CHAPTER XVII.
Well, then--our course is chosen--spread the sail-- Heave oft the lead, and mark the soundings well-- Look to the helm, good master--many a shoal Marks this stern coast, and rocks, where sits the Siren, Who, like ambition, lures men to their ruin.--THE SHIPWRECK.
During the brief interval that took place betwixt the dismissal of theaudience and the sitting of the privy-council, Leicester had time toreflect that he had that morning sealed his own fate. "It was impossiblefor him now," he thought, "after having, in the face of all that washonourable in England, pledged his truth (though in an ambiguous phrase)for the statement of Varney, to contradict or disavow it, withoutexposing himself, not merely to the loss of court-favour, but to thehighest displeasure of the Queen, his deceived mistress, and to thescorn and contempt at once of his rival and of all his compeers." Thiscertainty rushed at once on his mind, together with all the difficultieswhich he would necessarily be exposed to in preserving a secret whichseemed now equally essential to his safety, to his power, and to hishonour. He was situated like one who walks upon ice ready to give wayaround him, and whose only safety consists in moving onwards, by firmand unvacillating steps. The Queen's favour, to preserve which hehad made such sacrifices, must now be secured by all means and at allhazards; it was the only plank which he could cling to in the tempest.He must settle himself, therefore, to the task of not only preserving,but augmenting the Queen's partiality--he must be the favourite ofElizabeth, or a man utterly shipwrecked in fortune and in honour. Allother considerations must be laid aside for the moment, and he repelledthe intrusive thoughts which forced on his mind the image of, Amy, bysaying to himself there would be time to think hereafter how he was toescape from the labyrinth ultimately, since the pilot who sees a Scyllaunder his bows must not for the time think of the more distant dangersof Charybdis.
In this mood the Earl of Leicester that day assumed his chair at thecouncil table of Elizabeth; and when the hours of business were over,in this same mood did he occupy an honoured place near her during herpleasure excursion on the Thames. And never did he display to moreadvantage his powers as a politician of the first rank, or his parts asan accomplished courtier.
It chanced that in that day's council matters were agitated touching theaffairs of the unfortunate Mary, the seventh year of whose captivity inEngland was now in doleful currency. There had been opinions in favourof this unhappy princess laid before Elizabeth's council, and supportedwith much strength of argument by Sussex and others, who dwelt more uponthe law of nations and the breach of hospitality than, however softenedor qualified, was agreeable to the Queen's ear. Leicester adopted thecontrary opinion with great animation and eloquence, and described thenecessity of continuing the severe restraint of the Queen of Scots, asa measure essential to the safety of the kingdom, and particularlyof Elizabeth's sacred person, the lightest hair of whose head, hemaintained, ought, in their lordships' estimation, to be matter of moredeep 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 andtheme of encouragement to all enemies to Elizabeth, whether at home orabroad. He ended by craving pardon of their lordships, if in the zealof speech he had given any offence, but the Queen's safety was a themewhich hurried him beyond his usual moderation of debate.
Elizabeth chid him, but not severely, for the weight which he attachedunduly to her personal interests; yet she owned that, since it had beenthe pleasure of Heaven to combine those interests with the weal ofher subjects, she did only her duty when she adopted such measures ofself-preservation as circumstances forced upon her; and if the councilin their wisdom should be of opinion that it was needful to continuesome restraint on the person of her unhappy sister of Scotland, shetrusted they would not blame her if she requested of the Countess ofShrewsbury to use her with as much kindness as might be consistent withher safe keeping. And with this intimation of her pleasure the councilwas 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 theriver-side, in order to attend her Majesty to her barge--never wasthe voice of the ushers louder, to "make room, make room for thenoble Earl"--never were these signals more promptly and reverentlyobeyed--never were more anxious eyes turned on him to obtain a glanceof favour, or even of mere recognition, while the heart of many a humblefollower throbbed betwixt the desire to offer his congratulations, andthe fear of intruding himself on the notice of one so infinitely abovehim. The whole court considered the issue of this day's audience,expected with so much doubt and anxiety, as a decisive triumph on thepart of Leicester, and felt assured that the orb of his rival satellite,if not altogether obscured by his lustre, must revolve hereafter in adimmer and more distant sphere. So thought the court and courtiers, fromhigh to low; and they acted accordingly.
On the other hand, never did Leicester return the general greeting withsuch ready and condescending courtesy, or endeavour more successfullyto gather (in the words of one who at that moment stood at no greatdistance from him) "golden opinions from all sorts of men."
