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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7716.txt b/7716.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..825d768 --- /dev/null +++ b/7716.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1575 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Last Of The Barons, by Lytton, Volume 2. +#143 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Last Of The Barons, Volume 2. + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 2005 [EBook #7716] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 6, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAST OF THE BARONS, V2 *** + + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger + + + + + +BOOK II. + +THE KING'S COURT. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +EARL WARWICK THE KING-MAKER. + +The young men entered the Strand, which, thanks to the profits of a +toll-bar, was a passable road for equestrians, studded towards the +river, as we have before observed, with stately and half-fortified +mansions; while on the opposite side, here and there, were straggling +houses of a humbler kind,--the mediaeval villas of merchant and trader +(for, from the earliest period since the Conquest, the Londoners had +delight in such retreats), surrounded with blossoming orchards, [On +all sides, without the suburbs, are the citizens' gardens and +orchards, etc.--FITZSTEPHEN.] and adorned in front with the fleur-de- +lis, emblem of the vain victories of renowned Agincourt. But by far +the greater portion of the road northward stretched, unbuilt upon, +towards a fair chain of fields and meadows, refreshed by many brooks, +"turning water-mills with a pleasant noise." High rose, on the +thoroughfare, the famous Cross, at which "the Judges Itinerant whilome +sate, without London." [Stowe.] There, hallowed and solitary, stood +the inn for the penitent pilgrims, who sought "the murmuring runnels" +of St. Clement's healing well; for in this neighbourhood, even from +the age of the Roman, springs of crystal wave and salubrious virtue +received the homage of credulous disease. Through the gloomy arches +of the Temple Gate and Lud, our horsemen wound their way, and finally +arrived in safety at Marmaduke's hostelrie in the East Chepe. Here +Marmaduke found the decorators of his comely person already assembled. +The simpler yet more manly fashions he had taken from the provinces +were now exchanged for an attire worthy the kinsman of the great +minister of a court unparalleled, since the reign of William the Red +King, for extravagant gorgeousness of dress. His corset was of the +finest cloth, sown with seed pearls; above it the lawn shirt, worn +without collar, partially appeared, fringed with gold; over this was +loosely hung a super-tunic of crimson sarcenet, slashed and pounced +with a profusion of fringes. His velvet cap, turned up at the sides, +extended in a point far over the forehead. His hose--under which +appellation is to be understood what serves us of the modern day both +for stockings and pantaloons--were of white cloth; and his shoes, very +narrow, were curiously carved into chequer work at the instep, and +tied with bobbins of gold thread, turning up like skates at the +extremity, three inches in length. His dagger was suspended by a +slight silver-gilt chain, and his girdle contained a large gipsire, or +pouch, of embossed leather, richly gilt. + +And this dress, marvellous as it seemed to the Nevile, the tailor +gravely assured him was far under the mark of the highest fashion, and +that an' the noble youth had been a knight, the shoes would have +stretched at least three inches farther over the natural length of the +feet, the placard have shone with jewels, and the tunic luxuriated in +flowers of damacene. Even as it was, however, Marmaduke felt a +natural diffidence of his habiliments, which cost him a round third of +his whole capital; and no bride ever unveiled herself with more +shamefaced bashfulness than did Marmaduke Nevile experience when he +remounted his horse, and, taking leave of his foster-brother, bent his +way to Warwick Lane, where the earl lodged. + +The narrow streets were, however, crowded with equestrians whose dress +eclipsed his own, some bending their way to the Tower, some to the +palaces of the Flete. Carriages there were none, and only twice he +encountered the huge litters, in which some aged prelate or some high- +born dame veiled greatness from the day. But the frequent vistas to +the river gave glimpses of the gay boats and barges that crowded the +Thames, which was then the principal thoroughfare for every class, but +more especially the noble. The ways were fortunately dry and clean +for London, though occasionally deep holes and furrows in the road +menaced perils to the unwary horseman. The streets themselves might +well disappoint in splendour the stranger's eye; for although, viewed +at a distance, ancient London was incalculably more picturesque and +stately than the modern, yet when fairly in its tortuous labyrinths, +it seemed to those who had improved the taste by travel the meanest +and the mirkiest capital of Christendom. The streets were +marvellously narrow, the upper stories, chiefly of wood, projecting +far over the lower, which were formed of mud and plaster. The shops +were pitiful booths, and the 'prentices standing at the entrance bare- +headed and cap in hand, and lining the passages, as the old French +writer avers, comme idoles, [Perlin] kept up an eternal din with their +clamorous invitations, often varied by pert witticisms on some +churlish passenger, or loud vituperations of each other. The whole +ancient family of the London criers were in full bay. Scarcely had +Marmaduke's ears recovered the shock of "Hot peascods,--all hot!" than +they were saluted with "Mackerel!" "Sheep's feet! hot sheep's feet!" +At the smaller taverns stood the inviting vociferaters of "Cock-pie," +"Ribs of beef,--hot beef!" while, blended with these multi-toned +discords, whined the vielle, or primitive hurdy-gurdy, screamed the +pipe, twanged the harp, from every quarter where the thirsty paused to +drink, or the idler stood to gape. [See Lydgate: London Lyckpenny.] + +Through this Babel Marmaduke at last slowly wound his way, and arrived +before the mighty mansion in which the chief baron of England held his +state. + +As he dismounted and resigned his steed to the servitor hired for him +by Alwyn, Marmaduke paused a moment, struck by the disparity, common +as it was to eyes more accustomed to the metropolis, between the +stately edifice and the sordid neighbourhood. He had not noticed this +so much when he had repaired to the earl's house on his first arrival +in London, for his thoughts then had been too much bewildered by the +general bustle and novelty of the scene; but now it seemed to him that +he better comprehended the homage accorded to a great noble in +surveying, at a glance, the immeasurable eminence to which he was +elevated above his fellow-men by wealth and rank. + +Far on either side of the wings of the earl's abode stretched, in +numerous deformity, sheds rather than houses, of broken plaster and +crazy timbers. But here and there were open places of public +reception, crowded with the lower followers of the puissant chief; and +the eye rested on many idle groups of sturdy swash-bucklers, some +half-clad in armour, some in rude jerkins of leather, before the doors +of these resorts,--as others, like bees about a hive, swarmed in and +out with a perpetual hum. + +The exterior of Warwick House was of a gray but dingy stone, and +presented a half-fortified and formidable appearance. The windows, or +rather loop-holes, towards the street were few, and strongly barred. +The black and massive arch of the gateway yawned between two huge +square towers; and from a yet higher but slender tower on the inner +side, the flag gave the "White Bear and Ragged Staff" to the smoky +air. Still, under the portal as he entered, hung the grate of the +portcullis, and the square court which he saw before him swarmed with +the more immediate retainers of the earl, in scarlet jackets, wrought +with their chieftain's cognizance. A man of gigantic girth and +stature, who officiated as porter, leaning against the wall under the +arch, now emerged from the shadow, and with sufficient civility +demanded the young visitor's name and business. On hearing the +former, he bowed low as he doffed his hat, and conducted Marmaduke +through the first quadrangle. The two sides to the right and left +were devoted to the offices and rooms of retainers, of whom no less +than six hundred, not to speak of the domestic and more orderly +retinue, attested the state of the Last of the English