CHAPTER VI. WHAT BEFALLS KING EDWARD ON HIS ESCAPE FROM OLNEY.
As soon as Edward was out of sight of the spire of Olney, he slackenedhis speed, and beckoned Hastings to his side.
"Dear Will," said the king, "I have thought over thy counsel, and willfind the occasion to make experiment thereof. But, methinks, thou wiltagree with me that concessions come best from a king who has an army ofhis own. 'Fore Heaven, in the camp of a Warwick I have less power than alieutenant! Now mark me. I go to head some recruits raised in haste nearCoventry. The scene of contest must be in the northern counties. Wiltthou, for love of me, ride night and day, thorough brake, thoroughbriar, to Gloucester on the Borders? Bid him march, if the Scot will lethim, back to York; and if he cannot himself quit the Borders, lethim send what men can be spared under thy banner. Failing this, raisethrough Yorkshire all the men-at-arms thou canst collect. But, aboveall, see Montagu. Him and his army secure at all hazards. If he demur,tell him his son shall marry his king's daughter, and wear the coronalof a duke. Ha, ha! a large bait for so large a fish! I see this is nocasual outbreak, but a general convulsion of the realm; and the Earlof Warwick must not be the only man to smile or to frown back the angryelements."
"In this, beau sire," answered Hastings, "you speak as a king anda warrior should, and I will do my best to assert your royalmotto,--'Modus et ordo.' If I can but promise that your Highness has fora while dismissed the Woodville lords, rely upon it that ere two monthsI will place under your truncheon an army worthy of the liege lord ofhardy England."
"Go, dear Hastings, I trust all to thee!" answered the king. Thenobleman kissed his sovereign's extended hand, closed his visor, and,motioning to his body-squire to follow him, disappeared down a greenlane, avoiding such broader thoroughfares as might bring him in contactwith the officers left at Olney.
In a small village near Coventry Sir Anthony Woodville had collectedabout two thousand men, chiefly composed of the tenants and vassals ofthe new nobility, who regarded the brilliant Anthony as their head.The leaders were gallant and ambitious gentlemen, as they who arrive atfortunes above their birth mostly are; but their vassals were littleto be trusted. For in that day clanship was still strong, and thesefollowers had been bred in allegiance to Lancastrian lords, whoseconfiscated estates were granted to the Yorkist favourites. The shoutthat welcomed the arrival of the king was therefore feeble and lukewarm;and, disconcerted by so chilling a reception, he dismounted, in lesselevated spirits than those in which he had left Olney, at the pavilionof his brother-in-law.
The mourning-dress of Anthony, his countenance saddened by the barbarousexecution of his father and brother, did not tend to cheer the king.
But Woodville's account of the queen's grief and horror at theafflictions of her House, and of Jacquetta's indignation at the foullanguage which the report of her practices put into the popular mouth,served to endear to the king's mind the family that he consideredunduly persecuted. Even in the coldest breasts affection is fanned byopposition, and the more the queen's kindred were assailed, the moreobstinately Edward clung to them. By suiting his humour, by winking athis gallantries, by a submissive sweetness of temper, which soothed hisown hasty moods, and contrasted with the rough pride of Warwick and thepeevish fickleness of Clarence, Elizabeth had completely woundherself into the king's heart. And the charming graces, the elegantaccomplishments, of Anthony Woodville were too harmonious with thecharacter of Edward, who in all--except truth and honour--was theperfect model of the gay gentilhomme of the time, not to have becomealmost a necessary companionship. Indolent natures may be easily ruled,but they grow stubborn when their comforts and habits are interferedwith. And the whole current of Edward's merry, easy life seemed to himto lose flow and sparkle if the faces he loved best were banished, oreven clouded.
He was yet conversing with Woodville, and yet assuring him that, howeverhe might temporize, he would never abandon the interests of his queen'skindred, when a gentleman entered aghast, to report that the Lords St.John and de Fulke, on hearing that Sir Anthony Woodville was in commandof the forces, had, without even dismounting, left the camp, and carriedwith them their retainers, amounting to more than half of the littletroop that rode from Olney.
"Let them go," said Edward, frowning; "a day shall dawn upon theirheadless trunks!"
"Oh, my king," said Anthony, now Earl of Rivers,--who, by far the leastselfish of his House, was struck with remorse at the penalty Edward paidfor his love marriage,--"now that your Highness can relieve me of mycommand, let me retire from the camp. I would fain go a pilgrim to theshrine of Compostella to pray for my father's sins and my sovereign'sweal."
