, ay," said the Queen; "so God ha' me, thou hast made a good choice. He is a young knight besides, and

to deliver a lady from prison is an appropriate first adventure.Cumnor Place is little better than a prison,

you are to know, my lords and ladies. Besides, there are certain faitours there whom we would willingly have

in safe keeping. You will furnish them, Master Secretary, with the warrant necessary to secure the bodies of

Richard Varney and the foreign Alasco, dead or alive. Take a sufficient force with you, gentlemenbring

Who shall describe how the rest of that day was spent at Kenilworth? The Queen, who seemed to have

remained there for the sole purpose of mortifying and taunting the Earl of Leicester, showed herself as skilful

in that female art of vengeance, as she was in the science of wisely governing her people. The train of state

soon caught the signal, and as he walked among his own splendid preparations, the Lord of Kenilworth, in his

own Castle, already experienced the lot of a disgraced courtier, in the slight regard and cold manners of

alienated friends, and the ill concealed triumph of avowed and open enemies. Sussex, from his natural

military frankness of disposition, Burleigh and Walsingham, from their penetrating and prospective sagacity,

and some of the ladies, from the compassion of their sex, were the only persons in the crowded court who

So much had Leicester been accustomed to consider court favour as the principal object of his life, that all

other sensations were, for the time, lost in the agony which his haughty spirit felt at the succession of petty

insults and studied neglects to which he had been subjected; but when he retired to his own chamber for the

night, that long, fair tress of hair which had once secured Amy's letter fell under his observation, and, with

the influence of a countercharm, awakened his heart to nobler and more natural feelings. He kissed it a

thousand times; and while he recollected that he had it always in his power to shun the mortifications which

he had that day undergone, by retiring into a dignified and even princelike seclusion with the beautiful and

beloved partner of his future life, he felt that he could rise above the revenge which Elizabeth had

Accordingly, on the following day the whole conduct of the Earl displayed so much dignified

equanimityhe seemed so solicitous about the accommodations and amusements of his guests, yet so

indifferent to their personal demeanour towards himso respectfully distant to the Queen, yet so patient of

her harassing displeasurethat Elizabeth changed her manner to him, and, though cold and distant, ceased to

offer him any direct affront. She intimated also with some sharpness to others around her, who thought they

were consulting her pleasure in showing a neglectful conduct to the Earl, that while they remained at

Kenilworth they ought to show the civility due from guests to the Lord of the Castle. In short, matters were so

far changed in twentyfour hours that some of the more experienced and sagacious courtiers foresaw a strong

possibility of Leicester's restoration to favour, and regulated their demeanour towards him, as those who

might one day claim merit for not having deserted him in adversity. It is time, however, to leave these

The troop consisted of six persons; for, besides Wayland, they had in company a royal pursuivant and two

stout servingmen. All were wellarmed, and travelled as fast as it was possible with justice to their horses,

which had a long journey before them. They endeavoured to procure some tidings as they rode along of

Varney and his party, but could hear none, as they had travelled in the dark. At a small village about twelve

miles from Kenilworth, where they gave some refreshment to their horses, a poor clergyman, the curate of the

place, came out of a small cottage, and entreated any of the company who might know aught of surgery to

The empiric Wayland undertook to do his best, and as the curate conducted him to the spot, he learned that

the man had been found on the highroad, about a mile from the village, by labourers, as they were going to

their work on the preceding morning, and the curate had given him shelter in his house. He had received a

gunshot wound, which seemed to be obviously mortal; but whether in a brawl or from robbers they could

not learn, as he was in a fever, and spoke nothing connectedly. Wayland entered the dark and lowly

apartment, and no sooner had the curate drawn aside the curtain than he knew, in the distorted features of the

patient, the countenance of Michael Lambourne. Under pretence of seeking something which he wanted,

Wayland hastily apprised his fellow travellers of this extraordinary circumstance; and both Tressilian and

Raleigh, full of boding apprehensions, hastened to the curate's house to see the dying man.

The wretch was by this time in the agonies of death, from which a much better surgeon than Wayland could

not have rescued him, for the bullet had passed clear through his body. He was sensible, however, at least in

part, for he knew Tressilian, and made signs that he wished him to stoop over his bed. Tressilian did so, and

after some inarticulate murmurs, in which the names of Varney and Lady Leicester were alone

distinguishable, Lambourne bade him "make haste, or he would come too late." It was in vain Tressilian

urged the patient for further information; he seemed to become in some degree delirious, and when he again

made a signal to attract Tressilian's attention, it was only for the purpose of desiring him to inform his uncle,

Giles Gosling of the Black Bear, that "he had died without his shoes after all." A convulsion verified his

words a few minutes after, and the travellers derived nothing from having met with him, saving the obscure

fears concerning the fate of the Countess, which his dying words were calculated to convey, and which

induced them to urge their journey with the utmost speed, pressing horses in the Queen's name when those

We are now to return to that part of our story where we intimated that Varney, possessed of the authority of

the Earl of Leicester, and of the Queen's permission to the same effect, hastened to secure himself against

discovery of his perfidy by removing the Countess from Kenilworth Castle. He had proposed to set forth

early in the morning; but reflecting that the Earl might relent in the interim, and seek another interview with

the Countess, he resolved to prevent, by immediate departure, all chance of what would probably have ended

in his detection and ruin. For this purpose he called for Lambourne, and was exceedingly incensed to find that

his trusty attendant was abroad on some ramble in the neighbouring village, or elsewhere. As his return was

expected, Sir Richard commanded that he should prepare himself for attending him on an immediate journey,

In the meanwhile, Varney used the ministry of a servant called Robin Tider, one to whom the mysteries of

Cumnor Place were already in some degree known, as he had been there more than once in attendance on the

Earl. To this man, whose character resembled that of Lambourne, though he was neither quite so prompt nor

altogether so profligate, Varney gave command to have three horses saddled, and to prepare a horselitter,

and have them in readiness at the postern gate. The natural enough excuse of his lady's insanity, which was

now universally believed, accounted for the secrecy with which she was to be removed from the Castle, and

he reckoned on the same apology in case the unfortunate Amy's resistance or screams should render such

necessary. The agency of Anthony Foster was indispensable, and that Varney now went to secure.