For all the favourite Earl had a bow a smile at least, and often a kindword. Most of these were addressed to courtiers, whose names have longgone down the tide of oblivion; but some, to such as sound strangely inour ears, when connected with the ordinary matters of human life,above which the gratitude of posterity has long elevated them. A few ofLeicester's interlocutory sentences ran as follows:--
"Poynings, good morrow; and how does your wife and fair daughter? Whycome they not to court?--Adams, your suit is naught; the Queen willgrant no more monopolies. But I may serve you in another matter.--Mygood Alderman Aylford, the suit of the City, affecting Queenhithe,shall be forwarded as far as my poor interest can serve.--Master EdmundSpenser, touching your Irish petition, I would willingly aid you, frommy love to the Muses; but thou hast nettled the Lord Treasurer."
"My lord," said the poet, "were I permitted to explain--"
"Come to my lodging, Edmund," answered the Earl "not to-morrow, or nextday, but soon.--Ha, Will Shakespeare--wild Will!--thou hast given mynephew Philip Sidney, love-powder; he cannot sleep without thy Venus andAdonis under his pillow! We will have thee hanged for the veriest wizardin Europe. Hark thee, mad wag, I have not forgotten thy matter of thepatent, and of the bears."
The PLAYER bowed, and the Earl nodded and passed on--so that age wouldhave told the tale; in ours, perhaps, we might say the immortal had donehomage to the mortal. The next whom the favourite accosted was one ofhis own zealous dependants.
"How now, Sir Francis Denning," he whispered, in answer to his exultingsalutation, "that smile hath made thy face shorter by one-third thanwhen 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 ifI remember aught of the passage betwixt us, it shall be in thy favour."
Then the Earl was approached, with several fantastic congees, by aperson quaintly dressed in a doublet of black velvet, curiously slashedand pinked with crimson satin. A long cock's feather in the velvetbonnet, which he held in his hand, and an enormous ruff; stiffened tothe extremity of the absurd taste of the times, joined with a sharp,lively, conceited expression of countenance, seemed to body forth avain, harebrained coxcomb, and small wit; while the rod he held, andan assumption of formal authority, appeared to express some senseof official consequence, which qualified the natural pertness of hismanner. A perpetual blush, which occupied rather the sharp nose than thethin cheek of this personage, seemed to speak more of "good life," asit was called, than of modesty; and the manner in which he approached tothe Earl confirmed that suspicion.
"Good even to you, Master Robert Laneham," said Leicester, and seemeddesirous to pass forward, without further speech.
"I have a suit to your noble lordship," said the figure, boldlyfollowing him.
"And w
hat is it, good master keeper of the council-chamber door?"
"CLERK of the council-chamber door," said Master Robert Laneham, withemphasis, by way of reply, and of correction.
"Well, qualify thine office as thou wilt, man," replied the Earl; "whatwouldst 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 Progressunto your lordship's most beautiful and all-to-be-unmatched Castle ofKenilworth."
"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 willwillingly spare your old servitor his crib and his mess. Bethink you,my lord, how necessary is this rod of mine to fright away all thoselisteners, who else would play at bo-peep with the honourable council,and be searching for keyholes and crannies in the door of the chamber,so as to render my staff as needful as a fly-flap in a butcher's shop."
"Methinks you have found out a fly-blown comparison for the honourablecouncil, Master Laneham," said the Earl; "but seek not about to justifyit. Come to Kenilworth, if you list; there will be store of fools therebesides, and so you will be fitted."
"Nay, an there be fools, my lord," replied Laneham, with much glee, "Iwarrant I will make sport among them, for no greyhound loves to cote ahare as I to turn and course a fool. But I have another singular favourto beseech of your honour."
"Speak it, and let me go," said the Earl; "I think the Queen comes forthinstantly."
"My very good lord, I would fain bring a bed-fellow with me."
"How, you irreverent rascal!" said Leicester.
"Nay, my lord, my meaning is within the canons," answered hisunblushing, or rather his ever-blushing petitioner. "I have a wife ascurious as her grandmother who ate the apple. Now, take her with meI may not, her Highness's orders being so strict against the officersbringing with them their wives in a progress, and so lumbering the courtwith womankind. But what I would crave of your lordship is to find roomfor her in some mummery, or pretty pageant, in disguise, as it were; sothat, not being known for my wife, there may be no offence."
"The foul fiend seize ye both!" said Leicester, stung intouncontrollable passion by the recollections which this speechexcited--"why stop you me with such follies?"