"Let us first see what forces arrive from London," answered the king."Richard ere long will be on the march from the frontiers, and whateverWarwick resolves, Montagu, whose heart I hold in my hand, will bring hisarmy to my side. Let us wait."
But the next day brought no reinforcements, nor the next; and the kingretired betimes to his tent, in much irritation and perplexity; whenat the dead of the night he was startled from slumber by the tramp ofhorses, the sound of horns, the challenge of the sentinels, and, as hesprang from his couch, and hurried on his armour in alarm, the Earl ofWarwick abruptly entered. The earl's face was stern, but calm andsad; and Edward's brave heart beat loud as he gazed on his formidablesubject.
"King Edward," said Warwick, slowly and mournfully, "you have deceivedme! I promised to the commons the banishment of the Woodvilles, and to aWoodville you have flown."
"Your promise was given to rebels, with whom no faith can be held; and Ipassed from a den of mutiny to the camp of a loyal soldier."
"We will not now waste words, king," answered Warwick. "Please you tomount and ride northward. The Scotch have gained great advantages onthe marches. The Duke of Gloucester is driven backwards. All theLancastrians in the North have risen. Margaret of Anjou is on the coastof Normandy, [at this time Margaret was at Harfleur--Will. Wyre] readyto set sail at the first decisive victory of her adherents."
"I am with you," answered Edward; "and I rejoice to think that at lastI may meet a foe. Hitherto it seems as if I had been chased by shadows.Now may I hope to grasp the form and substance of danger and of battle."
"A steed prepared for your Grace awaits you."
"Whither ride we first?"
"To my castle of Warwick, hard by. At noon to-morrow all will be readyfor our northward march."
Edward, by this time having armed himself, strode from the tent into theopen air. The scene was striking: the moon was extremely bright and thesky serene, but around the tent stood a troop of torch-bearers, and thered glare shone luridly upon the steel of the serried horsemen and thebanners of the earl, in which the grim white bear was wrought upon anebon ground, quartered with the dun bull, and crested in gold with theeagle of the Monthermers. Far as the king's eye could reach, he saw butthe spears of Warwick; while a confused hum in his own encampment toldthat the troops Anthony Woodville had collected were not yet marshalledinto order. Edward drew back.
"And the Lord Anthony of Scales and Rivers?" said he, hesitatingly.
"Choose, king, between the Lord Anthony of Scales and Rivers and RichardNevile!" answered Warwick, in a stern whisper.
Edward paused, and at that moment Anthony himself emerged from his tent(which adjoined the king's) in company with the Archbishop of York, whohad rode thither in Warwick's train.
"My liege," said that gallant knight, putting his knee to the ground, "Ihave heard from the archbishop the new perils that await your Highness,and I grieve sorely that, in this strait, your councillors deem it meetto forbid me the glory of fighting or falling by your side! I know toowell the unhappy odium attached to my House and name in the northernparts, to dispute the policy which ordains my absence from your armies.Till these feuds are over, I crave your royal leave to quit England, andperform my pilgrimage to the sainted shrine of Compostella."
A burning flush passed over the king's face as he raised hisbrother-in-law, and clasped him
to his bosom.
"Go or stay, as you will, Anthony!" said he; "but let these proud menknow that neither time nor absence can tear you from your king's heart.But envy must have its hour Lord Warwick, I attend you; but it seemsrather as your prisoner than your liege."
Warwick made no answer: the king mounted, and waved his hand to Anthony.The torches tossed to and fro, the horns sounded, and in a silence moodyand resentful on either part Edward and his terrible subject rode on tothe towers of Warwick.
The next day the king beheld with astonishment the immense force that,in a time so brief, the earl had collected round his standard.
From his casement, which commanded that lovely slope on which so manya tourist now gazes with an eye that seeks to call back the stormy andchivalric past, Edward beheld the earl on his renowned black charger,reviewing the thousands that, file on file and rank on rank, lifted pikeand lance in the cloudless sun.
"After all," muttered the king, "I can never make a new noble a greatbaron! And if in peace a great baron overshadows the throne, in timeof war a great baron is a throne's bulwark! Gramercy, I had been madto cast away such an army,--an army fit for a king to lead! They serveWarwick now; but Warwick is less skilful in the martial art than I, andsoldiers, like hounds, love best the most dexterous huntsman!"