This person, naturally of a sour, unsocial disposition, and somewhat tired, besides, with his journey from

Cumnor to Warwickshire, in order to bring the news of the Countess's escape, had early extricated himself

from the crowd of wassailers, and betaken himself to his chamber, where he lay asleep, when Varney,

completely equipped for travelling, and with a dark lantern in his hand, entered his apartment. He paused an

instant to listen to what his associate was murmuring in his sleep, and could plainly distinguish the words,

"Praying in his sleep," said Varney, "and confounding his old and new devotions. He must have more need of

prayer ere I am done with him.What ho! holy man, most blessed penitent!awake awake! The devil

As Varney at the same time shook the sleeper by the arm, it changed the current of his ideas, and he roared

out, "Thieves! thieves! I will die in defence of my goldmy hardwon gold that has cost me so dear.

"Safe enough, thou bellowing fool!" said Varney; "art thou not ashamed of thy clamour?"

Foster by this time was broad awake, and sitting up in his bed, asked Varney the meaning of so untimely a

"A false prophecy, most sainted Anthony," returned Varney; "it augurs that the hour is come for converting

"Hadst thou told me this in broad day," said Foster, "I had rejoiced; but at this dead hour, and by this dim

light, and looking on thy pale face, which is a ghastly contradiction to thy light words, I cannot but rather

"Is that indeed all?" said Foster; "thou lookest deadly pale, and thou art not moved by triflesis that indeed

"Heed not my countenance," said Varney; "you see it by this wretched light. Up and be doing, man. Think of

Cumnor Place thine own proper copyhold. Why, thou mayest found a weekly lectureship, besides

"Seventynine pounds, five shillings and fivepence halfpenny, besides the value of the wood," said Foster;

"All, mansquirrels and all. No gipsy shall cut the value of a broomno boy so much as take a bird's

nestwithout paying thee a quittance.Ay, that is rightdon thy matters as fast as possible; horses and

everything are ready, all save that accursed villain Lambourne, who is out on some infernal gambol."

"Ay, Sir Richard," said Foster, "you would take no advice. I ever told you that drunken profligate would fail

"What, some slowspoken, longbreathed brother of the congregation? Why, we shall have use for such also,

man. Heaven be praised, we shall lack labourers of every kind.Ay, that is rightforget not your pistols.

"To my lady's chamber; and, mind, she MUST along with us. Thou art not a fellow to be startled by a

"Not if Scripture reason can be rendered for it; and it is written, 'Wives obey your husbands.' But will my

"Tush, man! here is his signet," answered Varney; and having thus silenced the objections of his associate,

they went together to Lord Hunsdon's apartments, and acquainting the sentinel with their purpose, as a matter

sanctioned by the Queen and the Earl of Leicester, they entered the chamber of the unfortunate Countess.

The horror of Amy may be conceived when, starting from a broken slumber, she saw at her bedside Varney,

the man on earth she most feared and hated. It was even a consolation to see that he was not alone, though

"Madam," said Varney, "there is no time for ceremony. My Lord of Leicester, having fully considered the

exigencies of the time, sends you his orders immediately to accompany us on our return to Cumnor Place.

"It is false!" said the Countess; "thou hast stolen the warrant thou, who art capable of every villainy, from

"It is TRUE, madam," replied Varney; "so true, that if you do not instantly arise, and prepare to attend us, we

"Compel! Thou darest not put it to that issue, base as thou art!" exclaimed the unhappy Countess.

"That remains to be proved, madam," said Varney, who had determined on intimidation as the only means of

subduing her high spirit; "if you put me to it, you will find me a rough groom of the chambers."

It was at this threat that Amy screamed so fearfully that, had it not been for the received opinion of her

insanity, she would quickly have had Lord Hunsdon and others to her aid. Perceiving, however, that her cries

were vain, she appealed to Foster in the most affecting terms, conjuring him, as his daughter Janet's honour

and purity were dear to him, not to permit her to be treated with unwomanly violence.

"Why, madam, wives must obey their husbandsthere's Scripture warrant for it," said Foster; "and if you

will dress yourself, and come with us patiently, there's no one shall lay finger on you while I can draw a

Seeing no help arrive, and comforted even by the dogged language of Foster, the Countess promised to arise

and dress herself, if they would agree to retire from the room. Varney at the same time assured her of all

safety and honour while in their hands, and promised that he himself would not approach her, since his

presence was so displeasing. Her husband, he added, would be at Cumnor Place within twentyfour hours

Somewhat comforted by this assurance, upon which, however, she saw little reason to rely, the unhappy Amy

made her toilette by the assistance of the lantern, which they left with her when they quitted the apartment.

Weeping, trembling, and praying, the unfortunate lady dressed herself with sensations how different from the

days in which she was wont to decorate herself in all the pride of conscious beauty! She endeavoured to delay

the completing her dress as long as she could, until, terrified by the impatience of Varney, she was obliged to

When they were about to move, the Countess clung to Foster with such an appearance of terror at Varney's

approach that the latter protested to her, with a deep oath, that he had no intention whatever of even coming

near her. "If you do but consent to execute your husband's will in quietness, you shall," he said, "see but little

of me. I will leave you undisturbed to the care of the usher whom your good taste prefers."