The terrified clerk of the chamber-door, astonished at the burst ofresentment he had so unconsciously produced, dropped his staff of officefrom his hand, and gazed on the incensed Earl with a foolish face ofwonder and terror, which instantly recalled Leicester to himself.
"I meant but to try if thou hadst the audacity which befits thineoffice," said he hastily. "Come to Kenilworth, and bring the devil withthee, if thou wilt."
"My wife, sir, hath played the devil ere now, in a Mystery, in QueenMary's time; but me shall want a trifle for properties."
"Here is a crown for thee," said the Earl,--"make me rid of thee--thegreat bell rings."
Master Robert Laneham stared a moment at the agitation which he hadexcited, and then said to himself, as he stooped to pick up his staffof office, "The noble Earl runs wild humours to-day. But they who givecrowns expect us witty fellows to wink at their unsettled starts; and,by my faith, if they paid not for mercy, we would finger them tightly!"[See Note 6. Robert Laneham.]
Leicester moved hastily on, neglecting the courtesies he had hithertodispensed so liberally, and hurrying through the courtly crowd, untilhe paused in a small withdrawing-room, into which he plunged to draw amoment's breath unobserved, and in seclusion.
"What am I now," he said to himself, "that am thus jaded by the wordsof a mean, weather-beaten, goose-brained gull! Conscience, thou art abloodhound, whose growl wakes us readily at the paltry stir of a rator mouse as at the step of a lion. Can I not quit myself, by onebold stroke, of a state so irksome, so unhonoured? What if I kneel toElizabeth, and, owning the whole, throw myself on her mercy?"
As he pursued this train of thought, the door of the apartment opened,and Varney rushed in.
"Thank God, my lord, that I have found you!" was his exclamation.
"Thank the devil, whose agent thou art," was the Earl's reply.
"Thank whom you will, my lord," replied Varney; "but hasten to thewater-side. The Queen is on board, and asks for you."
"Go, say I am taken suddenly ill," replied Leicester; "for, by Heaven,my brain can sustain this no longer!"
"I may well say so," said Varney, with bitterness of expression, "foryour place, ay, and mine, who, as your master of the horse, was to haveattended your lordship, is already filled up in the Queen's barge. Thenew minion, Walter Raleigh, and our old acquaintance Tressilian werecalled for to fill our places just as I hastened away to seek you."
"Thou art a devil, Varney," said Leicester hastily; "but thou hast themastery for the present--I follow thee."
Varney replied not, but led the way out of the palace, and towards theriver, while his master followed him, as if mechanically; until, lookingback, he said in a tone which savoured of familiarity at least, if notof authority, "How is this, my lord? Your cloak hangs on one side--yourhose are unbraced--permit me--"
"Thou art a fool, Varney, as well as a knave," said Leicester, shakinghim 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 younot."
So saying, the Earl resumed at once his air of command, and with it hisself-possession--shook his dress into yet wilder disorder--passed beforeVarney with the air of a superior and master, and in his turn led theway to the river-side.
The Queen's barge was on the very point of putting off, the seatallotted to Leicester in the stern, and that to his master of the horseon the bow of the boat, being already filled up. But on Leicester'sapproach there was a pause, as if the bargemen anticipated somealteration in their company. The angry spot was, however, on the Queen'scheek, as, in that cold tone with which superiors endeavour to veiltheir internal agitation, while speaking to those before whom it wouldbe derogation to express it, she pronounced the chilling words, "We havewaited, my Lord of Leicester."
"Madam, and most gracious Princess," said Leicester, "you, who canpardon so many weaknesses which your own heart never knows, can bestbestow your commiseration on the agitations of the bosom, which, for amoment, affect both head and limbs. I came to your presence a doubtingand an accused subject; your goodness penetrated the clouds ofdefamation, and restored me to my honour, and, what is yet dearer, toyour favour--is it wonderful, though for me it is most unhappy, thatmy master of the horse should have found me in a state which scarcepermitted me to make the exertion necessary to follow him to this place,when one glance of your Highness, although, alas! an angry one, has hadpower to do that for me in which Esculapius might have failed?"
"How is this?" said Elizabeth hastily, looking at Varney; "hath yourlord been ill?"
"Something of a fainting fit," answered the ready-witted Varney, "asyour Grace may observe from his present condition. My lord's haste wouldnot permit me leisure even to bring his dress into order."
"It matters not," said Elizabeth, as she gazed on the noble face andform of Leicester, to which even the strange mixture of passions bywhich he had been so lately agitated gave additional interest; "makeroom for my noble lord. Your place, Master Varney, has been filled up;you must find a seat in another barge."