Barons on his +visits to the capital. Far from being then, as now, the object of the +great to thrust all that belongs to the service of the house out of +sight, it was their pride to strike awe into the visitor by the extent +of accommodation afforded to their followers: some seated on benches +of stone ranged along the walls; some grouped in the centre of the +court; some lying at length upon the two oblong patches of what had +been turf, till worn away by frequent feet,--this domestic army filled +the young Nevile with an admiration far greater than the gay satins of +the knights and nobles who had gathered round the lord of Montagu and +Northumberland at the pastime-ground. + +This assemblage, however, were evidently under a rude discipline of +their own. They were neither noisy nor drunk. They made way with +surly obeisance as the cavalier passed, and closing on his track like +some horde of wild cattle, gazed after him with earnest silence, and +then turned once more to their indolent whispers with each other. + +And now Nevile entered the last side of the quadrangle. The huge +hall, divided from the passage by a screen of stone fretwork, so fine +as to attest the hand of some architect in the reign of Henry III., +stretched to his right; and so vast, in truth, it was, that though +more than fifty persons were variously engaged therein, their number +was lost in the immense space. Of these, at one end of the longer and +lower table beneath the dais, some squires of good dress and mien were +engaged at chess or dice; others were conferring in the gloomy +embrasures of the casements; some walking to and fro, others gathered +round the shovel-board. At the entrance of this hall the porter left +Marmaduke, after exchanging a whisper with a gentleman whose dress +eclipsed the Nevile's in splendour; and this latter personage, who, +though of high birth, did not disdain to perform the office of +chamberlain, or usher, to the king-like earl, advanced to Marmaduke +with a smile, and said,-- + +"My lord expects you, sir, and has appointed this time to receive you, +that you may not be held back from his presence by the crowds that +crave audience in the forenoon. Please to follow me!" This said, the +gentleman slowly preceded the visitor, now and then stopping to +exchange a friendly word with the various parties he passed in his +progress; for the urbanity which Warwick possessed himself, his policy +inculcated as a duty on all who served him. A small door at the other +extremity of the hall admitted into an anteroom, in which some half +score pages, the sons of knights and barons, were gathered round an +old warrior, placed at their head as a sort of tutor, to instruct them +in all knightly accomplishments; and beckoning forth one of these +youths from the ring, the earl's chamberlain said, with a profound +reverence, "Will you be pleased, my young lord, to conduct your +cousin, Master Marmaduke Nevile, to the earl's presence?" The young +gentleman eyed Marmaduke with a supercilious glance. + +"Marry!" said he, pertly, "if a man born in the North were to feed all +his cousins, he would soon have a tail as long as my uncle, the stout +earl's. Come, sir cousin, this way." And without tarrying even to +give Nevile information of the name and quality of his new-found +relation,--who was no less than Lord Montagu's son, the sole male heir +to the honours of that mighty family, though now learning the +apprenticeship of chivalry amongst his uncle's pages,--the boy passed +before Marmaduke with a saunter, that, had they been in plain +Westmoreland, might have cost him a cuff from the stout hand of the +indignant elder cousin. He raised the tapestry at one end of the +room, and ascending a short flight of broad stairs, knocked gently on +the panels of an arched door sunk deep in the walls. + +"Enter!" said a clear, loud voice, and the next moment Marmaduke was +in the presence of the King-maker. + +He heard his guide pronounce his name, and saw him smile maliciously +at the momentary embarrassment the young man displayed, as the boy +passed by Marmaduke, and vanished. The Earl of Warwick was seated +near a door that opened upon an inner court, or rather garden, which +gave communication to the river. The chamber was painted in the style +of Henry III., with huge figures representing the battle of Hastings, +or rather, for there were many separate pieces, the conquest of Saxon +England. Over each head, to enlighten the ignorant, the artist had +taken the precaution to insert a label, which told the name and the +subject. The ceiling was groined, vaulted, and emblazoned with the +richest gilding and colours. The chimneypiece (a modern ornament) +rose to the roof, and represented in bold reliefs, gilt and decorated, +the signing of Magna Charta. The floor was strewed thick with dried +rushes and odorous herbs; the furniture was scanty, but rich. The +low-backed chairs, of which there were but four, carved in ebony, had +cushions of velvet with fringes of massive gold; a small cupboard, or +beaufet, covered with carpetz de cuir (carpets of gilt and painted +leather), of great price, held various quaint and curious ornaments of +plate inwrought with precious stones; and beside this--a singular +contrast--on a plain Gothic table lay the helmet, the gauntlets, and +the battle-axe of the master. Warwick himself, seated before a large, +cumbrous desk, was writing,--but slowly and with pain,--and he lifted +his finger as the Nevile approached, in token of his wish to conclude +a task probably little congenial to his tastes. But Marmaduke was +grateful for the moments afforded him to recover his self-possession, +and to examine his kinsman. + +The earl was in the lusty vigour of his age. His hair, of the deepest +black, was worn short, as if in disdain of the effeminate fashions of +the day; and fretted bare from the temples by the constant and early +friction of his helmet, gave to a forehead naturally lofty yet more +majestic appearance of expanse and height. His complexion, though +dark and sunburned, glowed with rich health. The beard was closely +shaven, and left in all its remarkable beauty the contour of the oval +face and strong jaw,--strong as if clasped in iron. The features were +marked and aquiline, as was common to those of Norman blood. The form +spare, but of prodigious width and depth of chest, the more apparent +from the fashion of the short surcoat, which was thrown back, and left +in broad expanse a placard, not of holiday velvet and satins, but of +steel polished as a mirror, and inlaid with gold. And now as, +concluding his task, the earl rose and motioned Marmaduke to a stool +by his side, his great stature, which, from the length of his limbs, +was not so observable when he sat, actually startled his guest. Tall +as Marmaduke was himself, the earl towered [The faded portrait of +Richard Nevile, Earl of Warwick, in the Rous Roll, preserved at the +Herald's College, does justice, at least, to the height and majesty of +his stature. The portrait of Edward IV. is the only one in that long +series which at all rivals the stately proportions of the King-maker.] +above him,--with his high, majestic, smooth, unwrinkled forehead,-- +like some Paladin of the rhyme of poet or romancer; and, perhaps, not +only in this masculine advantage, but in the rare and harmonious +combination of colossal strength with graceful lightness, a more +splendid union of all the outward qualities we are inclined to give to +the heroes of old never dazzled the eye or impressed the fancy. But +even this effect of mere person was subordinate to that which this +eminent nobleman created--upon his inferiors, at least--by a manner so +void of all arrogance, yet of all condescension, so simple, open, +cordial, and hero-like, that Marmaduke Nevile, peculiarly alive to +external impressions, and subdued and fascinated by the earl's first +word, and that word was "Welcome!" dropped on his knee, and kissing +the hand extended to him, said, "Noble kinsman, in thy service and for +thy sake let me live and die!" Had the young man been prepared by the +subtlest master of courtcraft for this interview, so important to his +fortunes, he could not have advanced a hundredth part so far with the +great earl as he did by that sudden, frank burst of genuine emotion; +for Warwick was extremely sensitive to the admiration he excited,-- +vain or proud of it, it matters not which; grateful as a child for +love, and inexorable as a woman for slight or insult: in rude ages, +one sex has often the qualities of the other. + +"Thou hast thy father's warm heart and hasty thought, Marmaduke," said +Warwick, raising him; "and now he is gone where, we trust, brave men, +shrived of their sins, look