"My husband's will!" she exclaimed. "But it is the will of God, and let that be sufficient to me. I will go with

Master Foster as unresistingly as ever did a literal sacrifice. He is a father at least; and will have decency, if

not humanity. For thee, Varney, were it my latest word, thou art an equal stranger to both."

Varney replied only she was at liberty to choose, and walked some paces before them to show the way; while,

half leaning on Foster, and half carried by him, the Countess was transported from Saintlowe's Tower to the

The Countess was placed in the former without resistance. She saw with some satisfaction that, while Foster

and Tider rode close by the litter, which the latter conducted, the dreaded Varney lingered behind, and was

soon lost in darkness. A little while she strove, as the road winded round the verge of the lake, to keep sight

of those stately towers which called her husband lord, and which still, in some places, sparkled with lights,

where wassailers were yet revelling. But when the direction of the road rendered this no longer possible, she

drew back her head, and sinking down in the litter, recommended herself to the care of Providence.

Besides the desire of inducing the Countess to proceed quietly on her journey, Varney had it also in view to

have an interview with Lambourne, by whom he every moment expected to be joined, without the presence

of any witnesses. He knew the character of this man, prompt, bloody, resolute, and greedy, and judged him

the most fit agent he could employ in his further designs. But ten miles of their journey had been measured

ere he heard the hasty clatter of horse's hoofs behind him, and was overtaken by Michael Lambourne.

Fretted as he was with his absence, Varney received his profligate servant with a rebuke of unusual bitterness.

"Drunken villain," he said, "thy idleness and debauched folly will stretch a halter ere it be long, and, for me, I

This style of objurgation Lambourne, who was elated to an unusual degree, not only by an extraordinary cup

of wine, but by the sort of confidential interview he had just had with the Earl, and the secret of which he had

made himself master, did not receive with his wonted humility. "He would take no insolence of language," he

said, "from the best knight that ever wore spurs. Lord Leicester had detained him on some business of import,

Varney was not a little surprised at his unusual tone of insolence; but ascribing it to liquor, suffered it to pass

as if unnoticed, and then began to tamper with Lambourne touching his willingness to aid in removing out of

the Earl of Leicester's way an obstacle to a rise, which would put it in his power to reward his trusty followers

to their utmost wish. And upon Michael Lambourne's seeming ignorant what was meant, he plainly indicated

"Look you, Sir Richard, and so forth," said Michael, "some are wiser than some, that is one thing, and some

are worse than some, that's another. I know my lord's mind on this matter better than thou, for he hath trusted

me fully in the matter. Here are his mandates, and his last words were, Michael Lambournefor his lordship

speaks to me as a gentleman of the sword, and useth not the words drunken villain, or such like phrase, of

those who know not how to bear new dignitiesVarney, says he, must pay the utmost respect to my

Countess. I trust to you for looking to it, Lambourne, says his lordship, and you must bring back my signet

"Allall; and you were as wise to make a friend of me while the weather is fair betwixt us."

"Not a breathing creature," replied Lambourne. "Think you my lord would trust any one with such matters,

"Most true," said Varney; and making a pause, he looked forward on the moonlight road. They were

traversing a wide and open heath. The litter being at least a mile before them, was both out of sight and

hearing. He looked behind, and there was an expanse, lighted by the moonbeams, without one human being

in sight. He resumed his speech to Lambourne: "And will you turn upon your master, who has introduced you

to this career of court like favourwhose apprentice you have been, Michaelwho has taught you the

"Michael not me!" said Lambourne; "I have a name will brook a MASTER before it as well as another; and

as to the rest, if I have been an apprentice, my indenture is out, and I am resolute to set up for myself."

"Take thy quittance first, thou fool!" said Varney; and with a pistol, which he had for some time held in his

The wretch fell from his horse without a single groan; and Varney, dismounting, rifled his pockets, turning

out the lining, that it might appear he had fallen by robbers. He secured the Earl's packet, which was his chief

object; but he also took Lambourne"s purse, containing some gold pieces, the relics of what his debauchery

had left him, and from a singular combination of feelings, carried it in his hand only the length of a small

river, which crossed the road, into which he threw it as far as he could fling. Such are the strange remnants of

conscience which remain after she seems totally subdued, that this cruel and remorseless man would have felt

himself degraded had he pocketed the few pieces belonging to the wretch whom he had thus ruthlessly slain.

The murderer reloaded his pistol after cleansing the lock and barrel from the appearances of late explosion,

and rode calmly after the litter, satisfying himself that he had so adroitly removed a troublesome witness to

many of his intrigues, and the bearer of mandates which he had no intentions to obey, and which, therefore,

The remainder of the journey was made with a degree of speed which showed the little care they had for the

health of the unhappy Countess. They paused only at places where all was under their command, and where

the tale they were prepared to tell of the insane Lady Varney would have obtained ready credit had she made

an attempt to appeal to the compassion of the few persons admitted to see her. But Amy saw no chance of

obtaining a hearing from any to whom she had an opportunity of addressing herself; and besides, was too

terrified for the presence of Varney to violate the implied condition under which she was to travel free from

his company. The authority of Varney, often so used during the Earl's private journeys to Cumnor, readily

procured relays of horses where wanted, so that they approached Cumnor Place upon the night after they left

At this period of the journey Varney came up to the rear of the litter, as he had done before repeatedly during

"Rest will restore her," answered Varney. "She shall soon sleep sound and long. We must consider how to

"In her own apartments, to be sure," said Foster. "I have sent Janet to her aunt's with a proper rebuke, and the