Varney bowed, and withdrew.
"And you, too, our young Squire of the Cloak," added she, looking atRaleigh, "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 ofwomen that I should aggrieve him by my change of plan, so far as he isconcerned."
Leicester seated himself in his place in the barge, and close to theSovereign. Raleigh rose to retire, and Tressilian would have been soill-timed in his courtesy as to offer to relinquish his own place to hisfriend, had not the acute glance of Raleigh himself, who seemed no inhis native element, made him sens
ible that so ready a disclamation ofthe royal favour might be misinterpreted. He sat silent, therefore,whilst Raleigh, with a profound bow, and a look of the deepesthumiliation, was about to quit his place.
A noble courtier, the gallant Lord Willoughby, read, as he thought,something in the Queen's face which seemed to pity Raleigh's real orassumed semblance of mortification.
"It is not for us old courtiers," he said, "to hide the sunshine fromthe young ones. I will, with her Majesty's leave, relinquish for anhour that which her subjects hold dearest, the delight of her Highness'spresence, and mortify myself by walking in starlight, while I forsakefor a brief season the glory of Diana's own beams. I will take placein the boat which the ladies occupy, and permit this young cavalier hishour of promised felicity."
The Queen replied, with an expression betwixt mirth and earnest, "If youare so willing to leave us, my lord, we cannot help the mortification.But, under favour, we do not trust you--old and experienced as youmay deem yourself--with the care of our young ladies of honour. Yourvenerable age, my lord," she continued, smiling, "may be better assortedwith that of my Lord Treasurer, who follows in the third boat, and bywhose experience even my Lord Willoughby's may be improved."
Lord Willoughby hid his disappointment under a smile--laughed, wasconfused, bowed, and left the Queen's barge to go on board my LordBurleigh's. Leicester, who endeavoured to divert his thoughts from allinternal reflection, by fixing them on what was passing around, watchedthis circumstance among others. But when the boat put off from theshore--when the music sounded from a barge which accompanied them--whenthe shouts of the populace were heard from the shore, and all remindedhim of the situation in which he was placed, he abstracted his thoughtsand feelings by a strong effort from everything but the necessity ofmaintaining himself in the favour of his patroness, and exerted histalents 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 anxiouscare, lest his flow of spirits should exhaust him.
"My lords," she said, "having passed for a time our edict of silenceupon our good Leicester, we will call you to counsel on a gamesomematter, more fitted to be now treated of, amidst mirth and music, thanin 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 standsgodfather to his request?"
"Marry, with Your Grace's good permission, that do I," said the Earl ofSussex. "Orson Pinnit was a stout soldier before he was so mangled bythe skenes of the Irish clan MacDonough; and I trust your Grace willbe, as you always have been, good mistress to your good and trustyservants."
"Surely," said the Queen, "it is our purpose to be so, and in especialto our poor soldiers and sailors, who hazard their lives for little pay.We would give," she said, with her eyes sparkling, "yonder royal palaceof ours to be an hospital for their use, rather than they should calltheir mistress ungrateful. But this is not the question," she said,her voice, which had been awakened by her patriotic feelings, once moresubsiding into the tone of gay and easy conversation; "for this OrsonPinnit's request goes something further. He complains that, amidst theextreme delight with which men haunt the play-houses, and in especialtheir eager desire for seeing the exhibitions of one Will Shakespeare(whom I think, my lords, we have all heard something of), the manlyamusement of bear-baiting is falling into comparative neglect, since menwill rather throng to see these roguish players kill each other injest, than to see our royal dogs and bears worry each other in bloodyearnest.--What say you to this, my Lord of Sussex?"
"Why, truly, gracious madam," said Sussex, "you must expect little froman old soldier like me in favour of battles in sport, when they arecompared with battles in earnest; and yet, by my faith, I wish WillShakespeare no harm. He is a stout man at quarter-staff, and singlefalchion, though, as I am told, a halting fellow; and he stood, theysay, a tough fight with the rangers of old Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecot,when he broke his deer-park and kissed his keeper's daughter."
"I cry you mercy, my Lord of Sussex," said Queen Elizabeth, interruptinghim; "that matter was heard in council, and we will not have thisfellow's offence exaggerated--there was no kissing in the matter, andthe defendant hath put the denial on record. But what say you to hispresent practice, my lord, on the stage? for there lies the point, andnot in any ways touching his former errors, in breaking parks, or theother follies you speak of."