down upon us, who should be thy friend but +Richard Nevile? So--so--yes, let me look at thee. Ha! stout Guy's +honest face, every line of it: but to the girls, perhaps, comelier, +for wanting a scar or two. Never blush,--thou shalt win the scars +yet. So thou hast a letter from thy father?" + +"It is here, noble lord." + +"And why," said the earl, cutting the silk with his dagger--"why hast +thou so long hung back from presenting it? But I need not ask thee. +These uncivil times have made kith and kin doubt worse of each other +than thy delay did of me. Sir Guy's mark, sure eno'! Brave old man! +I loved him the better for that, like me, the sword was more meet than +the pen for his bold hand." Here Warwick scanned, with some slowness, +the lines dictated by the dead to the priest; and when he had done, he +laid the letter respectfully on his desk, and bowing his head over it, +muttered to himself,--it might be an Ave for the deceased. "Well," he +said, reseating himself, and again motioning Marmaduke to follow his +example, "thy father was, in sooth, to blame for the side he took in +the Wars. What son of the Norman could bow knee or vail plume to that +shadow of a king, Henry of Windsor? And for his bloody wife--she knew +no more of an Englishman's pith and pride than I know of the rhymes +and roundels of old Rene, her father. Guy Nevile--good Guy--many a +day in my boyhood did he teach me how to bear my lance at the crest, +and direct my sword at the mail joints. He was cunning at fence--thy +worshipful father--but I was ever a bad scholar; and my dull arm, to +this day, hopes more from its strength than its craft." + +"I have heard it said, noble earl, that the stoutest hand can scarcely +lift your battle-axe." + +"Fables! romaunt!" answered the earl, smiling; "there it lies,--go +and lift it." + +Marmaduke went to the table, and, though with some difficulty, raised +and swung this formidable weapon. + +"By my halidame, well swung, cousin mine! Its use depends not on the +strength, but the practice. Why, look you now, there is the boy +Richard of Gloucester, who comes not up to thy shoulder, and by dint +of custom each day can wield mace or axe with as much ease as a jester +doth his lathesword. Ah, trust me, Marmaduke, the York House is a +princely one; and if we must have a king, we barons, by stout Saint +George, let no meaner race ever furnish our lieges. But to thyself, +Marmaduke--what are thy views and thy wishes?" + +"To be one of thy following, noble Warwick." + +"I thank and accept thee, young Nevile; but thou hast heard that I am +about to leave England, and in the mean time thy youth would run +danger without a guide." The earl paused a moment, and resumed: "My +brother of Montagu showed thee cold countenance; but a word from me +will win thee his grace and favour. What sayest thou, wilt thou be +one of his gentlemen? If so, I will tell thee the qualities a man +must have,--a discreet tongue, a quick eye, the last fashion in hood +and shoe-bobbins, a perfect seat on thy horse, a light touch for the +gittern, a voice for a love-song, and--" + +"I have none of these save the horsemanship, gracious my lord; and if +thou wilt not receive me thyself, I will not burden my Lord of Montagu +and Northumberland." + +"Hot and quick! No! John of Montagu would not suit thee, nor thou +him. But how to provide for thee till my return I know not." + +"Dare I not hope, then, to make one of your embassage, noble earl?" + +Warwick bent his brows, and looked at him in surprise. "Of our +embassage! Why, thou art haughty, indeed! Nay, and so a soldier's +son and a Nevile should be! I blame thee not; but I could not make +thee one of my train, without creating a hundred enemies--to me (but +that's nothing) and to thee, which were much. Knowest thou not that +there is scarce a gentleman of my train below the state of a peer's +son, and that I have made, by refusals, malcontents eno', as it is?-- +Yet, bold! there is my learned brother, the Archbishop of York. +Knowest thou Latin and the schools?" + +"'Fore Heaven, my lord," said the Nevile, bluntly, "I see already I +had best go back to green Westmoreland, for I am as unfit for his +grace the archbishop as I am for my Lord Montagu." + +"Well, then," said the earl, dryly, "since thou hast not yet station +enough for my train, nor glosing for Northumberland, nor wit and lere +for the archbishop, I suppose, my poor youth, I must e'en make you +only a gentleman about the king! It is not a post so sure of quick +rising and full gipsires as one about myself or my brethren, but it +will be less envied, and is good for thy first essay. How goes the +clock? Oh, here is Nick Alwyn's new horologe. He tells me that the +English will soon rival the Dutch in these baubles. [Clockwork +appears to have been introduced into England in the reign of Edward +III., when three Dutch horologers were invited over from Delft. They +must soon have passed into common use, for Chaucer thus familiarly +speaks of them:--"Full sickerer was his crowing in his loge + Than is a clock or any abbey orloge."] +The more the pity!--our red-faced yeomen, alas, are fast sinking into +lank-jawed mechanics! We shall find the king in his garden within the +next half-hour. Thou shalt attend me." + +Marmaduke expressed, with more feeling than eloquence, the thanks he +owed for an offer that, he was about to say, exceeded his hopes; but +he had already, since his departure from Westmoreland, acquired +sufficient wit to think twice of his words. And so eagerly, at that +time, did the youth of the nobility contend for the honour of posts +about the person of Warwick, and even of his brothers, and so strong +was the belief that the earl's power to make or to mar fortune was +all-paramount in England, that even a place in the king's household +was considered an inferior appointment to that which made Warwick the +immediate patron and protector. This was more especially the case +amongst the more haughty and ancient gentry since the favour shown by +Edward to the relations of his wife, and his own indifference to the +rank and birth of his associates. Warwick had therefore spoken with +truth when he expressed a comparative pity for the youth, whom he +could not better provide for than by a place about the court of his +sovereign! + +The earl then drew from Marmaduke some account of his early training, +his dependence on his brother, his adventures at the archery-ground, +his misadventure with the robbers, and even his sojourn with Warner,-- +though Marmaduke was discreetly silent as to the very existence of +Sibyll. The earl, in the mean while, walked to and fro the chamber +with a light, careless stride, every moment pausing to laugh at the +frank simplicity of his kinsman, or to throw in some shrewd remark, +which he cast purposely in the rough Westmoreland dialect; for no man +ever attains to the popularity that rejoiced or accursed the Earl of +Warwick, without a tendency to broad and familiar humour, without a +certain commonplace of character in its shallower and more every-day +properties. This charm--always great in the great--Warwick possessed +to perfection; and in him--such was his native and unaffected majesty +of bearing, and such the splendour that surrounded his name--it never +seemed coarse or unfamiliar, but "everything he did became him best." +Marmaduke had just brought his narrative to a conclusion, when, after +a slight tap at the door, which Warwick did not hear, two fair young +forms bounded joyously in, and not seeing the stranger, threw +themselves upon Warwick's breast with the caressing familiarity of +infancy. + +"Ah, Father," said the elder of these two girls, as Warwick's hand +smoothed her hair fondly, "you promised you would take us in your +barge to see the sports on the river, and now it will be too late." + +"Make your peace with your young cousins here," said the earl, turning +to Marmaduke; "you will cost them an hour's joyaunce. This is my +eldest daughter, Isabel; and this soft-eyed, pale-cheeked damozel--too +loyal for a leaf of the red rose--is the Lady Anne." + +The two girls had started from their father's arms at the first +address to Marmaduke, and their countenances had relapsed from their +caressing and childlike expression into all the stately demureness +with which they had been brought up to regard a stranger. Howbeit, +this reserve, to which he was accustomed, awed Marmaduke less than the +alternate gayety and sadness of the wilder Sibyll, and he addressed +them with all the gallantry to the exercise of which he had been +reared, concluding his compliments with a declaration that he would +rather forego the advantage proffered him by the earl's favour with +the king, than foster one