"We will not trust them, however, friend Anthony," said Varney; "We must secure her in that stronghold

"My gold!" said Anthony, much alarmed; "why, what gold have I? God help me, I have no goldI would I

"Now, marry hang thee, thou stupid brute, who thinks of or cares for thy gold? If I did, could I not find an

hundred better ways to come at it? In one word, thy bedchamber, which thou hast fenced so curiously, must

be her place of seclusion; and thou, thou hind, shalt press her pillows of down. I dare to say the Earl will

This last consideration rendered Foster tractable; he only asked permission to ride before, to make matters

ready, and spurring his horse, he posted before the litter, while Varney falling about threescore paces behind

When they had arrived at Cumnor Place, the Countess asked eagerly for Janet, and showed much alarm when

"My daughter is dear to me, madam," said Foster gruffly; "and I desire not that she should get the

courttricks of lying and 'scapingsomewhat too much of that has she learned already, an it please your

The Countess, much fatigued and greatly terrified by the circumstances of her journey, made no answer to

"Ay, ay," muttered Foster, "'tis but reasonable; but, under favour, you go not to your gewgaw toyhouse

"I would it were in my grave," said the Countess; "but that mortal feelings shiver at the idea of soul and body

"You, I guess, have no chance to shiver at that," replied Foster. "My lord comes hither tomorrow, and

"Oh, ay, good Foster!" replied the other. "But what Foster shall I be tomorrow when you speak of me to my

"You shall be my protectora rough one indeedbut still a protector," answered the Countess. "Oh that

"She is better where she is," answered Foster"one of you is enough to perplex a plain head. But will you

"Oh no, nomy chambermy chamber! I trust," she said apprehensively, "I may secure it on the inside?"

"With all my heart," answered Foster, "so I may secure it on the outside;" and taking a light, he led the way to

a part of the building where Amy had never been, and conducted her up a stair of great height, preceded by

one of the old women with a lamp. At the head of the stair, which seemed of almost immeasurable height,

they crossed a short wooden gallery, formed of black oak, and very narrow, at the farther end of which was a

strong oaken door, which opened and admitted them into the miser's apartment, homely in its

accommodations in the very last degree, and, except in name, little different from a prisonroom.

Foster stopped at the door, and gave the lamp to the Countess, without either offering or permitting the

attendance of the old woman who had carried it. The lady stood not on ceremony, but taking it hastily, barred

the door, and secured it with the ample means provided on the inside for that purpose.

Varney, meanwhile, had lurked behind on the stairs; but hearing the door barred, he now came up on tiptoe,

and Foster, winking to him, pointed with selfcomplacence to a piece of concealed machinery in the wall,

which, playing with much ease and little noise, dropped a part of the wooden gallery, after the manner of a

drawbridge, so as to cut off all communication between the door of the bedroom, which he usually inhabited,

and the landingplace of the high, winding stair which ascended to it. The rope by which this machinery was

wrought was generally carried within the bedchamber, it being Foster's object to provide against invasion

from without; but now that it was intended to secure the prisoner within, the cord had been brought over to

the landingplace, and was there made fast, when Foster with much complacency had dropped the

Varney looked with great attention at the machinery, and peeped more than once down the abyss which was

opened by the fall of the trapdoor. It was dark as pitch, and seemed profoundly deep, going, as Foster

informed his confederate in a whisper, nigh to the lowest vault of the Castle. Varney cast once more a fixed

and long look down into this sable gulf, and then followed Foster to the part of the manorhouse most usually

When they arrived in the parlour which we have mentioned, Varney requested Foster to get them supper, and

some of the choicest wine. "I will seek Alasco," he added; "we have work for him to do, and we must put him

Foster groaned at this intimation, but made no remonstrance. The old woman assured Varney that Alasco had

scarce eaten or drunken since her master's departure, living perpetually shut up in the laboratory, and talking

"I will teach him that the world hath other claims on him," said Varney, seizing a light, and going in quest of

the alchemist. He returned, after a considerable absence, very pale, but yet with his habitual sneer on his

"How!what mean you?" said Foster"run awayfled with my forty pounds, that should have been

"How!which way?" exclaimed Foster; "I will have back my forty poundsI deemed them as surely a

"Go hang thyself, then, and sue Alasco in the Devil's Court of Chancery, for thither he has carried the cause."

"Ay, truly is he," said Varney; "and properly swollen already in the face and body. He had been mixing some

of his devil's medicines, and the glass mask which he used constantly had fallen from his face, so that the

"SANCTA MARIA!" said Foster"I mean, God in His mercy preserve us from covetousness and deadly

"Nay, I looked not but at the dead carrion," answered Varney; "an ugly spectaclehe was swollen like a

"I will go," said Foster, "I will examine myself" He took the lamp, and hastened to the door, but there

"To what purpose?" said Varney; "I have seen and smelled enough to spoil my appetite. I broke the window,

however, and let in the air; it reeked of sulphur, and such like suffocating steams, as if the very devil had

"And might it not be the act of the demon himself?" said Foster, still hesitating; "I have heard he is powerful

"Still, if it were that Satan of thine," answered Varney, "who thus jades thy imagination, thou art in perfect

safety, unless he is a most unconscionable devil indeed. He hath had two good sops of late."

"You will know in time," said Varney;"and then this other banquetbut thou wilt esteem Her too choice a

Anthony Foster heard, and came slowly back to the table. "God! Sir Richard, and must that then be done?"

"Ay, in very truth, Anthony, or there comes no copyhold in thy way," replied his inflexible associate.