"Why, truly, madam," replied Sussex, "as I said before, I wish thegamesome mad fellow no injury. Some of his whoreson poetry (I crave yourGrace's pardon for such a phrase) has rung in mine ears as if the linessounded to boot and saddle. But then it is all froth and folly--nosubstance 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 gameof bear-baiting, which hath been graced by your Highness's countenance,and that of your royal predecessors, in this your princely kingdom,famous for matchless mastiffs and bold bearwards over all Christendom?Greatly is it to be doubted that the race of both will decay, ifmen should throng to hear the lungs of an idle player belch forthnonsensical bombast, instead of bestowing their pence in encouraging thebravest image of war that can be shown in peace, and that is the sportsof the Bear-garden. There you may see the bear lying at guard, with hisred, pinky eyes watching the onset of the mastiff, like a wily captainwho maintains his defence that an assailant may be tempted to venturewithin his danger. And then comes Sir Mastiff, like a worthy champion,in full career at the throat of his adversary; and then shall Sir Bruinteach him the reward for those who, in their over-courage, neglect thepolicies of war, and, catching him in his arms, strain him to his breastlike a lusty wrestler, until rib after rib crack like the shot of apistolet. And then another mastiff; as bold, but with better aim andsounder judgment, catches Sir Bruin by the nether lip, and hangs fast,while he tosses about his blood and slaver, and tries in vain to shakeSir Talbot from his hold. And then--"
"Nay, by my honour, my lord," said the Queen, laughing, "you havedescribed 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 manymore, your words were sufficient to put the whole Bear-garden before oureyes.--But come, who speaks next in this case?--My Lord of Leicester,what say you?"
"Am I then to consider myself as unmuzzled, please your Grace?" repliedLeicester.
"Surely, my lord--that is, if you feel hearty enough to take part in ourgame," answered Elizabeth; "and yet, when I think of your cognizance ofthe bear and ragged staff, methinks we had better hear some less partialorator."
"Nay, on my word, gracious Princess," said the Earl, "though my brotherAmbrose of Warwick and I do carry the ancient cognizance your Highnessdeigns to remember, I nevertheless desire nothing but fair play on allsides; or, as they say, 'fight dog, fight bear.' And in behalf of theplayers, I must needs say that they are witty knaves, whose rants andjests keep the minds of the commons from busying themselves withstate 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, asthey call them, the mind of the spectators is withdrawn from the conductof their rulers."
"We would not have the mind of our subjects withdrawn from theconsideration of our own conduct, my lord," answered Elizabeth; "becausethe more closely it is examined, the true motives by which we are guidedwill appear the more manifest."
"I have heard, however, madam," said the Dean of St. Asaph's, an eminentPuritan, "that these players are wont, in their plays, not only tointroduce profane and lewd expressions, tending to foster sin andharlotry; but even to bellow out such reflections on government, itsorigin and its object, as tend to render the subject discontented, andshake the solid foundations of civil society. And it seems to be,under
your Grace's favour, far less than safe to permit these naughtyfoul-mouthed knaves to ridicule the godly for their decent gravity,and, in blaspheming heaven and slandering its earthly rulers, to set atdefiance the laws both of God and man."
"If we could think this were true, my lord," said Elizabeth, "we shouldgive sharp correction for such offences. But it is ill arguing againstthe use of anything from its abuse. And touching this Shakespeare, wethink there is that in his plays that is worth twenty Bear-gardens;and that this new undertaking of his Chronicles, as he calls them, mayentertain, with honest mirth, mingled with useful instruction, not onlyour subjects, but even the generation which may succeed to us."
"Your Majesty's reign will need no such feeble aid to make it rememberedto the latest posterity," said Leicester. "And yet, in his way,Shakespeare hath so touched some incidents of your Majesty's happygovernment as may countervail what has been spoken by his reverencethe Dean of St. Asaph's. There are some lines, for example--I wouldmy nephew, Philip Sidney, were here; they are scarce ever out of hismouth--they are spoken in a mad tale of fairies, love-charms, and I wotnot what besides; but beautiful they are, however short they may andmust fall of the subject to which they bear a bold relation--and Philipmurmurs them, I think, even in his dreams."
"You tantalize us, my lord," said the Queen--"Master Philip Sidney is,we know, a minion of the Muses, and we are pleased it should be so.Valour never shines to more advantage than when united with the truetaste and love of letters. But surely there are some others among ouryoung courtiers who can recollect what your lordship has forgotten amidweightier affairs.--Master Tressilian, you are described to me as aworshipper of Minerva--remember you aught of these lines?"