obnoxious and ungracious memory in damozels +so fair and honoured. + +A haughty smile flitted for a moment over the proud young face of +Isabel Nevile; but the softer Anne blushed, and drew bashfully behind +her sister. + +As yet these girls, born for the highest and fated to the most +wretched fortunes, were in all the bloom of earliest youth; but the +difference between their characters might be already observable in +their mien and countenance. Isabel; of tall and commanding stature, +had some resemblance to her father, in her aquiline features, rich, +dark hair, and the lustrous brilliancy of her eyes; while Anne, less +striking, yet not less lovely, of smaller size and slighter +proportions, bore in her pale, clear face, her dove-like eyes, and her +gentle brow an expression of yielding meekness not unmixed with +melancholy, which, conjoined with an exquisite symmetry of features, +could not fail of exciting interest where her sister commanded +admiration. Not a word, however, from either did Marmaduke abstract +in return for his courtesies, nor did either he or the earl seem to +expect it; for the latter, seating himself and drawing Anne on his +knee, while Isabella walked with stately grace towards the table that +bore her father's warlike accoutrements, and played, as it were, +unconsciously with the black plume on his black burgonet, said to +Nevile, + +"Well, thou hast seen enough of the Lancastrian raptrils to make thee +true to the Yorkists. I would I could say as much for the king +himself, who is already crowding the court with that venomous faction, +in honour of Dame Elizabeth Gray, born Mistress Woodville, and now +Queen of England. Ha, my proud Isabel, thou wouldst have better +filled the throne that thy father built!" + +And at these words a proud flash broke from the earl's dark eyes, +betraying even to Marmaduke the secret of perhaps his earliest +alienation from Edward IV. + +Isabella pouted her rich lip, but said nothing. "As for thee, Anne," +continued the earl, "it is a pity that monks cannot marry,--thou +wouldst have suited some sober priest better than a mailed knight. +'Fore George, I would not ask thee to buckle my baldrick when the war- +steeds were snorting, but I would trust Isabel with the links of my +hauberk." + +"Nay, Father," said the low, timid voice of Anne, "if thou wert going +to danger, I could be brave in all that could guard thee!" + +"Why, that's my girl! kiss me! Thou hast a look of thy mother now,-- +so thou hast! and I will not chide thee the next time I hear thee +muttering soft treason in pity of Henry of Windsor." + +"Is he not to be pitied?--Crown, wife, son, and Earl Warwick's stout +arm lost--lost!" + +"No!" said Isabel, suddenly; no, sweet sister Anne, and fie on thee +for the words! He lost all, because he had neither the hand of a +knight nor the heart of a man! For the rest--Margaret of Anjou, or +her butchers, beheaded our father's father." + +"And may God and Saint George forget me, when I forget those gray and +gory hairs!" exclaimed the earl; and putting away the Lady Anne +somewhat roughly, he made a stride across the room, and stood by his +hearth. "And yet Edward, the son of Richard of York, who fell by my +father's side--he forgets, he forgives! And the minions of Rivers the +Lancastrian tread the heels of Richard of Warwick." + +At this unexpected turn in the conversation, peculiarly unwelcome, as +it may be supposed, to the son of one who had fought on the +Lancastrian side in the very battle referred to, Marmaduke felt +somewhat uneasy; and turning to the Lady Anne, he said, with the +gravity of wounded pride, "I owe more to my lord, your father, than I +even wist of,--how much he must have overlooked to--" + +"Not so!" interrupted Warwick, who overheard him,--"not so; thou +wrongest me! Thy father was shocked at those butcheries; thy father +recoiled from that accursed standard; thy father was of a stock +ancient and noble as my own! But, these Woodvilles!--tush! my passion +overmasters me. We will go to the king,--it is time." + +Warwick here rang the hand-bell on his table, and on the entrance of +his attendant gentleman, bade him see that the barge was in readiness; +then beckoning to his kinsman, and with a nod to his daughters, he +caught up his plumed cap, and passed at once into the garden. + +"Anne," said Isabel, when the two girls were alone, "thou hast vexed +my father, and what marvel? If the Lancastrians can be pitied, the +Earl of Warwick must be condemned!" + +"Unkind!" said Anne, shedding tears; "I can pity woe and mischance, +without blaming those whose hard duty it might be to achieve them." + +"In good sooth cannot I! Thou wouldst pity and pardon till thou +leftst no distinction between foeman and friend, leife and loathing. +Be it mine, like my great father, to love and to hate!" + +"Yet why art thou so attached to the White Rose?" said Anne, stung, if +not to malice, at least to archness. "Thou knowest my father's +nearest wish was that his eldest daughter might be betrothed to King +Edward. Dost thou not pay good for evil when thou seest no excellence +out of the House of York?" + +"Saucy Anne," answered Isabel, with a half smile, "I am not raught by +thy shafts, for I was a child for the nurses when King Edward sought a +wife for his love. But were I chafed--as I may be vain enough to know +myself--whom should I blame?--Not the king, but the Lancastrian who +witched him!" + +She paused a moment, and, looking away, added in a low tone, "Didst +thou hear, sister Anne, if the Duke of Clarence visited my father the +forenoon?" + +"Ah, Isabel, Isabel!" + +"Ah, sister Anne, sister Anne! Wilt thou know all my secrets ere I +know them myself?"--and Isabel, with something of her father's +playfulness, put her hands to Anne's laughing lips. + +Meanwhile Warwick, after walking musingly a few moments along the +garden, which was formed by plots of sward, bordered with fruit-trees, +and white rose-trees not yet in blossom, turned to his silent kinsman, +and said, "Forgive me, cousin mine, my mannerless burst against thy +brave father's faction; but when thou hast been a short while at +court, thou wilt see where the sore is. Certes, I love this king!" +Here his dark face lighted up. "Love him as a king,--ay, and as a +son! And who would not love him; brave as his sword, gallant, and +winning, and gracious as the noonday in summer? Besides, I placed him +on his throne; I honour myself in him!" + +The earl's stature dilated as he spoke the last sentence, and his hand +rested on his dagger hilt. He resumed, with the same daring and +incautious candour that stamped his dauntless, soldier-like nature, +"God hath given me no son. Isabel of Warwick had been a mate for +William the Norman; and my grandson, if heir to his grandsire's soul, +should have ruled from the throne of England over the realms of +Charlemagne! But it hath pleased Him whom the Christian knight alone +bows to without shame, to order otherwise. So be it. I forgot my +just pretensions,--forgot my blood, and counselled the king to +strengthen his throne with the alliance of Louis XI. He rejected the +Princess Bona of Savoy, to marry widow Elizabeth Gray; I sorrowed for +his sake, and forgave the slight to my counsels. At his prayer I +followed the train of his queen, and hushed the proud hearts of our +barons to obeisance. But since then, this Dame Woodville, whom I +queened, if her husband mated, must dispute this roiaulme with mine +and me,--a Nevile, nowadays, must vail his plume to a Woodville! And +not the great barons whom it will suit Edward's policy to win from the +Lancastrians--not the Exeters and the Somersets--but the craven +varlets and lackeys and dross of the camp--false alike to Henry and to +Edward--are to be fondled into lordships and dandled into power. +Young man, I am speaking hotly--Richard Nevile never lies nor +conceals; but I am speaking to a kinsman, am I not? Thou hearest,-- +thou wilt not repeat?" + +"Sooner would I pluck forth my tongue by the roots." + +"Enough!" returned the earl, with a pleased smile. "When I come from +France, I will speak more to thee. Meanwhile be courteous to all men, +servile to none. Now to the king." + +So speaking, he shook back his surcoat, drew his cap over his brow, +and passed to the broad stairs, at the foot of which fifty rowers, +with their badges on their shoulders, waited in the huge barge, gilt +richly at prow and stern, and with an awning of silk, wrought with the +earl's arms and cognizance. As they pushed off, six musicians, placed +towards the helm, began a slow and half Eastern march, which, +doubtless, some crusader of the Temple had brought from the cymbals +and trumps of Palestine. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +KING EDWARD THE FOURTH. + +The Tower of London, more consecrated to associations of gloom and +blood than those of gayety and splendour, was, nevertheless, during +the reign of Edward IV., the seat of a gallant and gorgeous court. +That king, from the first to the last so dear to the people of London, +made it his principal residence when in his metropolis; and its +ancient halls and towers were then the scene of many a brawl and +galliard. As Warwick's barge now approached its huge walls, rising +from the river, there was much that might either animate or awe, +according to the mood of the spectator. The king's barge, with many +lesser craft reserved for the use of the courtiers, gay with awnings +and streamers and painting and gilding, lay below the wharfs, not far +from the gate of St. Thomas, now called the Traitor's Gate. On the +walk raised above the battlemented wall of the inner ward, not only +paced the sentries, but there dames and knights were inhaling the +noonday breezes, and the gleam of their rich dresses of cloth-of-gold +glanced upon the eye at frequent intervals from tower to tower. Over +the vast round turret, behind the Traitor's Gate, now called "The +Bloody Tower," floated cheerily in the light wind the royal banner. +Near the Lion's Tower, two or three of the keepers of the menagerie, +in the king's livery, were leading forth, by a strong chain, the huge +white bear that made one of the boasts of the collection, and was an +especial favourite with the king and his brother Richard. The +sheriffs of London were bound to find this grisly minion his chain and +his cord, when he deigned to amuse himself with bathing or "fishing" +in the river; and several boats, filled with gape-mouthed passengers, +lay near the wharf, to witness the diversions of Bruin. These folks +set up a loud shout of--"A Warwick! a Warwick!" "The stout earl, and +God bless him!" as the gorgeous barge shot towards the fortress. The +earl acknowledged their greeting by vailing his plumed cap; and +passing the keepers with a merry allusion to their care of his own +badge, and a friendly compliment to the grunting bear, he stepped +ashore, followed by his kinsman. Now, however, he paused a moment; +and a more thoughtful shade passed over his countenance, as, glancing +his eye carelessly aloft towards the standard of King Edward, he +caught sight of the casement in the neighbouring tower, of the very +room in which the sovereign of his youth, Henry the Sixth, was a +prisoner, almost within hearing of the revels of his successor; then, +with a quick stride, he hurried on through the vast court, and, +passing the White Tower, gained the royal lodge. Here, in the great +hall, he left his companion, amidst a group of squires and gentlemen, +to whom he formally presented the Nevile as his friend and kinsman, +and was ushered by the deputy-chamberlain (with an apology for the +absence of his chief, the Lord Hastings, who had gone abroad to fly +his falcon) into the small garden, where Edward was idling away the +interval between the noon and evening meals,--repasts to which already +the young king inclined with that intemperate zest and ardour which he +carried into all his pleasures, and which finally destroyed the +handsomest person and embruted one of the most vigorous intellects of +the age. + +The garden, if bare of flowers, supplied their place by the various +and brilliant-coloured garbs of the living beauties assembled on its +straight walks and smooth sward. Under one of those graceful +cloisters, which were the taste of the day, and had been recently +built and gayly decorated, the earl was stopped in his path by a group +of ladies playing at closheys (ninepins) of ivory; [Narrative of Louis +of Bruges, Lord Grauthuse. Edited by Sir F. Madden, "Archaelogia," +1836.] and one of these fair dames, who excelled the rest in her +skill, had just bowled down the central or crowned pin,--the king of +the closheys. This lady, no less a person than Elizabeth, the Queen +of England, was then in her thirty-sixth year,--ten years older than +her lord; but the peculiar fairness and delicacy of her complexion +still preserved to her beauty the aspect and bloom of youth. From a +lofty headgear, embroidered with fleur-de-lis, round which wreathed a +light diadem of pearls, her hair, of the pale yellow considered then +the perfection of beauty, flowed so straight and so shining down her +shoulders, almost to the knees, that it seemed like a mantle of gold. +The baudekin stripes (blue and gold) of her tunic attested her +royalty. The blue courtpie of satin was bordered with ermine, and the +sleeves, sitting close to an arm of exquisite contour, shone with seed +pearls. Her features were straight and regular, yet would have been +insipid, but for an expression rather of cunning than intellect; and +the high arch of her eyebrows, with a slight curve downward of a mouth +otherwise beautiful, did not improve the expression, by an addition of +something supercilious and contemptuous, rather than haughty or +majestic. + +"My lord of Warwick," said Elizabeth, pointing to the fallen closhey, +"what would my enemies say if they heard I had toppled down the king?" + +"They would content themselves with asking which of your Grace's +brothers you would place in his stead," answered the hardy earl, +unable to restrain the sarcasm. + +The queen blushed, and glanced round her ladies with an eye which +never looked direct or straight upon its object, but wandered sidelong +with a furtive and stealthy expression, that did much to obtain for +her the popular character of falseness and self-seeking. Her +displeasure was yet more increased by observing the ill-concealed +smile which the taunt had called forth. + +"Nay, my lord," she said, after a short pause, "we value the peace of +our roiaulme too much for so high an ambition. Were we to make a +brother even the prince of the closheys, we should disappoint the +hopes of a Nevile." + +The earl disdained pursuing the war of words, and answering coldly, +"The Neviles are more famous for making ingrates than asking favours. +I leave your Highness to the closheys"--turned away, and strode +towards the king, who, at the opposite end of the garden, was +reclining on a bench beside a lady, in whose ear, to judge by her +downcast and blushing cheek, he was breathing no unwelcome whispers. + +"Mort-Dieu!" muttered the earl, who was singularly exempt, himself, +from the amorous follies of the day, and eyed them with so much +contempt that it often obscured his natural downright penetration into +character, and never more than when it led him afterwards to underrate +the talents of Edward IV.,--"Mort-Dieu! if, an hour before the battle +of Towton, some wizard had shown me in his glass this glimpse of the +gardens of the Tower, that giglet for a queen, and that squire of +dames for a king, I had not slain my black destrier (poor Malech!), +that I might conquer or die for Edward Earl of March." + +"But see!" said the lady, looking up from the enamoured and conquering +eyes of the king, "art thou not ashamed, my lord?--the grim earl comes +to chide thee for thy faithlessness to thy queen, whom he loves so +well." + +"Pasque-Dieu! as my cousin Louis of France says or swears," answered +the king, with an evident petulance in his altered voice, "I would +that Warwick could be only worn with one's armour! I would as lief +try to kiss through my vizor as hear him talk of glory and Towton, and +King John and poor Edward II., because I am not always in mail. Go! +leave us, sweet bonnibel! we must brave the bear alone!" The lady +inclined her head, drew her hood round her face, and striking into the +contrary path from that in which Warwick was slowly striding, gained +the group round the queen, whose apparent freedom from jealousy, the +consequence of cold affections and prudent calculation, made one +principal cause of the empire she held over the powerful mind, but the +indolent temper, of the gay and facile Edward. + +The king rose as Warwick now approached him; and the appearance of +these two eminent persons was in singular contrast. Warwick, though +richly and even gorgeously attired,--nay, with all the care which in +that age was considered the imperative duty a man of station and birth +owed to himself,--held in lofty disdain whatever vagary of custom +tended to cripple the movements or womanize the man. No loose flowing +robes, no shoon half a yard long, no flaunting tawdriness of fringe +and aiglet, characterized the appearance of the baron, who, even in +peace, gave his address a half-martial fashion. + +But Edward, who, in common with all the princes of the House of York, +carried dress to a passion, had not only reintroduced