"I always foresaw it would land there!" said Foster. "But how, Sir Richard, how?for not to win the world

"I cannot blame thee," said Varney; "I should be reluctant to do that myself. We miss Alasco and his manna

"Ask no questions," said Varney, "thou wilt see him one day if thy creed is true. But to our graver matter. I

will teach thee a spring, Tony, to catch a pewit. Yonder trapdooryonder gimcrack of thine, will remain

"But were the lady to attempt an escape over it," replied Varney, "her weight would carry it down?"

"Why, then, she dies in attempting her escape, and what could you or I help it, honest Tony? Let us to bed,

On the next day, when evening approached, Varney summoned Foster to the execution of their plan. Tider

and Foster's old man servant were sent on a feigned errand down to the village, and Anthony himself, as if

anxious to see that the Countess suffered no want of accommodation, visited her place of confinement. He

was so much staggered at the mildness and patience with which she seemed to endure her confinement, that

he could not help earnestly recommending to her not to cross the threshold of her room on any account

whatever, until Lord Leicester should come, "which," he added, "I trust in God, will be very soon." Amy

patiently promised that she would resign herself to her fate. and Foster returned to his hardened companion

with his conscience halfeased of the perilous load that weighed on it. "I have warned her," he said; "surely

He left, therefore, the Countess's door unsecured on the outside, and, under the eye of Varney, withdrew the

supports which sustained the falling trap, which, therefore, kept its level position merely by a slight adhesion.

They withdrew to wait the issue on the groundfloor adjoining; but they waited long in vain. At length

Varney, after walking long to and fro, with his face muffled in his cloak, threw it suddenly back and

exclaimed, "Surely never was a woman fool enough to neglect so fair an opportunity of escape!"

In less than two minutes, Foster, who remained behind, heard the tread of a horse in the courtyard, and then a

whistle similar to that which was the Earl's usual signal. The instant after the door of the Countess's chamber

opened, and in the same moment the trapdoor gave way. There was a rushing sounda heavy falla faint

At the same instant, Varney called in at the window, in an accent and tone which was an indescribable

"Why, thou fool," said Varney, "thy toil is ended, and thy reward secure. Look down into the vaultwhat

"I see only a heap of white clothes, like a snowdrift," said Foster. "O God, she moves her arm!"

"So pass our troubles," said Varney, entering the room; "I dreamed not I could have mimicked the Earl's call

"Oh, if there be judgment in heaven, thou hast deserved it," said Foster, "and wilt meet it! Thou hast

destroyed her by means of her best affectionsit is a seething of the kid in the mother's milk!"

"Thou art a fanatical ass," replied Varney; "let us now think how the alarm should be giventhe body is to

But their wickedness was to be permitted no longer; for even while they were at this consultation, Tressilian

and Raleigh broke in upon them, having obtained admittance by means of Tider and Foster's servant, whom

Anthony Foster fled on their entrance, and knowing each corner and pass of the intricate old house, escaped

all search. But Varney was taken on the spot; and instead of expressing compunction for what he had done,

seemed to take a fiendish pleasure in pointing out to them the remains of the murdered Countess, while at the

same time he defied them to show that he had any share in her death. The despairing grief of Tressilian, on

viewing the mangled and yet warm remains of what had lately been so lovely and so beloved, was such that

Raleigh was compelled to have him removed from the place by force, while he himself assumed the direction

Varney, upon a second examination, made very little mystery either of the crime or of its

motivesalleging, as a reason for his frankness, that though much of what he confessed could only have

attached to him by suspicion, yet such suspicion would have been sufficient to deprive him of Leicester's

confidence, and to destroy all his towering plans of ambition. "I was not born," he said, "to drag on the

remainder of life a degraded outcast; nor will I so die that my fate shall make a holiday to the vulgar herd."

From these words it was apprehended he had some design upon himself, and he was carefully deprived of all

means by which such could be carried into execution. But like some of the heroes of antiquity, he carried

about his person a small quantity of strong poison, prepared probably by the celebrated Demetrius Alasco.

Having swallowed this potion overnight, he was found next morning dead in his cell; nor did he appear to

have suffered much agony, his countenance presenting, even in death, the habitual expression of sneering

sarcasm which was predominant while he lived. "The wicked man," saith Scripture, "hath no bands in his

The fate of his colleague in wickedness was long unknown. Cumnor Place was deserted immediately after the

murder; for in the vicinity of what was called the Lady Dudley's Chamber, the domestics pretended to hear

groans, and screams, and other supernatural noises. After a certain length of time, Janet, hearing no tidings of

her father, became the uncontrolled mistress of his property, and conferred it with her hand upon Wayland,

now a man of settled character, and holding a place in Elizabeth's household. But it was after they had been

both dead for some years that their eldest son and heir, in making some researches about Cumnor Hall,

discovered a secret passage, closed by an iron door, which, opening from behind the bed in the Lady Dudley's

Chamber, descended to a sort of cell, in which they found an iron chest containing a quantity of gold, and a

human skeleton stretched above it. The fate of Anthony Foster was now manifest. He had fled to this place of

concealment, forgetting the key of the springlock; and being barred from escape by the means he had used

for preservation of that gold, for which he had sold his salvation, he had there perished miserably.