Tressilian's heart was too heavy, his prospects in life too fatallyblighted, to profit by the opportunity which the Queen thus offeredto him of attracting her attention; but he determined to transfer theadvantage to his more ambitious young friend, and excusing himselfon the score of want of recollection, he added that he believed thebeautiful verses of which my Lord of Leicester had spoken were in theremembrance of Master Walter Raleigh.
At the command of the Queen, that cavalier repeated, with accent andmanner which even added to their exquisite delicacy of tact and beautyof description, the celebrated vision of Oberon:--
"That very time I saw (but thou couldst not), Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid, allarm'd: a certain aim he took At a fair vestal, throned by the west; And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts: But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon; And the imperial vot'ress passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy free."
The voice of Raleigh, as he repeated the last lines, became a littletremulous, as if diffident how the Sovereign to whom the homage wasaddressed might receive it, exquisite as it was. If this diffidence wasaffected, it was good policy; but if real, there was little occasionfor it. The verses were not probably new to the Queen, for when was eversuch elegant flattery long in reaching the royal ear to which it wasaddressed? But they were not the less welcome when repeated by such aspeaker as Raleigh. Alike delighted with the matter, the manner, andthe graceful form and animated countenance of the gallant young reciter,Elizabeth kept time to every cadence with look and with finger. Whenthe speaker had ceased, she murmured over the last lines as if scarceconscious that she was overheard, and as she uttered the words,
"In maiden meditation, fancy free," she dropped into the Thames thesupplication of Orson Pinnit, keeper of the royal bears, to find morefavourable acceptance at Sheerness, or wherever the tide might waft it.
Leicester was spurred to emulation by the success of the youngcourtier's exhibition, as the veteran racer is roused when ahigh-mettled colt passes him on the way. He turned the discourse onshows, banquets, pageants, and on the character of those by whom thesegay scenes were then frequented. He mixed acute observation with lightsatire, in that just proportion which was free alike from malignantslander and insipid praise. He mimicked with ready accent the manners ofthe affected or the clownish, and made his own graceful tone and mannerseem doubly such when he resumed it. Foreign countries--their customs,their manners, the rules of their courts---the fashions, and even thedress of their ladies-were equally his theme; and seldom did he concludewithout conveying some compliment, always couched in delicacy, andexpressed with propriety, to the Virgin Queen, her court, and hergovernment. Thus passed the conversation during this pleasure voyage,seconded by the rest of the attendants upon the royal person, in gaydiscourse, varied by remarks upon ancient classics and modern authors,and enriched by maxims of deep policy and sound morality, by thestatesmen and sages who sat around and mixed wisdom with the lightertalk of a female court.
When they returned to the Palace, Elizabeth accepted, or ratherselected, the arm of Leicester to support her from the stairs where theylanded to the great gate. It even seemed to him (though that might arisefrom the flattery of his own imagination) that during this shortpassage she leaned on him somewhat more than the slippiness of theway necessarily demanded. Certainly her actions and words combined toexpress a degree of favour which, even in his proudest day he had nottill then attained. His rival, indeed, was repeatedly graced by theQueen's notice; but it was in manner that seemed to flow less fromspontaneous inclination than as extorted by a sense of his merit. And inthe opinion of many experienced courtiers, all the favour she showedhim was overbalanced by her whispering in the ear of the Lady Derby that"now she saw sickness was a better alchemist than she before wottedof, seeing it had changed my Lord of Sussex's copper nose into a goldenone."
The jest transpired, and the Earl of Leicester enjoyed his triumph,as one to whom court-favour had been both the primary and the ultimatemotive of life, while he forgot, in the intoxication of the moment, theperplexities and dangers of his own situation. Indeed, strange as it mayappear, he thought less at that moment of the perils arising from hissecret union, than of the marks of grace which Elizabeth from time totime showed to young Raleigh. They were indeed transient, but they wereconferred on one accomplished in mind and body, with grace, gallantry,literature, and valour. An accident occurred in the course of theevening which riveted Leicester's attention to this object.
The nobles and courtiers who had attended the Queen on her pleasureexpedition were invited, with royal hospitality, to a splendid banquetin the hall of the Palace. The table was not, indeed, graced by thepresence of the Sovereign; for, agreeable to her idea of what was atonce modest and dignified, the Maiden Queen on such occasions was wontto take in private, or with one or two favourite ladies, her light andtemperate meal. After a moderate interval, the court again met in thesplendid gardens of the Palace; and it was while thus engaged thatthe Queen suddenly asked a lady, who was near to her both in place andfavour, what had become of the young Squire Lack-Cloak.