many of the most +effeminate modes in vogue under William the Red King, but added to +them whatever could tend to impart an almost oriental character to the +old Norman garb. His gown (a womanly garment which had greatly +superseded, with men of the highest rank, not only the mantle but the +surcoat) flowed to his heels, trimmed with ermine, and broidered with +large flowers of crimson wrought upon cloth-of-gold. Over this he +wore a tippet of ermine, and a collar or necklace of uncut jewels set +in filigree gold; the nether limbs were, it is true, clad in the more +manly fashion of tight-fitting hosen, but the folds of the gown, as +the day was somewhat fresh, were drawn around so as to conceal the +only part of the dress which really betokened the male sex. To add to +this unwarlike attire, Edward's locks of a rich golden colour, and +perfuming the whole air with odours, flowed not in curls, but straight +to his shoulders, and the cheek of the fairest lady in his court might +have seemed less fair beside the dazzling clearness of a complexion at +once radiant with health and delicate with youth. Yet, in spite of +all this effeminacy, the appearance of Edward IV. was not effeminate. +From this it was preserved, not only by a stature little less +commanding than that of Warwick himself, and of great strength and +breadth of shoulder, but also by features, beautiful indeed, but pre- +eminently masculine,--large and bold in their outline, and evincing by +their expression all the gallantry and daring characteristic of the +hottest soldier, next to Warwick, and without any exception the ablest +captain, of the age. + +"And welcome,--a merry welcome, dear Warwick, and cousin mine," said +Edward, as Warwick slightly bent his proud knee to his king; "your +brother, Lord Montagu, has but left us. Would that our court had the +same, joyaunce for you as for him." + +"Dear and honoured my liege," answered Warwick, his brow smoothing at +once,--for his affectionate though hasty and irritable nature was +rarely proof against the kind voice and winning smile of his young +sovereign,--"could I ever serve you at the court as I can with the +people, you would not complain that John of Montagu was a better +courtier than Richard of Warwick. But each to his calling. I depart +to-morrow for Calais, and thence to King Louis. And, surely, never +envoy or delegate had better chance to be welcome than one empowered +to treat of an alliance that will bestow on a prince deserving, I +trust, his fortunes, the sister of the bravest sovereign in Christian +Europe." + +"Now, out on thy flattery, my cousin; though I must needs own I +provoked it by my complaint of thy courtiership. But thou hast +learned only half thy business, good Warwick; and it is well Margaret +did not hear thee. Is not the prince of France more to be envied for +winning a fair lady than having a fortunate soldier for his brother- +in-law?" + +"My liege," replied Warwick, smiling, "thou knowest I am a poor judge +of a lady's fair cheek, though indifferently well skilled as to the +valour of a warrior's stout arm. Algates, the Lady Margaret is indeed +worthy in her excellent beauties to become the mother of brave men." + +"And that is all we can wring from thy stern lip, man of iron? Well, +that must content us. But to more serious matters." And the king, +leaning his hand on the earl's arm, and walking with him slowly to and +fro the terrace, continued: "Knowest thou not, Warwick, that this +French alliance, to which thou hast induced us, displeases sorely our +good traders of London?" + +"Mort-Dieu!" returned Warwick, bluntly, "and what business have the +flat-caps with the marriage of a king's sister? Is it for them to +breathe garlic on the alliances of Bourbons and Plantagenets? Faugh! +You have spoiled them, good my lord king,--you have spoiled them by +your condescensions. Henry IV. staled not his majesty to +consultations with the mayor of his city. Henry V. gave the +knighthood of the hath to the heroes of Agincourt, not to the vendors +of cloth and spices." + +"Ah, my poor knights of the Bath!" said Edward, good-humouredly, "wilt +thou never let that sore scar quietly over? Ownest thou not that the +men had their merits?" + +"What the merits were, I weet not," answered the earl,--"unless, +peradventure, their wives were comely and young." + +"Thou wrongest me, Warwick," said the king, carelessly; "Dame Cook was +awry, Dame Philips a grandmother, Dame Jocelyn had lost her front +teeth, and Dame Waer saw seven ways at once! But thou forgettest, +man, the occasion of those honours,--the eve before Elizabeth was +crowned,--and it was policy to make the city of London have a share in +her honours. As to the rest," pursued the king, earnestly and with +dignity, "I and my House have owed much to London. When the peers of +England, save thee and thy friends, stood aloof from my cause, London +was ever loyal and true. Thou seest not, my poor Warwick, that these +burgesses are growing up into power by the decline of the orders above +them. And if the sword is the monarch's appeal for his right, he must +look to contented and honoured industry for his buckler in peace. +This is policy,--policy, Warwick; and Louis XI. will tell thee the +same truths, harsh though they grate in a warrior's ear." + +The earl bowed his haughty head, and answered shortly, but with a +touching grace, "Be it ever thine, noble king, to rule as it likes +thee, and mine to defend with my blood even what I approve not with my +brain! But if thou doubtest the wisdom of this alliance, it is not +too late yet. Let me dismiss my following, and cross not the seas. +Unless thy heart is with the marriage, the ties I would form are +threads and cobwebs." + +"Nay," returned Edward, irresolutely: "in these great state matters +thy wit is elder than mine; but men do say the Count of Charolois is a +mighty lord; and the alliance with Burgundy will be more profitable to +staple and mart." + +"Then, in God's name, so conclude it!" said the earl, hastily, but +with so dark a fire in his eyes that Edward, who was observing him, +changed countenance; "only ask me not, my liege, to advance such a +marriage. The Count of Charolois knows me as his foe--shame were mine +did I shun to say where I love, where I hate. That proud dullard once +slighted me when we met at his father's court, and the wish next to my +heart is to pay back my affront with my battle-axe. Give thy sister +to the heir of Burgundy, and forgive me if I depart to my castle of +Middleham." + +Edward, stung by the sharpness of this reply, was about to answer as +became his majesty of king, when Warwick more deliberately resumed: +"Yet think well; Henry of Windsor is thy prisoner, but his cause lives +in Margaret and his son. There is but one power in Europe that can +threaten thee with aid to the Lancastrians; that power is France. +Make Louis thy friend and ally, and thou givest peace to thy life and +thy lineage; make Louis thy foe, and count on plots and stratagems and +treason, uneasy days and sleepless nights. Already thou hast lost one +occasion to secure that wiliest and most restless of princes, in +rejecting the hand of the Princess Bona. Happily, this loss now can +be retrieved. But alliance with Burgundy is war with France,--war +more deadly because Louis is a man who declares it not; a war carried +on by intrigue and bribe, by spies and minions, till some disaffection +ripens the hour when young Edward of Lancaster shall land on thy +coasts, with the Oriflamme and the Red Rose, with French soldiers and +English malcontents. Wouldst thou look to Burgundy for help?