Unquestionably the groans and screams heard by the domestics were not entirely imaginary, but were those

The news of the Countess's dreadful fate put a sudden period to the pleasures of Kenilworth. Leicester retired

from court, and for a considerable time abandoned himself to his remorse. But as Varney in his last

declaration had been studious to spare the character of his patron, the Earl was the object rather of

compassion than resentment. The Queen at length recalled him to court; he was once more distinguished as a

statesman and favourite; and the rest of his career is well known to history. But there was something

retributive in his death, if, according to an account very generally received, it took place from his swallowing

a draught of poison which was designed by him for another person. [See Note 9. Death of the Earl of

Sir Hugh Robsart died very soon after his daughter, having settled his estate on Tressilian. But neither the

prospect of rural independence, nor the promises of favour which Elizabeth held out to induce him to follow

the court, could remove his profound melancholy. Wherever he went he seemed to see before him the

disfigured corpse of the early and only object of his affection. At length, having made provision for the

maintenance of the old friends and old servants who formed Sir Hugh's family at Lidcote Hall, he himself

embarked with his friend Raleigh for the Virginia expedition, and, young in years but old in grief, died before

Of inferior persons it is only necessary to say that Blount's wit grew brighter as his yellow roses faded; that,

doing his part as a brave commander in the wars, he was much more in his element than during the short

period of his following the court; and that Flibbertigibbet's acute genius raised him to favour and distinction

If faith is to be put in epitaphs, Anthony Foster was something the very reverse of the character represented in

the novel. Ashmole gives this description of his tomb. I copy from the ANTIQUITIES OF BERKSHIRE,

"In the north wall of the chancel at Cumnor church is a monument of grey marble, whereon, in brass plates,

are engraved a man in armour, and his wife in the habit of her times, both kneeling before a faldstoole,

together with the figures of three sons kneeling behind their mother. Under the figure of the man is this

"ANTONIUS FORSTER, generis generosa propago, Cumnerae Dominus, Bercheriensis erat. Armiger,

Armigero prognatus patre Ricardo, Qui quondam Iphlethae Salopiensis erat. Quatuor ex isto fluxerunt

stemmate nati, Ex isto Antonius stemmate quartus erat. Mente sagax, animo precellens, corpore promptus,

Eloquii dulcis, ore disertus erat. In factis probitas; fuit in sermone venustas, In vultu gravitas, relligione fides,

In patriam pietas, in egenos grata voluntas, Accedunt reliquis annumeranda bonis. Si quod cuncta rapit, rapuit

"Argute resonas Cithare pretendere chordas Novit, et Aonia concrepuisse Lyra. Gaudebat terre teneras

defigere plantas; Et mira pulchras construere arte domos Composita varias lingua formare loquelas Doctus, et

"The crest is a STAG couchant, vulnerated through the neck by a broad arrow; on his side is a MARTLETT

From this monumental inscription it appears that Anthony Foster, instead of being a vulgar, lowbred,

puritanical churl, was, in fact, a gentleman of birth and consideration, distinguished for his skill in the arts of

music and horticulture, as also in languages. In so far, therefore, the Anthony Foster of the romance has

nothing but the name in common with the real individual. But notwithstanding the charity, benevolence, and

religious faith imputed by the monument of grey marble to its tenant, tradition, as well as secret history,

names him as the active agent in the death of the Countess; and it is added that, from being a jovial and

convivial gallant, as we may infer from some expressions in the epitaph, he sunk, after the fatal deed, into a

man of gloomy and retired habits, whose looks and manners indicated that he suffered under the pressure of

The name of Lambourne is still known in the vicinity, and it is said some of the clan partake the habits, as

well as name, of the Michael Lambourne of the romance. A man of this name lately murdered his wife,

outdoing Michael in this respect, who only was concerned in the murder of the wife of another man.

I have only to add that the jolly Black Bear has been restored to his predominance over bowl and bottle in the

The great defeat given by Alfred to the Danish invaders is said by Mr. Gough to have taken place near

Ashdown, in Berkshire. "The burial place of Baereg, the Danish chief, who was slain in this fight, is

distinguished by a parcel of stones, less than a mile from the hill, set on edge, enclosing a piece of ground

somewhat raised. On the east side of the southern extremity stand three squarish flat stones, of about four or

five feet over either way, supporting a fourth, and now called by the vulgar WAYLAND SMITH, from an

idle tradition about an invisible smith replacing lost horseshoes there."GOUGH'S edition of CAMDEN'S

The popular belief still retains memory of this wild legend, which, connected as it is with the site of a Danish

sepulchre, may have arisen from some legend concerning the northern Duergar, who resided in the rocks, and

were cunning workers in steel and iron. It was believed that Wayland Smith's fee was sixpence, and that,

unlike other workmen, he was offended if more was offered. Of late his offices have been again called to

memory; but fiction has in this, as in other cases, taken the liberty to pillage the stores of oral tradition. This

monument must be very ancient, for it has been kindly pointed out to me that it is referred to in an ancient

Saxon charter as a landmark. The monument has been of late cleared out, and made considerably more

Naunton gives us numerous and curious particulars of the jealous struggle which took place between

Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex, and the rising favourite Leicester. The former, when on his deathbed, predicted to

his followers that after his death the gipsy (so he called Leicester, from his dark complexion) would prove too

Among the attendants and adherents of Sussex, we have ventured to introduce the celebrated Raleigh, in the

In Aubrey's Correspondence there are some curious particulars of Sir Walter Raleigh. "He was a tall,

handsome, bold man; but his naeve was that he was damnably proud. Old Sir Robert Harley of Brampton

Brian Castle, who knew him, would say it was a great question who was the proudest, Sir Walter or Sir

Thomas Overbury; but the difference that was, was judged in Sir Thomas's side. In the great parlour at

Downton, at Mr. Raleigh's, is a good piece, an original of Sir Walter, in a white satin doublet, all embroidered

with rich pearls, and a mighty rich chain of great pearls about his neck. The old servants have told me that the

real pearls were near as big as the painted ones. He had a most remarkable aspect, an exceeding high

The enemy to the stomach, and the word of disgrace, Is the name of the gentleman with the bold face.