The Lady Paget answered, "She had seen Master Raleigh but two orthree minutes since standing at the window of a small pavilion orpleasure-house, which looked out on the Thames, and writing on the glasswith a diamond ring."
"That ring," said the Queen, "was a small token I gave him to makeamends for his spoiled mantle. Come, Paget, let us see what use he hasmade of it, for I can see through him already. He is a marvellouslysharp-witted spirit." They went to the spot, within sight of which,but at some distance, the young cavalier still lingered, as the fowlerwatches the net which he has set. The Queen approached the window, onwhich Raleigh had used her gift to inscribe the following line:--
"Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall."
The Queen smiled, read it twice over, once with deliberation to LadyPaget, and once again to herself. "It is a pretty beginning," she said,after the consideration of a moment or two; "but methinks the musehath deserted the young wit at the very outset of his task. It weregood-natured--were it not, Lady Paget?--to complete it for him. Try yourrhyming faculties."
Lady Paget, pr
osaic from her cradle upwards as ever any lady of thebedchamber before or after her, disclaimed all possibility of assistingthe young poet.
"Nay, then, we must sacrifice to the Muses ourselves," said Elizabeth.
"The incense of no one can be more acceptable," said Lady Paget; "andyour Highness will impose such obligation on the ladies of Parnassus--"
"Hush, Paget," said the Queen, "you speak sacrilege against the immortalNine--yet, virgins themselves, they should be exorable to a VirginQueen--and therefore--let me see how runs his verse--
'Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall.'
Might not the answer (for fault of a better) run thus?--
'If thy mind fail thee, do not climb at all.'"
The dame of honour uttered an exclamation of joy and surprise at sohappy a termination; and certainly a worse has been applauded, even whencoming from a less distinguished author.
The Queen, thus encouraged, took off a diamond ring, and saying, "Wewill give this gallant some cause of marvel when he finds his coupletperfected without his own interference," she wrote her own line beneaththat of Raleigh.
The Queen left the pavilion; but retiring slowly, and often lookingback, she could see the young cavalier steal, with the flight of alapwing, towards the place where he had seen her make a pause. "Shestayed but to observe," as she said, "that her train had taken;" andthen, laughing at the circumstance with the Lady Paget, she took the wayslowly towards the Palace. Elizabeth, as they returned, cautioned hercompanion not to mention to any one the aid which she had given to theyoung poet, and Lady Paget promised scrupulous secrecy. It is to besupposed that she made a mental reservation in favour of Leicester,to whom her ladyship transmitted without delay an anecdote so littlecalculated to give him pleasure.
Raleigh, in the meanwhile, stole back to the window, and read, with afeeling of intoxication, the encouragement thus given him by the Queenin person to follow out his ambitious career, and returned to Sussexand his retinue, then on the point of embarking to go up the river,his heart beating high with gratified pride, and with hope of futuredistinction.
The reverence due to the person of the Earl prevented any notice beingtaken 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; whilethat lord, exhausted by his late illness and the fatigues of the day,had retired to his chamber, demanding the attendance of Wayland, hissuccessful physician. Wayland, however, was nowhere to be found; andwhile some of the party were, with military impatience, seeking him andcursing his absence, the rest flocked around Raleigh to congratulate himon his prospects of court-favour.
He had the good taste and judgment to conceal the decisive circumstanceof the couplet to which Elizabeth had deigned to find a rhyme; but otherindications had transpired, which plainly intimated that he had madesome progress in the Queen's favour. All hastened to wish him joy on themended appearance of his fortune--some from real regard, some, perhaps,from hopes that his preferment might hasten their own, and most from amixture of these motives, and a sense that the countenance shown to anyone of Sussex's household was, in fact, a triumph to the whole. Raleighreturned the kindest thanks to them all, disowning, with becomingmodesty, that one day's fair reception made a favourite, any more thanone swallow a summer. But he observed that Blount did not join in thegeneral congratulation, and, somewhat hurt at his apparent unkindness,he plainly asked him the reason.
Blount replied with equal sincerity--"My good Walter, I wish thee aswell as do any of these chattering gulls, who are whistling and whoopinggratulations in thine ear because it seems fair weather with thee. ButI fear for thee, Walter" (and he wiped his honest eye), "I fear for theewith all my heart. These court-tricks, and gambols, and flashes of finewomen's favour are the tricks and trinkets that bring fair fortunes tofarthings, and fine faces and witty coxcombs to the acquaintance of dullblock and sharp axes."