-- +Burgundy will have enough to guard its own frontiers from the gripe of +Louis the Sleepless. Edward, my king, my pupil in arms, Edward, my +loved, my honoured liege, forgive Richard Nevile his bluntness, and +let not his faults stand in bar of his counsels." + +"You are right, as you are ever, safeguard of England, and pillar of +my state," said the king, frankly, and pressing the arm he still held. +"Go to France and settle all as thou wilt." + +Warwick bent low and kissed the hand of his sovereign. "And," said +he, with a slight, but a sad smile, "when I am gone, my liege will not +repent, will not misthink me, will not listen to my foes, nor suffer +merchant and mayor to sigh him back to the mechanics of Flanders?" + +"Warwick, thou deemest ill of thy king's kingliness." + +"Not of thy kingliness; but that same gracious quality of yielding to +counsel which bows this proud nature to submission often makes me fear +for thy firmness, when thy will is, won through thy heart. And now, +good my liege, forgive me one sentence more. Heaven forefend that I +should stand in the way of thy princely favours. A king's countenance +is a sun that should shine on all. But bethink thee well, the barons +of England are a stubborn and haughty race; chafe not thy most +puissant peers by too cold a neglect of their past services, and too +lavish a largess to new men." + +"Thou aimest at Elizabeth's kin," interrupted Edward, withdrawing his +hand from his minister's arm, "and I tell thee once for all times, +that I would rather sink again to mine earldom of March, with a +subject's right to honour where he loves, than wear crown and wield +sceptre without a king's unquestioned prerogative to ennoble the line +and blood of one he has deemed worthy of his throne. As for the +barons, with whose wrath thou threatenest me, I banish them not. If +they go in gloom from my court, why, let them chafe themselves sleek +again." + +"King Edward," said Warwick, moodily, "tried services merit not this +contempt. It is not as the kith of the queen that I regret to see +lands and honours lavished upon men rooted so newly to the soil that +the first blast of the war-trump will scatter their greenness to the +winds; but what sorrows me is to mark those who have fought against +thee preferred to the stout loyalty that braved block and field for +thy cause. Look round thy court; where are the men of bloody York and +victorious Towton?--unrequited, sullen in their strongholds, begirt +with their yeomen and retainers. Thou standest--thou, the heir of +York--almost alone (save where the Neviles--whom one day thy court +will seek also to disgrace and discard--vex their old comrades in arms +by their defection)--thou standest almost alone among the favourites +and minions of Lancaster. Is there no danger in proving to men that +to have served thee is discredit, to have warred against thee is +guerdon and grace?" + +"Enough of this, cousin," replied the king, with an effort which +preserved his firmness. "On this head we cannot agree. Take what +else thou wilt of royalty,--make treaties and contract marriages, +establish peace or proclaim war; but trench not on my sweetest +prerogative to give and to forgive. And now, wilt thou tarry and sup +with us? The ladies grow impatient of a commune that detains from +their eyes the stateliest knight since the Round Table was chopped +into fire-wood." + +"No, my liege," said Warwick, whom flattery of this sort rather +angered than soothed, "I have much yet to prepare. I leave your +Highness to fairer homage and more witching counsels than mine." So +saying, he kissed the king's hand, and was retiring, when be +remembered his kinsman, whose humble interests in the midst of more +exciting topics he had hitherto forgotten, and added, "May I crave, +since you are so merciful to the Lancastrians, one grace for my +namesake,--a Nevile whose father repented the side he espoused, a son +of Sir Guy of Arsdale?" + +"Ah," said the king, smiling maliciously, "it pleaseth us much to find +that it is easier to the warm heart of our cousin Warwick to preach +sententiaries of sternness to his king than to enforce the same by his +own practice!" + +"You misthink me, sire. I ask not that Marmaduke Nevile should +supplant his superiors and elders; I ask not that he should be made +baron and peer; I ask only that, as a young gentleman who hath taken +no part himself in the wars, and whose father repented his error, your +Grace should strengthen your following by an ancient name and a +faithful servant. But I should have remembered me that his name of +Nevile would have procured him a taunt in the place of advancement." + +"Saw man ever so froward a temper?" cried Edward, not without reason. +"Why, Warwick, thou art as shrewish to a jest as a woman to advice. +Thy kinsman's fortunes shall be my care. Thou sayest thou hast +enemies,--I weet not who they be. But to show what I think of them, I +make thy namesake and client a gentleman of my chamber. When Warwick +is false to Edward, let him think that Warwick's kinsman wears a +dagger within reach of the king's heart day and night." + +This speech was made with so noble and touching a kindness of voice +and manner, that the earl, thoroughly subdued, looked at his sovereign +with moistened eyes, and only trusting himself to say,--"Edward, thou +art king, knight, gentleman, and soldier; and I verily trow that I +love thee best when my petulant zeal makes me anger thee most,"-- +turned away with evident emotion, and passing the queen and her ladies +with a lowlier homage than that with which he had before greeted them, +left the garden. Edward's eye followed him musingly. The frank +expression of his face vanished, and with the deep breath of a man who +is throwing a weight from his heart, he muttered,-- + +"He loves me,--yes; but will suffer no one else to love me! This must +end some day. I am weary of the bondage." And sauntering towards the +ladies, he listened in silence, but not apparently in displeasure, to +his queen's sharp sayings on the imperious mood and irritable temper +of the iron-handed builder of his throne. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANTECHAMBER. + +As Warwick passed the door that led from the garden, he brushed by a +young man, the baudekin stripes of whose vest announced his +relationship to the king, and who, though far less majestic than +Edward, possessed sufficient of family likeness to pass for a very +handsome and comely person; but his countenance wanted the open and +fearless expression which gave that of the king so masculine and +heroic a character. The features were smaller, and less clearly cut, +and to a physiognomical observer there was much that was weak and +irresolute in the light blue eyes and the smiling lips which never +closed firmly over the teeth. He did not wear the long gown then so +much in vogue, but his light figure was displayed to advantage by a +vest, fitting it exactly, descending half-way down the thigh, and +trimmed at the border and the collar with ermine. The sleeves of the +doublet were slit, so as to show the white lawn beneath, and adorned +with aiglets and knots of gold. + +Over the left arm hung a rich jacket of furs and velvet, something +like that adopted by the modern hussar. His hat, or cap, was high and +tiara-like, with a single white plume, and the ribbon of the Garter +bound his knee. Though the dress of this personage was thus far less +effeminate than Edward's, the effect of his appearance was infinitely +more so,--partly, perhaps, from a less muscular frame, and partly from +his extreme youth; for George Duke of Clarence was then, though +initiated not only in the gayeties, but all the intrigues of the +court, only in his eighteenth year. Laying his hand, every finger of +which sparkled with jewels, on the earl's shoulder--"Hold!" said the +young prince, in a whisper, "a word in thy ear, noble Warwick!" + +The earl, who, next to Edward, loved Clarence the most of his princely +House, and who always found the latter as docile as the other (when +humour or affection seized him) was intractable, relaxed into a +familiar smile at the duke's greeting, and suffered the young prince +to draw him aside from the groups of courtiers with whom the chamber +was filled, to the leaning-places (as they were called) of a large +mullion window. In the mean while, as they thus conferred, the +courtiers interchanged looks, and many an eye of fear and hate was +directed towards the stately form of the earl. For these courtiers +were composed principally of the kindred or friends of the queen, and +though they dared not openly evince the malice with which they +retorted Warwick's lofty scorn and undisguised resentment at their new +fortunes, they ceased not to hope for his speedy humiliation and +disgrace, reeking little what storm might rend the empire, so that it +uprooted the giant oak, which still in some measure shaded their +sunlight and checked their growth. True, however, that amongst these +were mingled, though rarely, men of a hardier stamp and nobler birth, +--some few of the veteran friends of the king's great father; and +these, keeping sternly and loftily aloof from the herd, regarded +Warwick with the same almost reverential and yet affectionate +admiration which he inspired amongst the yeomen, peasants, and +mechanics,--for in that growing but quiet struggle of the burgesses, +as it will often happen in more civilized times, the great Aristocracy +and the Populace were much united in affection, though with very +different objects; and the Middle and Trading Class, with whom the +earl's desire for French alliances and disdain of commerce had much +weakened his popularity, alone shared not the enthusiasm of their +countrymen for the lion-hearted minister. + +Nevertheless, it must here be owned that the rise of Elizabeth's +kindred introduced a far more intellectual, accomplished, and literary +race into court favour than had for many generations flourished in so +uncongenial a soil: and in this ante-chamber feud, the pride of +education and mind retaliated with juster sarcasm the pride of birth +and sinews. + +Amongst those opposed to the earl, and fit in all qualities to be the +head of the new movement,--if the expressive modern word be allowed +us,--stood at that moment in the very centre of the chamber Anthony +Woodville, in right of the rich heiress he had married the Lord +Scales. As, when some hostile and formidable foe enters the meads +where the flock grazes, the gazing herd gather slowly round their +leader, so grouped the queen's faction slowly, and by degrees, round +this accomplished nobleman, at the prolonged sojourn of Warwick. + +"Gramercy!" said the Lord Scales, in a somewhat affected intonation of +voice, "the conjunction of the bear and the young lion is a parlous +omen, for the which I could much desire we had a wise astrologer's +reading." + +"It is said," observed one of the courtiers, "that the Duke of +Clarence much affects either the lands or the person of the Lady +Isabel." + +"A passably fair damozel," returned Anthony, "though a thought or so +too marked and high in her lineaments, and wholly unlettered, no +doubt; which were a pity, for George of Clarence has some pretty taste +in the arts and poesies. But as Occleve hath it-- + + 'Gold, silver, jewel, cloth, beddyng, array,' + +would make gentle George amorous of a worse-featured face than high- +nosed Isabel; 'strange to spell or rede,' as I would wager my best +destrier to a tailor's hobby, the damozel surely is." + +"Notest thou yon gaudy popinjay?" whispered the Lord of St. John to +one of his Towton comrades, as, leaning against the wall, they +overheard the sarcasms of Anthony, and the laugh of the courtiers, who +glassed their faces and moods to his. "Is the time so out of joint +that Master Anthony Woodville can vent his scurrile japes on the +heiress of Salisbury and Warwick in the king's chamber?" + +"And prate of spelling and reading as if they were the cardinal +virtues?" returned his sullen companion. "By my halidame, I have two +fair daughters at home who will lack husbands, I trow, for they can +only spin and be chaste,--two maidenly gifts out of bloom with the +White Rose." + +In the mean while, unwitting, or contemptuous, of the attention they +excited, Warwick and Clarence continued yet more earnestly to confer. + +"No, George, no," said the earl, who, as the descendant of John of +Gaunt, and of kin to the king's blood, maintained, in private, a +father's familiarity with the princes of York, though on state +occasions, and when in the hearing of others, he sedulously marked his +deference for their rank--"no, George, calm and steady thy hot mettle, +for thy brother's and England's sake. I grieve as much as thou to +hear that the queen does not spare even thee in her froward and +unwomanly peevishness. But there is a glamour in this, believe me, +that must melt away soon or late, and our kingly Edward recover his +senses." + +"Glamour!" said Clarence; "thinkest thou, indeed, that her mother, +Jacquetta, has bewitched the king? One word of thy belief in such +spells, spread abroad amongst the people, would soon raise the same +storm that blew Eleanor Cobham from Duke Humphrey's bed, along London +streets in her penance-shift." + +"Troth," said the earl, indifferently, "I leave such grave questions +as these to prelate and priest; the glamour I spoke of is that of a +fair face over a wanton heart; and Edward is not so steady a lover +that this should never wear out." + +"It amates me much, noble cousin, that thou leavest the court in this +juncture. The queen's heart is with Burgundy, the city's hate is with +France; and when once thou art gone, I fear that the king will be +teased into mating my sister with the Count of Charolois." + +"Ho!" exclaimed Warwick, with an oath so loud that it rung through the +chamber, and startled every ear that heard it. Then, perceiving his +indiscretion, he lowered his tone into a deep and hollow whisper, and +griped the prince's arm almost fiercely as he spoke. + +"Could Edward so dishonour my embassy, so palter and juggle with my +faith, so flout me in the eyes of Christendom, I would--I would--" he +paused, and relaxed his hold of the duke, and added, with an altered +voice--"I would leave his wife and his lemans, and yon things of silk, +whom he makes peers (that is easy) but cannot make men, to guard his +throne from the grandson of Henry V. But thy fears, thy zeal, thy +love for me, dearest prince and cousin, make thee misthink Edward's +kingly honour and knightly faith. I go with the sure knowledge that +by alliance with France I shut the House of Lancaster from all hope of +this roiaulme." + +"Hadst thou not better, at least, see my sister Margaret? She has a +high spirit, and she thinks thou mightest, at least, woo her assent, +and tell her of the good gifts of her lord to be!" + +"Are the daughters of York spoiled to this by the manners and guise of +a court, in which beshrew me if I well know which the woman and whom +the man? Is it not enough to give peace to broad England, root to her +brother's stem? Is it not enough to wed the son of a king, the +descendant of Charlemagne and Saint Louis? Must I go bonnet in hand +and simper forth the sleek personals of the choice of her kith and +House; swear the bridegroom's side-locks are as long as King Edward's, +and that he bows with the grace of Master Anthony Woodville? Tell her +this thyself, gentle Clarence, if thou wilt: all Warwick could say +would but anger her ear, if she be the maid thou bespeakest her." + +The Duke of Clarence hesitated a moment, and then, colouring slightly, +said, "If, then, the daughter's hand be the gift of her kith alone, +shall I have thy favour when the Lady Isabel--" + +"George," interrupted Warwick, with a fond and paternal smile, "when +we have made England safe, there is nothing the son of Richard of York +can ask of Warwick in vain. Alas!" he added mournfully, "thy father +and mine were united in the same murtherous death, and I think they +will smile down on us from their seats in heaven when a happier +generation cements that bloody union with a marriage bond!" + +Without waiting for further parlance, the earl turned suddenly away, +threw his cap on his towering head, and strode right through the +centre of the whispering courtiers, who shrunk, louting low, from his +haughty path, to break into a hubbub of angry exclamations or +sarcastic jests at his unmannerly bearing, as his black plume +disappeared in the arch of the vaulted door. + +While such the scene in the interior chambers of the palace, +Marmaduke, with the frank simpleness which belonged to his youth and +training, had already won much favour and popularity, and he was +laughing loud with a knot of young men by the shovel-board when +Warwick re-entered. The earl, though so disliked by the courtiers +more immediately about the person of the king, was still the favourite +of the less elevated knights and gentry who formed the subordinate +household and retainers; and with these, indeed, his manner, so proud +and arrogant to his foes and rivals, relapsed at once into the ease of +the manly and idolized chief. He was pleased to see the way made by +his young namesake, and lifting his cap, as he nodded to the group and +leaned his arm upon Marmaduke's shoulder, he said, "Thanks, and hearty +thanks, to you, knights and gentles, for your courteous reception of +an old friend's young son. I have our king's most gracious permission +to see him enrolled one of the court you grace. Ah, Master Falconer, +and how does thy worthy uncle?--braver knight never trod. What young +gentleman is yonder?--a new face and a manly one; by your favour, +present him. The son of a Savile! Sir, on my return, be not the only +Savile who shuns our table of Warwick Court. Master Dacres, commend +me to the lady, your mother; she and I have danced many a measure +together in the old time,--we all live again in our children. Good +den to you, sirs. Marmaduke, follow me to the office,--you lodge in +the palace. You are gentleman to the most gracious and, if Warwick +lives, to the most puissant of Europe's sovereigns. I shall see +Montagu at home; he shall instruct thee in thy duties, and requite +thee for all discourtesies on the archery-ground." + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAST OF THE BARONS, V2 *** + +***** This file should be named 7716.txt or 7716.zip ****** + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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