Sir Walter Raleigh's beard turned up naturally, which gave him an advantage over the gallants of the time,

whose moustaches received a touch of the barber's art to give them the air then most admired.See

The gallant incident of the cloak is the traditional account of this celebrated statesman's rise at court. None of

Elizabeth's courtiers knew better than he how to make his court to her personal vanity, or could more justly

estimate the quantity of flattery which she could condescend to swallow. Being confined in the Tower for

some offence, and understanding the Queen was about to pass to Greenwich in her barge, he insisted on

approaching the window, that he might see, at whatever distance, the Queen of his Affections, the most

beautiful object which the earth bore on its surface. The Lieutenant of the Tower (his own particular friend)

threw himself between his prisoner and the window; while Sir Waiter, apparently influenced by a fit of

unrestrainable passion, swore he would not be debarred from seeing his light, his life, his goddess! A scuffle

ensued, got up for effect's sake, in which the Lieutenant and his captive grappled and struggled with fury, tore

each other's hair, and at length drew daggers, and were only separated by force. The Queen being informed of

this scene exhibited by her frantic adorer, it wrought, as was to be expected, much in favour of the captive

Paladin. There is little doubt that his quarrel with the Lieutenant was entirely contrived for the purpose which

Little is known of Robert Laneham, save in his curious letter to a friend in London, giving an account of

Queen Elizabeth's entertainments at Kenilworth, written in a style of the most intolerable affectation, both in

point of composition and orthography. He describes himself as a BON VIVANT, who was wont to be jolly

and dry in the morning, and by his goodwill would be chiefly in the company of the ladies. He was, by the

interest of Lord Leicester, Clerk of the Council Chamber door, and also keeper of the same. "When Council

sits," says he, "I am at hand. If any makes a babbling, PEACE, say I. If I see a listener or a pryer in at the

chinks or lockhole, I am presently on the bones of him. If a friend comes, I make him sit down by me on a

form or chest. The rest may walk, a God's name!" There has been seldom a better portrait of the pragmatic

The Earl of Leicester's Italian physician, Julio, was affirmed by his contemporaries to be a skilful

compounder of poisons, which he applied with such frequency, that the Jesuit Parsons extols ironically the

marvellous good luck of this great favourite in the opportune deaths of those who stood in the way of his

"Long after this, he fell in love with the Lady Sheffield, whom I signified before, and then also had he the

same fortune to have her husband dye quickly, with an extreame rheume in his head (as it was given out), but

"The like good chance had he in the death of my Lord of Essex (as I have said before), and that at a time most

fortunate for his purpose; for when he was coming home from Ireland, with intent to revenge himselfe upon

my Lord of Leicester for begetting his wife with childe in his absence (the childe was a daughter, and brought

up by the Lady Shandoes, W. Knooles, his wife), my Lord of Leicester hearing thereof, wanted not a friend

or two to accompany the deputy, as among other a couple of the Earles own servants, Crompton (if I misse

not his name), yeoman of his bottles, and Lloid his secretary, entertained afterward by my Lord of Leicester,

and so he dyed in the way of an extreame flux, caused by an Italian receipe, as all his friends are well assured,

the maker whereof was a chyrurgeon (as it is beleeved) that then was newly come to my Lord from Italya

cunning man and sure in operation, with whom, if the good Lady had been sooner acquainted, and used his

help, she should not have needed to sitten so pensive at home, and fearefull of her husband's former returne

out of the same country......Neither must you marvaile though all these died in divers manners of outward

diseases, for this is the excellency of the Italian art, for which this chyrurgeon and Dr. Julio were entertained

so carefully, who can make a man dye in what manner or show of sickness you willby whose instructions,

no doubt; but his lordship is now cunning, especially adding also to these the counsell of his Doctor Bayly, a

man also not a little studied (as he seemeth) in his art; for I heard him once myselfe, in a publique act in

Oxford, and that in presence of my Lord of Leicester (if I be not deceived), maintain that poyson might be so

tempered and given as it should not appear presently, and yet should kill the party afterward, at what time

should be appointed; which argument belike pleased well his lordship, and therefore was chosen to be

discussed in his audience, if I be not deceived of his being that day present. So, though one dye of a flux, and

another of a catarre, yet this importeth little to the matter, but showeth rather the great cunning and skill of

It is unnecessary to state the numerous reasons why the Earl is stated in the tale to be rather the dupe of

villains than the unprincipled author of their atrocities. In the latter capacity, which a part at least of his

contemporaries imputed to him, he would have made a character too disgustingly wicked to be useful for the

I have only to add that the union of the poisoner, the quacksalver, the alchemist, and the astrologer in the

In revising this work, I have had the means of making some accurate additions to my attempt to describe the

princely pleasures of Kenilworth, by the kindness of my friend William Hamper, Esq., who had the goodness

to communicate to me an inventory of the furniture of Kenilworth in the days of the magnificent Earl of

Leicester. I have adorned the text with some of the splendid articles mentioned in the inventory, but

antiquaries especially will be desirous to see a more full specimen than the story leaves room for.

A Salte, shipfashion, of the mother of perle, garnished with silver and divers workes, warlike ensignes, and

ornaments, with xvj peeces of ordinance whereof ij on wheles, two anckers on the foreparte, and on the

stearne the image of Dame Fortune standing on a globe with a flag in her hand. Pois xxxij oz.