So saying, Blount arose and left the hall, while Raleigh looked afterhim with an expression that blanked for a moment his bold and animatedcountenance.
Stanley just then entered the hall, and said to Tressilian, "My lord iscalling for your fellow Wayland, and your fellow Wayland is just comehither in a sculler, and is calling for you, nor will he go to my lordtill he sees you. The fellow looks as he were mazed, methinks; I wouldyou would see him immediately."
Tressilian instantly left the hall, and causing Wayland Smith to beshown into a withdrawing apartment, and lights placed, he conducted theartist thither, and was surprised when he observed the emotion of hiscountenance.
"What is the matter with you, Smith?" said Tressilian; "have you seenthe devil?"
"Worse, sir, worse," replied Wayland; "I have seen a basilisk. ThankGod, I saw him first; for being so seen, and seeing not me, he will dothe less harm."
"In God's name, speak sense," said Tressilian, "and say what you mean."
"I have seen my old master," said the artist. "Last night a friend whomI had acquired took me to see the Palace clock, judging me to be curiousin such works of art. At the window of a turret next to the clock-houseI saw my old master."
"Thou must needs have been mistaken," said Tressilian.
"I was not mistaken," said Wayland; "he that once hath his features byheart would know him amongst a million. He was anticly habited; but hecannot disguise himself from me, God be praised! as I can from him.I will not, however, tempt Providence by remaining within his ken.Tarleton the player himself could not so disguise himself but that,sooner or later, Doboobie would find him out. I must away to-morrow;for, as we stand together, it were death to me to remain within reach ofhim."
"But the Earl of Sussex?" said Tressilian.
"He is in little danger from what he has hitherto taken, providedhe swallow the matter of a bean's size of the orvietan every morningfasting; but let him beware of a relapse."
"And how is that to be guarded against?" said Tressilian.
"Only by such caution as you would use against the devil," answeredWayland. "Let my lord's clerk of the kitchen kill his lord's meathimself, and dress it himself, using no spice but what he procures fromthe surest hands. Let the sewer serve it up himself, and let the masterof my lord's household see that both clerk and sewer taste the disheswhich the one dresses and the other serves. Let my lord use no perfumeswhich come not from well accredited persons; no unguents--no pomades.Let him, on no account, drink with strangers, or eat fruit with them,either in the way of nooning or otherwise. Especially, let him observesuch caution if he goes to Kenilworth--the excuse of his illness, andhis being under diet, will, and must, cover the strangeness of suchpractice."
"And thou," said Tressilian, "what dost thou think to make of thyself?"
"France, Spain, either India, East or West, shall be my refuge," saidWayland, "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 businessfor you in Berkshire, but in the opposite extremity to the place wherethou art known; and ere thou hadst found out this new reason for livingprivate, I had settled to send thee thither upon a secret embassage."
The artist expressed himself willing to receive his commands, andTressilian, knowing he was well acquainted with the outline of hisbusiness at court, frankly explained to him the whole, mentioned theagreement which subsisted betwixt Giles Gosling and him, and toldwhat had that day been averred in the presence-chamber by Varney, andsupported by Leicester.
"Thou seest," he added, "that, in the circumstances in which I amplaced, it behoves me to keep a narrow watch on the motions of theseunprincipled men, Varney and his complices, Foster and Lambourne, aswell as on those of my Lord Leicester himself, who, I suspect, is partlya deceiver, and not altogether the deceived in that matter. Here is myring, as a pledge to Giles Gosling. Here is besides gold, which shall betrebled if thou serve me faithfully. Away down to Cumnor, and see whathappens there."
"I g
o with double good-will," said the artist, "first, because I serveyour honour, who has been so kind to me; and then, that I may escape myold master, who, if not an absolute incarnation of the devil, has, atleast, as much of the demon about him, in will, word, and action; asever 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 byfrequent pursuit, I may turn on him in hate and desperation. [A remnantof the wild cattle of Scotland are preserved at Chillingham Castle, nearWooler, in Northumberland, the seat of Lord Tankerville. They fly beforestrangers; but if disturbed and followed, they turn with fury on thosewho persist in annoying them.] Will your honour command my nag to besaddled? I will but give the medicine to my lord, divided in its properproportions, with a few instructions. His safety will then depend on thecare of his friends and domestics; for the past he is guarded, but lethim beware of the future."
Wayland Smith accordingly made his farewell visit to the Earl of Sussex,dictated instructions as to his regimen, and precautions concerning hisdiet, and left Sayes Court without waiting for morning.