A George on horseback, of wood, painted and gilt, with a case for knives in the tayle of the horse, and a case

HANGINGS. (These are minutely specified, and consisted of the following subjects, in tapestry, and gilt, and

Flowers, beasts, and pillars arched. Forest worke. Historie. Storie of Susanna, the Prodigall Childe, Saule,

Tobie, Hercules, Lady Fame, Hawking and Hunting, Jezabell, Judith and Holofernes, David, Abraham,

BEDSTEADS, WITH THEIR FURNITURE. (These are magnificent and numerous. I shall copy

A bedsted of wallnuttree, toppe fashion, the pillers redd and varnished, the ceelor, tester, and single vallance

of crimson sattin, paned with a broad border of bone lace of golde and silver. The tester richlie embrothered

with my Lo. armes in a garland of hoppes, roses, and pomegranetts, and lyned with buckerom. Fyve curteins

of crimson sattin to the same bedsted, striped downe with a bone lace of gold and silver, garnished with

buttons and loops of crimson silk and golde, containing xiiij bredths of sattin, and one yarde iij quarters

A crymson sattin counterpointe, quilted and embr. with a golde twiste, and lyned with redd sarsenet, being in

A fayre quilte of crymson sattin, vj breadths, iij yardes 3 quarters naile deepe, all lozenged over with silver

twiste, in the midst a cinquefoile within a garland of ragged staves, fringed rounde aboute with a small fringe

Fyve plumes of coolered feathers, garnished with bone lace and spangells of goulde and silver, standing in

cups knitt all over with goulde, silver, and crymson silk. [Probably on the centre and four corners of the

bedstead. Four bears and ragged staves occupied a similar position on another of these sumptuous pieces of

A carpett for a cupboarde of crymson sattin, embrothered with a border of goulde twiste, about iij parts of it

fringed with silk and goulde, lyned with bridges [That is, Bruges.] sattin, in length ij yards, and ij bredths of

(There were eleven down beds and ninety feather beds, besides thirtyseven mattresses.)

CHYRES, STOOLES, AND CUSHENS. (These were equally splendid with the beds, etc. I shall here copy

A chaier of crimson velvet, the seate and backe partlie embrothered, with R. L. in cloth of goulde, the beare

and ragged staffe in clothe of silver, garnished with lace and fringe of goulde, silver, and crimson silck. The

frame covered with velvet, bounde aboute the edge with goulde lace, and studded with gilte nailes.

A square stoole and a foote stoole, of crimson velvet, fringed and garnished suteable.

A long cushen of crimson velvet, embr. with the ragged staffe in a wreathe of goulde, with my Lo. posie

"DROYTE ET LOYALL" written in the same, and the letters R. L. in clothe of goulde, being garnished with

lace, fringe, buttons, and tassels of gold, silver, and crimson silck, lyned with crimson taff., being in length 1

CARPETS. (There were 10 velvet carpets for tables and windows, 49 Turkey carpets for floors, and 32 cloth

A carpett of crimson velvet, richlie embr. with my Lo. posie, beares and ragged staves, etc., of clothe of

goulde and silver, garnished upon the seames and aboute with golde lace, fringed accordinglie, lyned with

crimson taffata sarsenett, being 3 breadths of velvet, one yard 3 quarters long.

A great Turquoy carpett, the grounde blew, with a list of yelloe at each end, being in length x yards, in

A long carpett of blew clothe, lyned with bridges sattin, fringed with blew silck and goulde, in length vj yards

The Queene's Majestie (2 great tables). 3 of my Lord. St. Jerome. Lo. of Arundell. Lord Mathevers. Lord of

Pembroke. Counte Egmondt. The Queene of Scotts. King Philip. The Baker's Daughters. The Duke of Feria.

Alexander Magnus. Two Yonge Ladies. Pompaea Sabina. Fred. D. of Saxony. Emp. Charles. K. Philip's

Wife. Prince of Orange and his Wife. Marq. of Berges and his Wife. Counte de Home. Count Holstrate.

Monsr. Brederode. Duke Alva. Cardinal Grandville. Duches of Parma. Henrie E. of Pembrooke and his

young Countess. Countis of Essex. Occacion and Repentance. Lord Mowntacute. Sir Jas. Crofts. Sir Wr.

A little foulding table of ebanie, garnished with white bone, wherein are written verses with lres. of goulde.

An instrument of organs, regall, and virginalls, covered with crimson velvet, and garnished with goulde lace.

A cabonett of crimson sattin, richlie embr. with a device of hunting the stagg, in goulde, silver, and silck,

with iiij glasses in the topp thereof, xvj cupps of flowers made of goulde, silver, and silck, in a case of

A CHESS BOARDE of ebanie, with checkars of christall and other stones, layed with silver, garnished with

beares and ragged staves, and cinquefoiles of silver. The xxxij men likewyse of christall and other stones sett,

the one sort in silver white, the other gilte, in a case gilded and lyned with green cotton.

A great BRASON CANDLESTICK to hang in the roofe of the howse, verie fayer and curiouslye wrought,

with xxiiij branches, xij greate and xij of lesser size, 6 rowlers and ij wings for the spreade eagle, xxiiij

socketts for candells, xij greater and xij of a lesser sorte, xxiiij sawcers, or candlecups, of like proporcion to

put under the socketts, iij images of men and iij of weomen, of brass, verie finely and artificiallie done.

These specimens of Leicester's magnificence may serve to assure the reader that it scarce lay in the power of

a modern author to exaggerate the lavish style of expense displayed in the princely pleasures of Kenilworth.

In a curious manuscript copy of the information given by Ben Jonson to Drummond of Hawthornden, as

transcribed by Sir Robert Sibbald, Leicester's death is ascribed to poison administered as a cordial by his

countess, to whom he had given it, representing it to be a restorative in any faintness, in the hope that she

herself might be cut off by using it. We have already quoted Jonson's account of this merited stroke of

retribution in a note of the Introduction to this volume. It may be here added that the following satirical

epitaph on Leicester occurs in Drummond's Collection, but is evidently not of his composition: