CHAPTER I
THE FLIGHT FROM BOSWORTH FIELD
He seemed breathless, heartless, faint and wan,
And all his armour sprinkled was with blood,
And soil'd with dirty gore, that no man can
Discern the hue thereof. He never stood,
But bent his hasty course towards the idle flood.
SPENSER.
After a long series of civil dissension--after many battles, whose
issue involved the fate of thousands--after the destruction of nearly
all the English nobility in the contest between the two Roses, the
decisive battle of Bosworth Field was fought on the 22nd of August,
1415, whose result was to entwine, as it was called, the white and red
symbols of rivalship, and to restore peace to this unhappy country.
The day had been sunny and warm: as the evening closed in, a west wind
rose, bringing along troops of fleecy clouds, golden at sunset, and then
dun and grey, veiling with pervious network the many stars. Three
horsemen at this hour passed through the open country between Hinckley
and Welford in Leicestershire. It was broad day when they descended from
the elevation on which the former stands, and the villagers crowded to
gaze upon the fugitives, and to guess, from the ensigns they bore, to
which party they belonged, while the warders from the near castle
hastened out to stop them, thus to curry favour with the conqueror; a
design wholly baffled. The good steeds of the knights, for such their
golden spurs attested them to be, bore them fast and far along the Roman
road, which still exists in those parts to shame our modern builders. It
was dusk when, turning from the direct route to avoid entering Welford,
they reached a ford of the Avon. Hitherto silence had prevailed with the
party--for until now their anxiety to fly had solely occupied their
thoughts. Their appearance spoke of war, nay, of slaughter. Their cloaks
were stained and torn; their armour was disjointed, and parts of it were
wanting; yet these losses were so arbitrary, that it was plain that the
pieces had been hacked from their fastenings. The helm of the foremost
was deprived of its crest; another wore the bonnet of a common soldier,
which ill accorded with the rest of his accoutrements; while the third,
bareheaded, his hair fallings on his shoulders, lank and matted from
heat and exercise, gave more visible tokens of the haste of flight. As
the night grew darker, one of them, and then another, seemed willing to
relax somewhat in their endeavours: one alone continued, with
unmitigated energy, to keep his horse at the same pace they had all
maintained during the broad light of day.
When they reached the ford, the silence was broken by the hindmost
horseman; he spoke in a petulant voice, saying:--"Another half mile at
this pace, and poor Flur-de-Luce founders; if you will not slacken
your speed, here we part, my friends. God save you till we meet again!"
"Evil betide the hour that separates us, brother!" said the second
fugitive, reining in; "our cause, our peril, our fate shall be the same.
You, my good lord, will consult your own safety." The third cavalier had
already entered the stream: he made a dead halt while his friends spoke,
and then replied:--"Let us name some rendezvous where, if we escape, we
may again meet. I go on an errand of life and death: my success is
doubtful, my danger certain. If I succeed in evading it, where shall I
rejoin you?"
"Though the event of this day has been fatal to the king," answered the
other, "our fortunes are not decided. I propose taking refuge in some
sanctuary, till we perceive how far the earl of Richmond is inclined to
mercy."
"I knew the earl when a mere youth, Sir Humphrey Stafford," said the
foremost rider, "and heard more of him when I visited Brittany, at the
time of King Louis's death, two years ago. When mercy knocks at his
heart, suspicion and avarice give her a rough reception. We must fly
beyond sea, unless we can make further stand. More of this when we meet
again. Where shall that be?"
"I have many friends near Colchester," replied the elder Stafford, "and
St. Mary boasts an asylum there which a crowned head would not dare
violate. Thence, if all else fail, we can pass with ease to the Low
Countries."
"In sanctuary at Colchester--I will not fail you. God bless and
preserve you the while!"
The noble, as he said these words, put spurs to his horse, and without
looking back, crossed the stream, and turning on the skirts of a copse,
was soon out of sight of his companions. He rode all night, cheering his
steed with hand and voice; looking angrily at the early dawning east,
which soon cast from her cloudless brow the dimness of night. Yet the
morning air was grateful to his heated cheeks. It was a perfect summer's
morn. The wheat, golden from ripeness, swayed gracefully to the light
breeze; the slender oats shook their small bells in the air with
ceaseless motion; the birds, twittering, alighted from the full-leaved
trees, scattering dew-drops from the branches. With the earliest dawn,
the cavalier entered a forest, traversing its depths with the hesitation
of one unacquainted with the country, and looked frequently at the sky,
to be directed by the position of the glowing east. A path more worn
than the one he had hitherto followed now presented itself, leading into
the heart of the wood. He hesitated for a few seconds, and then, with a
word of cheer to his horse, pursued his way into the embowering thicket.
After a short space the path narrowed, the meeting branches of the trees
impeded him, and the sudden angle it made from the course he wished to
follow, served to perplex him still farther; but as he vented his
impatience by hearty Catholic exclamations, a little tinkling bell spoke
of a chapel near, and of the early rising of the priest to perform the
matin service at its altar. The horse of the fugitive, a noble
war-steed, had long flagged; and hunger gnawed at the rider's own
heart, for he had not tasted food since the morning of the previous day.
These sounds, therefore, heard in so fearless a seclusion, bore with
them pleasant tidings of refreshment and repose. He crossed himself in
thankfulness; then throwing himself from his horse (and such change was
soothing to his stiffened limbs), he led him through the opening glade
to where a humble chapel and a near adjoining hut stood in the bosom of
the thicket, emblems of peace and security.
The cavalier tied his horse to a tree, and entered the chapel. A
venerable priest was reading the matin service; one old woman composed
his congregation, and she was diligently employed telling her beads. The
bright rays of the newly-risen sun streamed through the eastern window,
casting the chequered shadow of its lattice work on the opposite wall.
The chapel was small and rustic; but it was kept exquisitely clean: the
sacred appurtenances of the altar also were richer than was usual, and
each shrine was decked with clusters of flowers, chiefly composed of
white roses. No high praise, indeed, was due to the rude picture of the
Virgin of the Annunciation, or of the Announcing Angel, a representation
of whom formed the altar-piece; but in barbaric England, in those days,
piety stood in place of taste, and that which represented Our Lady
received honour, however unworthy it might be of the inspiress of
Raphael or Correggio. The cavalier took his disornamented casque from
his head, placed it on the ground, and knelt reverentially on the bare
earth. He had lately escaped from battle and slaughter, and he surely
thought that he had especial motive for thanksgiving; so that if his
lips uttered a mere soldier's "Ave," still it had the merit of fervour
and sincerity.
Had he been less occupied by his own feelings, he might have remarked
the many glances the priest cast on him, who dishonoured his learning
and piety by frequent mistakes of language, as his thoughts wandered
from his breviary, to observe with deep attention his unexpected
visitor. At length the service ended: the old dame rose from her knees,
and satisfied her curiosity, which she had excited by many a look
askance, by a full and long gaze on the cavalier. His hewn armour, torn
cloak, and, unseemly for the sacred spot, the dread stains on his
garments and hands, were all minutely scanned. Nor did his personal
appearance escape remark. His stature was tall, his person well knit,
showing him to be a man of about thirty years of age. His features were
finely moulded, his grey eyes full of fire, his step had the dignity of
rank, and his look expressed chivalrous courage and frankness. The good
woman had not been long engaged in surveying the stranger, when her
pastor beckoned her to retire, and himself advanced, replying to the
soldier's salute with a benedicite, and then hastily inquiring if he
came from the field.
"Even so, father," said the cavalier; "I come from the field of the
bloody harvest. Has any intelligence of it travelled hither so speedily?
If so, I must have wandered from the right road, and am not so far on my
journey as I hoped."
"I have only heard that a battle was expected," said the priest, "and
your appearance tells me that it is over. The fortunes, nay, perhaps the
life of a dear friend are involved in its issue, and I fear that it is
adverse--for you fly from pursuit, and methinks, though stained with
dust and blood, that emblem on your breast is the White Rose."
The warrior looked on the old man, whose dignity and language were at
variance with his lowly destination; he looked partly in wonder, and
partly to assure himself of his questioner's sincerity. "You are weary,
Sir Knight," added the monk, whose experienced eyes had glanced to the
golden spurs of his visitant; "come to my hermitage, there to partake of
such refreshment as I can bestow. When your repast is ended, I will, by
confidence on my part, merit yours."
This invitation was that of worldly courtesy, rather than the rustic
welcome of a recluse monk. The cavalier thanked him cordially, adding,
that he must first provide food and water for his horse, and that
afterwards he would gratefully accept his host's invitation. The old man
entered with the spirit of a soldier into his guest's anxiety for his
steed, and assisted in purveying to its wants, ingratiating himself
meanwhile with its master, by discovering and praising scientifically
its points of beauty. The poor animal showed tokens of over fatigue, yet
still he did not refuse his food, and the cavalier marked with joy that
his eye grew brighter and his knees firmer after feeding.
They then entered the cottage, and the soldier's eye was attracted from
more sacred emblems by a sword which was suspended over a picture of the
Virgin:--"You belong to our Chivalry!" he exclaimed, while his
countenance lighted up with joyful recognition.
"Now I belong to the holy order whose badge I wear," the monk replied,
pointing to his Benedictine dress. "In former days I followed a brave
leader to the field, and, in his service, incurred such guilt, as I now
try to expiate by fasting and prayer."
The monk's features were convulsed by agitation as he spoke, then
crossing his arms on his breast, he was absorbed in thought for a few
moments, after which he raised his head and resumed the calm and even
serene look that characterized him. "Sir Knight," said he, motioning to
the table now spread for the repast, "I have but poor fare to offer, but
a soldier will not disdain its meagreness. My wine I may praise, as
being the produce of a generous vintage; I have kept it sealed, to open
it on occasions like the present, and rejoice that your strength will be
recruited by it."
Bread, fruits, cheese, and a flagon of the wine, which merited the
giver's eulogium, composed the fugitive's breakfast, whose fatigue
required cordial and repose. As he was occupied by his repast, his host
eyed him with evident agitation, eager yet fearful to question him on
the subject of the battle. At length he again asked, "You come from the
field on which the forces of the king and of the earl of Richmond met?"
"I do."
"You fought for the White Rose, and you fly?"
"I fought for the White Rose till it was struck to the ground. The king
has fallen with his chief nobility around him. Few Yorkists remain to
mourn the success of the Lancastrians."
Deep grief clouded the old man's countenance, but accustomed to subdue
his feelings, as one on whom, being stricken by an overwhelming misery,
all subsequent disasters fall blunted, he continued with greater
calmness: "Pardon me, noble gentleman, if I appear to ask an indiscreet
question. You are of lordly bearing, and probably filled a place near
the royal person. Did you hear, on the night before last, aught of the
arrival of a stranger youth at the king's tent?"
The knight eyed the old man with a quick glance, asking, in his turn,
"Are you, then, the foster-father of King Richard's son?"
"Did you see my boy?" cried the priest. "Did his father acknowledge
him?--Where is he now?--Did he enter the ranks to fight and fall for
his parent?"
"On the night of which you speak," said the stranger, evading the
immediate question, "the king placed his son's hand in mine, as I vowed
to protect and guard him if ill befell our party, as it has befallen."
"Surely some presentiment of evil haunted the king's mind."
"I do believe it; for his manner was solemn and affecting. He bade the
youth remember that he was a Plantagenet, and spoke proudly of the
lineage from which he sprung. The young esquire listened intently,
looking at his father with such an ingenuous and thoughtful expression,
that he won my heart to love him."
"Now bless thee, Sir Knight, whoever thou art, for this praise of my
poor Edmund. I pray you, hasten to tell me what more passed."
The cavalier continued his account; but his manner was serious, as if
the conclusion of his tale would afflict his auditor. He related how, on
quitting the royal tent, he had led Edmund Plantagenet to his own,
there to converse with him awhile, the better to learn whether his
bearing and speech showed promise of future merit. King Richard had
enjoined his son to return to his seclusion early on the following
morning; but as soon as he entered his conductor's tent, he knelt to him
and asked a boon, while tears gathered in his eyes, and his voice was
broken by the fervour of his desire. The noble was moved by his
entreaties, and promised to grant his request, if it did not militate
against his honour and allegiance. "It is for honour that I speak," said
Plantagenet; "I am older in years than in seeming, for already I number
twenty summers; and, spite of my boyish look, I am familiar with martial
exercises, and the glorious promise of war. Let me draw my sword for my
father to-morrow--let me, at your side, prove myself a worthy
descendant of the conquerors of France! Who will fight for King Richard
with greater courage, fidelity, and devotion, than his acknowledged and
duteous son?" The cavalier yielded to his noble yearnings. Clothed in
armour he entered the ranks, and hovered a protecting angel near his
parent during the bloody contest. And now, as his venerable guardian
watched with trembling eagerness the countenance of his guest while he
told his tale, and the stranger, with bitter regret, was about to relate
that he had seen Plantagenet felled to the ground by a battle-axe, quick
steps, and then a knocking, was heard at the cottage door. The stranger
started on his feet, and put his hand upon his sword; but a bright smile
illuminated the monk's face, as the very youth of whom they spoke,
Edmund Plantagenet, rushed into the apartment. His soiled garments and
heated brow spoke of travel and fatigue, while his countenance wore an
expression of wildness and even of horror. He started when he saw the
stranger, but quickly recognized him as his new friend. "Thank God!" he
cried, "that you, my dear lord, have not fallen into the hands of, the
sacrilegious usurper! It is my father's spirit that has saved you for
his son's sake, that I may not be utterly abandoned and an orphan."
With milder accost he bent his knee to his holy guardian, and then
turned to answer the cavalier's questions of how he had escaped death
from the blow he had received, and what new events had occurred since he
had quitted the field early on the preceding day?--while the monk chid
him for his disobedience to his father's commands, in having mingled
with the fray. The eyes of Plantagenet flashed fire at this
reproach.--"Could I know that my father's crown and life," he exclaimed
impetuously, "depended on the combat, and not bring to his aid my weak
arm? God of Heaven! had there been five hundred true as I, we might all
have fallen round him: but never, never, should I have seen the sight
which last night I saw--nor heard the sounds I last night heard!"
The youth covered his face with his hands, and the boiling tears
trickled between his fingers. "Tell me," cried the noble, "what has
happened?--and swiftly tell me, for I loiter here too long."
Almost suffocated by emotion, Plantagenet related, that when he
recovered from the trance into which the fearful blow he had received
had thrown him, the earl's camp-followers were busy among the slain: and
that he had seen the body of King Richard--of his father--thrown
half-naked across a mule, thus to be borne to be exposed to the public
gaze and mockery in Leicester, where, but the day before, he had ridden
with the royal crown on his head, the acknowledged sovereign of England.
And that crown, base, ill-bartered bauble, having been found in the tent
by Lord Stanley, he had brought and placed on Richmond's head, while the
soldiers, with one acclaim, hailed him Henry the Seventh, King of
England.
The last words more than the others, for the death of his royal master
was already known to him, moved the knight:--"Is this the end of our
hopes?" he cried. "Am I then too late? Farewell, my friends!
Plantagenet, I shall never forget my oath to the king; I shall become, I
fear, an outcast and a soldier of fortune, even if I escape worse fate;
but claim when you will, and it shall be yours, whatever protection I
can afford you."
"Yield, then. Lord Lovel," said the youth, "to my first request. You are
in peril, let me share it; permit me to accompany you. If you refuse, my
plan is already formed; I repair to the earl of Lincoln, whom King
Richard named his successor, and offer myself as a soldier in his
attempt to discrown the usurping Henry, and to raise again the White
Rose to its rightful supremacy."
"To the earl of Lincoln--the successor of Richard--to him you would
repair? It is well--come with me now, and I will present you to that
nobleman. If your foster-father consents, bid adieu to this seclusion
for a time, and accompany me to London, to new contests--to the combat
of right against might--to success and honour, or to defeat and death!"
The sun had risen high when, having taken leave of the venerable monk,
who would not oppose his pupil's gallant spirit of enterprise, Lord
Lovel and young Plantagenet threaded the forest paths, which, by a safer
and a shorter route than the highway, took them on their road to London.
For a time they led their horses with difficulty through the entangled
thicket, when at last reaching the open road, they mounted, and Lord
Lovel, who was desirous of estimating the abilities and disposition of
his companion, entered into conversation with him. They first conversed
on the sad changes which were the work of the eventful day of battle;
afterwards the cavalier led Edmund to speak of himself, his early life,
his acquirements, and his hopes.
When Plantagenet was but ten years old his mother died, and her last
request to the father of her boy, founded on a deep knowledge of the
world, was, that her son might be educated far from the court, nor be
drawn from the occupations and happier scenes of private life, to become
a hanger-on of princes and nobles. There was a man, a gentleman and a
knight, who had been a partizan of the White Rose, and who had fought
and bled for it in various battles between the duke of York and Henry
the Sixth. In one of these, the misery of the times, and horrible
consequences of civil dissension, caused him unwittingly to lift his
armed hand against his twin brother, nor did he discover the mistake
till, with his dying voice, that brother called on him to assist him
against his slayer. A life of seclusion, penance, and prayer, alone
blunted his sense of remorse, and quitting the world, he retired to a
monastery, where after due noviciate he took vows, and then shrinking
from commerce with his kind, followed by visions that spoke for ever to
him of his unnatural crime, he retreated to the forest of
Leicestershire, to dwell alone with his grief and his repentance.
His retreat was known to many of his friends, and chance had brought the
duke of Gloucester at one time to visit him; when the ancient warrior
rejoiced with enthusiasm at the exaltation of the party to which he was
attached. The death of the mother of Edmund had the effect of softening
the duke's heart, of making for a short interval worldly cares and
objects distasteful to him, and of filling him with a desire of
seclusion and peace. If he was unable to enjoy these himself, he
resolved that at least his child should not be drawn by him into the
thorny path of rivalship and ambition. His mother's last injunction
strengthened this feeling; and the duke, visiting again the hermit of
the wood, induced him to take charge of Edmund, and bringing him up in
ignorance of his real parentage, to bestow such education on him as
would enable him to fill with reputation an honourable, if not a
distinguished station in society. This order of things was not changed
by Richard's exaltation to the crown. On the contrary, the dangers he
incurred from his usurpation made him yet more anxious to secure a
peaceful existence for his offspring. When, however, his legitimate son,
whom he had created prince of Wales, died, paternal affection awoke
strong in his heart, and he could not resist his desire of seeing
Edmund: a memorable visit for the priest-bred nursling of the forest! It
gave him a link with society, with which before he had felt no
connexion: his imagination and curiosity were highly excited. His
revered friend, yielding to his eager demands, was easily enticed to
recur to the passed scenes of an eventful life. The commencement of the
wars of the two Roses, and their dreadful results, furnished
inexhaustible topics of discourse. Plantagenet listened with breathless
interest, although it was not till the eve of the battle of Bosworth,
that he knew how indissolubly his own fortunes were linked with those of
the house of York.
The events of the few last days had given him a new existence. For the
first time, feeling was the parent of action; and a foregoing event
drove him on to the one subsequent. He was excited to meditate on a
thousand schemes, while the unknown future inspired him with an awe that
thrilled his young heart with mingled pain and pleasure. He uttered his
sentiments with the ingenuousness of one who had never been accustomed
to converse with any but a friend; and as he spoke, his dark and
thoughtful eyes beamed with a tempered fire, that showed him capable of
deep enthusiasm, though utter want of knowledge of the world must make
him rather a follower than a leader.
They rode on meanwhile, the noble cavalier and gentle squire indulging
in short repose. The intense fatigue Edmund at first endured, seemed to
be subdued by the necessity of its continuance, nor did it prevent him
from conversing with Lord Lovel. He was anxious thoroughly to understand
the immediate grounds of the earl of Richmond's invasion, and to
ascertain the relative position of the remaining chiefs of the White
Rose: "Where," he asked, "are Edward the Fourth's children?"
"The elder of these," Lord Lovel replied, "the Lady Elizabeth, is, by
direction of her uncle, at Sheriff Hutton, in Yorkshire."
"And where are the princes? Edward, who was proclaimed king, and his
younger brother?"
"They were long imprisoned in the Tower. Young Edward died there more
than a year ago."
"And the Duke of York?"
"He is supposed to have died also: they were both sickly boys."
Lord Lovel said these words in a grave voice, and suspicion would have
been instilled into any but the unsuspecting Edmund, of some covert
meaning. After a short pause, he continued:--"the question of the
succession stands thus. Your father, the duke of Gloucester, threw the
stigma of illegitimacy on King Edward's children, and thus took from
them their right of inheriting the crown. The attainder of the duke of
Clarence was considered reason sufficient why his children should be
excluded from the throne, and their uncle, in consequence, became, by
right of birth, king of England: his son he created prince of Wales. We
submitted; for a child like Edward the Fifth could scarcely be supported
against an experienced warrior, a man of talent, a sage and just king,
but at the expense of much blood. The wounds inflicted by the opposing
houses of York and Lancaster were yet, as the late successful rebellion
proves, unhealed; and had the Yorkists contended among themselves, they
would yet sooner have lost the supremacy they so hardly acquired:
Richard therefore received our oaths of allegiance. When his son died,
the question of who was the heir to the crown became agitated; and the
king at first declared the earl of Warwick, the son of the duke of
Clarence, to be his successor. It was a dangerous step--and the
imprudent friends of the young earl made it more so--to name him to
succeed, who, if he were permitted at any time to wear the crown, might
claim precedence of him who possessed it. Poor Warwick paid the penalty
of youth and presumption: he is now a prisoner at Sheriff Hutton; and
John de la Poole, earl of Lincoln, son of Richard's sister, and by the
removal of the children of his elder brothers, his heir by law was
nominated to succeed his uncle. I am now proceeding to him. I am
ignorant of the conduct he will pursue; whether he will make head
against this Lancastrian king, or----. Lincoln is a noble cavalier; a
man whom bright honour clothes; he is brave, generous, and good. I shall
guide myself by his counsels and resolves; and you, it appears, will
follow my example."
After a pause, Lord Lovel continued: "After the death or disappearance
of his princely nephews, the king, wishing to confirm his title, was
ready to take the stigma thrown on their birth from his brother's
daughters, and to marry his niece, the Lady Elizabeth. Her mother at
first resisted, but the prospect of seeing her children restored to
their rights, and herself to her lost dignity, overcame her objections,
and the princess yielded a willing consent. Meanwhile, the Yorkists, who
joined the earl of Richmond, extorted from him a vow that he would make
King Edward's daughter his queen; and even the Lancastrians, thinking
thus to secure a king of their own, are eager for this union: yet the
earl hates us all so cordially that he was hardly brought to consent.
Should he, now that he has declared himself king, evade his promise, the
children of Elizabeth Woodville will suffer the stain of illegitimacy;
but if the marriage has place, and this unhappy race is restored to
their honours and rights, our self-named sovereign may find that his own
hands have dug the pit into which he will fall."
A long silence succeeded to these explanations. The last expression used
by Lovel inspired Edmund with wonder and curiosity; but the noble
pressing his horse to a swifter pace, did not hear his observations, or
hearing them, replied only by saying, "Three hours' good riding will
bring us to London. Courage, Plantagenet! slacken not your speed, my
good boy; soft ease will follow this hard labour."
The young moon in its first quarter was near its setting when they
arrived at London. They approached from Edgware: without entering the
town, they skirted its northern extremity, till Lord Lovel, checking his
horse, remarked to his companion, that he judged it fitting to delay
approaching the residence of the earl of Lincoln, until the setting of
the moon and subsequent darkness secured them from observation.
CHAPTER II
THE CONFERENCE
Yes, my good Lord,
It doth contain a king: King Richard lies
Within the limits of yon lime and stone.
SHAKSPEARE.
The earl of Lincoln, declared by Richard the Third, heir to the crown,
did not join the royal forces, nor appear at the battle of Bosworth.
This distinguished prince was a man of singular abilities and strength
of mind, which chivalrous generosity adorned with a lustre superior even
to that which he derived from his high rank. Lord Lovel was possessed of
knightly courage, untarnished honour, and gentlemanly accomplishment. To
these military and graceful qualities Lincoln added the wisdom of a
statesman and the moral energy resulting from inflexible principle. He
felt himself responsible to mankind and to all posterity for his
actions. He was brave--that was a virtue of the times; but he was just,
in a comprehensive sense of the word, and that exalted him above them.
His manly features did not so much wear the stamp of beauty, though,
like all the offspring of the House of York, he was handsome, as of the
best quality of man, a perception of right, and resolution to achieve
that right.
Lord Lincoln disapproved decidedly of the usurpation of his uncle,
Richard the Third, over the children of Edward the Fourth. He allowed
that the evidence was strong in favour of that king's former marriage,
and their consequent illegitimacy; but he said, that Elizabeth Woodville
had so long been held queen of England, and her children heirs to the
crown, that it was impossible to eradicate the belief of the English
people, that their allegiance was due to him who had been proclaimed
even by his uncle, Edward the Fifth. Even if they were put aside, the
attainder passed against the duke of Clarence was an insufficient reason
to deprive his son of his lawful inheritance. He saw England wasted, and
her nobility extirpated by civil contest; and he perceived the seeds of
future strife in the assumption of the crown by the duke of Gloucester.
When the son of Richard the Third died, and the earl of Warwick was
named his successor, the superior right of the nephew before the
reigning uncle became so eminent a subject of discussion, that the king
was obliged to recall his declaration, and to confine the young prince
in a castle in Yorkshire. The earl of Lincoln, then seven and twenty
years of age, was next named. He remonstrated with his uncle privately;
but fear of dividing the House of York against itself, and a disdain to
make common cause with the dowager queen's relations, made him outwardly
submit; but his plan was formed, and secretly all his efforts tended
towards the restoring the children of Edward to their paternal rights.
The boys were sickly. Edward the Fifth, irritated by the extinction of
the hopes which the intrigues of his mother had kept alive in his
breast, wasted by imprisonment in the Tower, and brooking with untamed
pride the change from a regal to a private station, pined and died.
Richard, duke of York, was between ten and eleven; a sprightly,
ingenuous boy, whose lively spirit wore out his frame, and this, added
to confinement and attention to his dying brother, brought him also near
the grave. It was on the death of Edward, that the earl of Lincoln
visited the Tower, and saw young Richard. The accounts given by the
attendants of his more than a child's devotion to his brother, his
replies full of sportive fancy, his beauty, though his cheek was faded
and his person grown thin, moved the generous noble to deep compassion.
He ventured, under the strong influence of this feeling, to remonstrate
warmly with his royal uncle, reproaching him with needless cruelty, and
telling him how in fact, though not in appearance, he was the murderer of
his nephews, and would be so held by all mankind. Richard's ambition was
satisfied by the success of his measures to obtain the crown; but his
fears were awake. The duke of Buckingham was in arms against him--the
queen and her surviving relatives were perpetually employed in exciting
discontents in the kingdom. Richard feared that if they obtained the
person of his nephew, he would be turned into an engine for his
overthrow; while to obtain possession of him was the constant aim of
their endeavours. He earnestly desired to reconcile himself to the
queen, and to draw her from the sanctuary in which she had immured
herself--she refused all his offers, unless her son was first placed in
her hands.
His head, ripe with state plots, now conceived a scheme. He consented
that Lincoln should take the duke of York under his charge, if he would
first engage to keep his removal from the Tower, and even his existence,
a secret from his enemies. Lincoln made the required promise; the young
prince was conveyed to a country seat belonging to the earl, and
Richard, in furtherance of his plan, caused a rumour to go abroad that
he also was dead. No one knew with whom this report originated. When, to
assure themselves, various nobles visited the Tower, the boy was no
longer there. The queen gave credit to the tale. At this moment, Richard
set on foot a negotiation of marriage with the eldest daughter of Edward
the Fourth, the Lady Elizabeth. The partizans of the earl of Richmond
sought to ensure the success of his enterprise by the same means: and
while little Richard grew in health and happiness in his country
retreat, his own nearest and most attached relatives were giving away
his inheritance--his uncle unwittingly laid the foundation-stone of the
reputation of cruelty and murder ever after affixed to him; and his
mother, endeavouring to exalt her daughter, and to restore herself to
her lost station in the kingdom, sealed the fatal decree that first
deprived her son of his rights, and afterwards of his life.
On the evening that Lord Lovel and Edmund Plantagenet entered London,
the earl of Lincoln remained waiting intelligence from the field, in a
palace he inhabited not far from Tottenham Court, a secluded habitation,
surrounded by a garden and a high wall. This was an irksome situation
for a warrior; but though his uncle loved, he distrusted him: his
projected marriage with the Lady Elizabeth would probably cause him
again to be father of an heir to the crown, and knowing that Lincoln
possessed, in the young duke of York, a dangerous rival, he refused to
allow him to take up arms against Richmond. Lord Lincoln was alone,
pacing his large and vaulted hall in deep and anxious meditation. He,
who with conscience for his rule, takes, or endeavours to take, the
reins of fate into his own hands, must experience frequent misgivings;
and often feel that he wheels near the edge of a giddy precipice, down
which the tameless steeds he strives to govern may, in an instant, hurl
him and all dependent upon his guidance. The simple feeling of
compassion, arising from the seeing childhood lose its buoyancy in undue
confinement, had first led the princely noble to take charge of his
young cousin. Afterwards, when he beheld the boy grow in health and
years, developing the while extraordinary quickness of intellect, and a
sweet, ingenuous disposition, he began to reflect on the station he
held, his rights and his injuries; and then the design was originated on
which he was now called to act.
If Richard gained the day, all would stand as before. Should he be
defeated--and that second sense, that feeling of coming events, which
is one of the commonest, though the least acknowledged of the secret
laws of our nature, whispered the yet unrevealed truth to him--who then
would assume England's diadem, and how could he secure it for its
rightful owner, the only surviving son of Edward the Fourth? All these
reflections coursed themselves through his brain, while, with the zeal
of a partizan, and the fervour of one wedded to the justice of his
cause, he revolved every probable change of time and fortune.
At this moment a courier was announced: he brought tidings from the
field. As is usual on the eve of a great event, they were dubious and
contradictory. The armies faced each other, and the battle was
impending. The doubts entertained on both sides, as to the part that
Lord Stanley would take, gave still a greater uncertainty to the
anticipations of each.
Soon after the arrival of this man, the loud ringing at the outer gate
was renewed; and the trampling of horses, as they entered the court,
announced a more numerous company. There was something in the movements
of his domestics that intimated to the earl that his visitor was of
superior rank. Could it be the king, who had fled; conquered, and a
fugitive? Could such terms be applied to the high-hearted Richard? The
doors of the hall were thrown open, and the question answered by the
entrance of his visitant: it was a woman; and her name, "Lady Brampton!"
in a tone of wonder, burst from the noble's lips.
"Even I, my good lord," said the lady; "allow me your private ear; I
bring intelligence from Leicestershire. All is lost," she continued,
when the closing of the door assured her of privacy; "all is lost, and
all is gained--Richard is slain. My emissaries brought swift
intelligence of this event to me at Northampton, and I have hastened
with it hither, that without loss of time you may act."
There was a quickness and a decision in the lady's manner, that checked
rather than encouraged her auditor. She continued: "Vesper hour has long
passed--it matters not--London yet is ours. Command instantly that
Richard the Fourth be proclaimed king of England."
Lord Lincoln started at these words. The death of his uncle and
benefactor could not be received by him like the loss of a move at
chess; a piece lost, that required the bringing up of other pieces to
support a weak place. "The king is slain," were words that rang in his
ears: drowning every other that the lady uttered with rapidity and
agitation. "We will speak of that anon," he replied; and going to the
high window of his hall, he threw it open, as if the air oppressed him.
The wind sighed in melancholy murmurs among the branches of the elms and
limes in the garden: the stars were bright, and the setting moon was
leaving the earth to their dim illumination. "Yesternight," thought
Lincoln, "he was among us, a part of our conversation, our acts, our
lives; now his glazed eyes behold not these stars. The past is his: with
the present and the future he has no participation."
Lady Brampton's impatience did not permit the earl long to indulge in
that commune with nature, which we eagerly seek when grief and death
throws us back on the weakness of our human state, and we feel that we
ourselves, our best laid projects and loftiest hopes, are but the
playthings of destiny. "Wherefore," cried the lady, "does De la Poole
linger? Does he hesitate to do his cousin justice? Does he desire to
follow in the steps of his usurping predecessor? Wherefore this delay?"
"To strike the surer," replied Lincoln. "May not I ask, wherefore this
impatience?"
Even as he spoke, steps were heard near the apartment; and while the
eyes of both were turned with inquietude on the expected intruder, Lord
Lovel entered: there was no triumph, no eager anticipation on his
brow--he was languid from ill success and fatigue. Lincoln met him with
the pleasure of one who sees his friend escaped from certain death. He
was overjoyed to be assured of his existence; he was glad to have his
assistance on the present emergency. "We know," he said, "all the evil
tidings you bring us; we are now deliberating on the conduct we are to
pursue: your presence will facilitate our measures. Tell me what other
friends survive to aid us. The duke of Norfolk, the Staffords, Sir
Robert Brakenbury, where are they?"
Lovel had seen the duke fall, the Staffords had accompanied his flight;
uncertainty still hung over the fate of many others. This detail of the
death of many of their common friends, subdued the impetuosity of the
lady, till an account of how Richard himself had fought and been slain
recalled her to their former topic of discussion; and, again, she said,
"It is strange that you do not perceive the dangers of delay. Why is not
the king proclaimed?"
"Do you not know," asked Lord Lovel, "that the king is proclaimed?"
Lady Brampton clasped her hands, exclaiming, "Then Richard the Fourth
will wear his father's crown!"
"Henry the Seventh," said Lovel, "possesses and wears the English crown.
Lord Stanley placed the diadem on the head of the earl of Richmond, and
his soldiers, with one acclaim, acknowledged him as their sovereign."
"This is mere trifling," said the lady; "the base-born offspring
Lancaster may dare aspire so high, but one act of ours dethrones him.
The Yorkists are numerous, and will defend their king: London is yet
ours."
"Yes," replied Lincoln, "it is in our power to deluge the streets of
London with blood, to bring massacre among its citizens, and worse
disaster on its wives and maidens. I would not buy an eternal crown for
myself--I will not strive to place that of England on my kinsman's
head--at this cost. We have had over-much of war: I have seen too many
of the noble, young, and gallant, fall by the sword. Brute force has had
its day; now let us try what policy can do."
The council these friends held together was long and anxious. The lady
still insisted on sudden and resolute measures. Lord Lovel, a soldier in
all his nature, looked forward to the calling together the Yorkists from
every part of the kingdom. The earl, with a statesman's experience, saw
more of obstacle to their purpose in the elevation of Henry the Seventh
than either of his companions would allow; the extreme youth of the duke
of York, the oblivion into which he had sunk, and the stain on his
birth, which was yet unremoved, would disincline the people to hazard
life and fortune in his cause. Henry had taken oath to marry his sister,
the Lady Elizabeth, and when thus the progeny of Edward the Fourth were
freed from the slur under which they now laboured, the whole country
would be alive to the claims of his only son. It was necessary now to
place him in safety, and far away from the suspicious eyes of his
usurping enemy. That morning Lord Lincoln had brought him up from his
rural retreat to the metropolis, and sheltered him for a few hours under
safe but strange guardianship. He was left at the house of a Flemish
money-lender well known at court. It was agreed that Lord Lovel should
take him thence, and make him the companion of his journey to
Colchester, where they should remain watching the turn of events, and
secretly preparing the insurrection which would place him on the throne.
Lady Brampton was obliged to proceed immediately northwards to join her
husband; the north was entirely Yorkist, and her influence would
materially assist the cause. The earl remained in London; he would sound
the inclinations of the nobility, and even coming in contact with the
new king, watch over danger and power at its fountain-head. One more
question was discussed: Whether the queen, Elizabeth Woodville, should
be made acquainted with the existence of her son. All three, from
various reasons, decided in the negative. A personal enmity existed
between the widow of Edward the Fourth and Lady Brampton: her party was
detested by the two nobles. It would be more popular with the nation,
they thought, if her kinsmen, whose upstart pretensions were the object
of the derision and scorn of the old aristocracy, had no part in
bestowing the crown on the heir of the House of York. Time wore away
during these deliberations; it was past midnight before the friends
separated. Lord Lovel presented his young friend, Edmund Plantagenet, to
the earl, and recommended him to his protection. Refreshment was also
necessary after Lovel's fatiguing journey; but he was so intent on
accomplishing his purpose, that he wasted but a few minutes in this
manner, and then being provided with a fresh horse from Lincoln's
stables, he left the palace to proceed first to the present abode of
Richard of York, and afterwards, accompanied by him, on his road to
Essex.
Lord Lovel threaded his way through the dark narrow streets of London
towards Lothbury. The habitation of the money-lender was well known to
him, but it was not easily entered at past midnight. A promised bribe to
the apprentice who hailed him from the lofty garret-window, and his
signet-ring sent in to his master, at length procured admission into the
bedchamber of Mynheer Jahn Warbeck. The old man sat up in his bed, his
red cotton night-cap on his head, his spectacles, with which he had
examined the ring, on his nose; his chamber was narrow and dilapidated,
his bed of ill condition. "Who would suppose," thought Lovel, "that this
man holds half England in pawn?"
When Warbeck heard that the errand of Lovel was to take from him his
princely charge, he rose hastily, wrapping a robe round him, and opened
a small wainscoat door leading into a little low room, whence he drew
the half-sleeping and wondering boy. There was a rush taper in the room,
and daylight began to peep through the crevices of the shutters, giving
melancholy distinctness to the dirty and dismantled chamber. One ray
fell directly on the red night-cap and spectacles of old Jahn, whose
parchment face was filled with wrinkles, yet they were lines of care,
not of evil, and there was even benevolence in his close mouth; for the
good humour and vivacity of the boy had won on him. Besides, he had
himself a son, for whom he destined all his wealth, of the same age as
the little fellow whose plump roseate hand he held in his own brown
shrivelled palm. The boy came in, rubbing his large blue eyes, the
disordered ringlets of his fair hair shading a face replete with
vivacity and intelligence. Mynheer Jahn was somewhat loth to part with
the little prince, but the latter clapped his hands in ecstasy when he
heard that Lord Lovel had come to take him away.
"I pray you tell me, Sir Knight," said old Warbeck, "whether
intelligence hath arrived of the victory of our gracious sovereign, and
the defeat of the Welsh rebels."
Richard became grave at these words; he fixed his, eyes inquiringly on
the noble: "Dear Lord Lovel," he cried, "for I remember you well, my
very good lord, when you came to the Tower and found me and Robert
Clifford playing at bowls--tell me, how you have fought, and whether
you have won."
"Mine are evil tidings," said Lord Lovel; "all is lost. We were
vanquished, and your royal uncle slain."
Warbeck's countenance changed at these words; he lamented the king; he
lamented the defeat of the party which he had aided by various advances
of money, and his regrets at once expressed sorrow for the death of
some, and dread from the confiscation of the property of others.
Meanwhile, Richard of York was full of some thought that swelled his
little breast; taking Lovel's hand, he asked again, "My uncle, Richard
the Third, is dead?"
"Even so," was the reply; "he died nobly on the field of battle."
The child drew himself up, and his eyes flashed as he said
proudly,--"Then I am king of England."
"Who taught your grace that lesson?" asked Lovel.
"My liege--my brother Edward. Often and often in the long winter
nights, and when he was sick in bed, he told me how, after he had been
proclaimed king, he had been dethroned; but that when our uncle died he
should be king again; and that if it pleased God to remove him, I should
stand in his place; and I should restore my mother's honour, and this he
made me swear."
"Bless the boy!" cried Warbeck, "he speaks most sagely; may the saints
incline my lord, the earl of Lincoln, to do his royal cousin justice!"
"Your grace," said Lovel, "shall hear more of this as we proceed on our
journey. Mynheer Jahn, the earl bade me apply to you; you are to repair
to him before noon; meanwhile, fill this long empty purse with gold
coins. He will be my guarantee."
"Lend me the money," cried the little duke, "I will repay you. We will
repay you, when we have our crown."
This was an inducement not to be resisted. Warbeck counted out the gold;
the boy with light steps tripped down the creaking old staircase, and
when Lovel had mounted, taking his hand, he sprung in the saddle before
him. The fresh morning air was grateful to both, after the close
chambers of the Fleming. The noble put his horse to a quick trot, and
leaving London by a different road from that by which he had entered,
took his way through Romford and Chelmsford to Colchester.
The news of the earl of Richmond's victory and assumption of the crown
reached London that night. The citizens heard it on their awakening. The
market people from the west related it to those who came in from the
east; but it had not hitherto travelled in that direction. Lovel knew
that the storm was behind him, but he outrode it; on the evening of the
second day he was safe in sanctuary at Colchester. His young charge was
lodged at a farm-house belonging to a tenant of Sir Humphrey Stafford.
They all awaited impatiently for the time when the earl of Lincoln would
put a period to their confinement, by informing them that the hour was
arrived when they might again take arms against the upstart Lancastrian
king.
CHAPTER III
ELIZABETH OF YORK
Small joy have I have being England's queen.
SHAKSPEARE.
Henry the Seventh was a man of strong sense and sound understanding. He
was prudent, resolute, and valiant; on the other hand, he was totally
devoid of generosity, and was actuated all his life by base and bad
passions. At first the ruling feeling of his heart was hatred of the
House of York--nor did he wholly give himself up to the avarice that
blotted his latter years, till the extinction of that unhappy family
satisfied his revenge, so that for want of fuel the flame died away.
Most of his relatives and friends had perished in the field or on the
scaffold by the hands of the Yorkists--his own existence had been in
jeopardy during their exaltation; and the continuance of his reign, and
even of his life, depended on their utter overthrow. Henry had a mind
commensurate to the execution of his plans: he had a talent for seizing,
as if instinctively, on all the bearings of a question before him; and a
ready perception of the means by which he might obviate difficulties and
multiply facilities, was the most prominent part of his character. He
never aimed at too much, and felt instantaneously when he had arrived at
the enough. More of cruelty would have roused England against him; less
would have given greater hopes to the partizans of his secreted rival.
He had that exact portion of callousness of heart which enabled him to
extricate himself in the admirable manner he did from all his
embarrassments.
It is impossible to say what his exact views were, when he landed in
England, an I made head against Richard the Third. His right of
succession, even through the House of Lancaster, was ill-founded, and
probably he would scarcely have dared to decorate his brows with the
royal circlet but for the happy boldness of Stanley, and the enthusiasm
felt by his soldiers in the hour of victory, which had bestowed it on
him. Once a king, as it was impossible, without risk of life, to sink to
a private station, he did not hesitate, but bent every energy of his
mind to the contriving the means to seat himself firmly on his
newly-acquired throne.
The illegitimacy of Edward the Fourth's children had removed them from
the succession. But though no doubt was entertained as to the fact of
Edward having married Lady Eleanor Butler, yet Henry had the taint of
illegitimacy on his own race; and, moreover, Elizabeth Woodville having
so long filled the station of queen of England, the public voice went in
her favour, and the majority of the English people looked upon the tale
which deprived her children of their rights, as a contrivance of their
usurping uncle. What then was to become of them? Edward the Fifth was
dead: of this fact there was no doubt. It had been rumoured that the
duke of York had not long survived his brother. To ascertain the truth
of this report, Henry dispatched one of his most staunch adherents to
the Tower. The boy was not there; but a mystery hung over his fate which
did not quite assure the new king of his death. Henry feared that he was
in the hands of the Yorkists, and this dread gave fresh vigour to his
distrust and abhorrence of the partizans of the White Rose. He formed a
scheme to defeat their projects; he caused it to be disseminated that
both the princes had been found dead--murdered--in the Tower.
The competitors for the crown, whose claims ranked next, were the
daughters of Edward the Fourth. Henry immediately saw the necessity of
agreeing to the treaty entered into by the countess of Richmond, for his
marriage with the eldest of these princesses. He hated to owe his title
to the crown to any part of the House of York; he resolved, if possible,
to delay and break the marriage; but his own friends were urgent with
him to comply, and prudence dictated the measure; he therefore promised
to adopt it--thus effectually to silence the murmurs of the party of
the White Rose.
But if the young duke of York reappeared meanwhile, it would be
necessary not to repeal the Act of Parliament that cast a stigma on his
birth. If the children of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward the Fourth were
debarred from the crown, the earl of Warwick was the next heir. He was
confined, by Richard the Third, at Sheriff Hutton, in Yorkshire. He was
the especial object of Henry's fear, and now he commanded him to be
brought from his northern prison to the Tower of London, to be kept a
close prisoner in that melancholy and ill-fated place. There was one
other rival, the earl of Lincoln, named by Richard to succeed him; but
his pretensions came so far behind the others, and he enjoyed so high a
reputation for sagacity and virtue, that Henry believed it best to let
him alone for the present, only surrounding him with spies; and
resolved, on the first note of danger, to destroy him.
Fortune smiled on the new sovereign. The disappearance of the two
children from the Tower caused the Yorkists to settle their affections
on the young Elizabeth. She was at Sheriff Hutton, waiting impatiently
for her union with her uncle; now she received commands to proceed to
London, as the affianced bride of that uncle's conqueror. Already the
common talk ran on the entwining of the two Roses; and all the adherents
of her family, who could gain access, recommended their cause to her,
and entreated her, in the first days of power, not to forget her
father's friends, but to incline the heart of her husband to an
impartial love for the long rival houses of Lancaster and York.
Two parties arrived on the same day at Sheriff Hutton, on the different
missions of conducting the Lady Elizabeth and the earl of Warwick to
London. On the morning of their departure they met in the garden of
their abode to take leave of each other. Elizabeth was nineteen years
old, Warwick was the exact age of her brother, Edward the Fifth; he was
now sixteen.
"We are about to travel the same road with far different expectations,"
said Warwick. "I go to be a prisoner; you, fair cousin, to ascend a
throne."
There was a despondency in the youth's manner that deeply affected this
princess. "Dear Edward," she replied, clasping his hand; "we have been
fellow-prisoners long, and sympathy has lightened the burthen of our
chains. Can I forget our walks in this beauteous park, and the love and
confidence we have felt for each other? My dearest boy, when I am queen,
Esther will claim a boon from Ahasuerus, and Warwick shall be the chief
noble in my train."
She looked at him with a brilliant smile; her heart glowed with sisterly
affection. She might well entertain high anticipations of future power;
she was in the pride of youth and beauty; the light spirit of expected
triumph lighted up her lovely face. She was about to become the bride of
a conqueror, yet one whose laurels would droop without her propping; she
was to be queen of her native land, the pearly clasp to unite the silken
bond with which peace now bound long discordant England. She was unable
to communicate this spirit of hope to her desponding friend; he gazed on
her beauty with admiration and deep grief, asking, with tearful eyes,
"Shall we ever meet again?"
"Yes! in London, in the court of Henry, we shall again be
companions--friends."
"I go to the Tower, not to the court," replied Warwick, "and when those
gloomy gates close on me, I shall pray that my head may soon repose on
the cold stone that pillows my cousin Edward. I shall sleep uneasily
till then."
"Fie, cousin!" said Elizabeth; "such thoughts ill beseem the nearest
kinsman of the future queen of England. You will remain but a short time
in the Tower; but if you nurse thoughts like these, you will pine there
as you did before I shared your prison here, and the roses with which my
care has painted your cheeks, will again fade."
"Wan and colourless will my cheek be ere your bright eyes look on it
again. Is it not sufficient grief that I part from you, beloved friend!"
A gush at once of sorrow, of affection, of long suppressed love,
overpowered the youth. "I shall think of you," he added, "in my
prison-house; and while I know that you regret my fate, I cannot be
wholly a wretch. Do you not love me? And will you not, as a proof, give
me one of these golden hairs, to soothe poor Warwick's misery? One
only," he said, taking from braided locks the small gift he demanded, "I
will not diminish the rich beauty of your tresses, yet they will not
look lovelier, pressed by the jewelled diadem of England, than under the
green chaplet I crowned you with a few months past, my Queen of May!"
And thus, the eyes of each glistening with tears, they parted. For a
moment Warwick looked as if he wished to press his cousin to his heart;
and she, who loved him as a sister, would have yielded to his embrace:
but before his arms enfolded her, he started back, bent one knee,
pressed her hand to his lips, his eyes, his brow, and bending his head
for an instant towards the ground, sprang up, and rushed down the avenue
towards the gate at which his guard awaited him. Elizabeth stood
motionless, watching him till out of sight. The sun sparkled brightly on
a tuft of wild flowers at her feet. The glittering light caught her eye.
"It is noon," she thought; "the morning dew is dry; it is Warwick's
tears that gem these leaves." She gathered the flowers, and, first
kissing them, placed them in her bosom; with slow steps, and a sorrowing
heart, she re-entered the castle.
The progress of the Lady Elizabeth from Sheriff Hutton to London was
attended by every circumstance that could sustain her hopes. She was
received with acclamation and enthusiasm in every town through which she
passed. She indeed looked forward with girlish vanity to the prospect of
sharing the throne with Henry. She had long been taught the royal
lesson, that with princes, the inclinations are not to bear any part in
a disposal of the hand. Her imagination fed on the good she would do for
others, when raised to the regal dignity; the hope of liberating
Warwick, and of fulfilling her mother's wishes in conferring benefits on
various partizans of the White Rose, filled her bosom with the purest
joy; youth, beauty, and the expectation of happiness, caused the measure
of her content to overflow. With a fluttering heart she entered London:
small preparation had been made to receive her, and she was immediately
conducted to her mother's abode at the Tower Royal, in the parish of
Walbrook. The first check her hopes received arose from the clouded brow
of the queen, as she embraced her daughter, and welcomed her arrival.
Many fears in truth occupied the thoughts of the illustrious widow. She
could not forget her sons; and the mystery that hung over the fate of
the younger pressed heavily upon her. It was now the eighteenth of
October, and the preparations for the coronation of Henry were in great
forwardness; Parliament had recognized his title without any allusion to
the union with the heiress of the House of York. She had endeavoured to
fathom his purposes, and to understand his character. She knew that he
entertained a settled hatred for the White Rose, and that his chief
pride lay in establishing himself on the throne, independent of the
claim he might acquire by his marriage with the Lady Elizabeth. The
common people murmured, the Yorkists were discontented,--the neighbour
stage before they should break out into open rebellion. Thus dark clouds
interposed before the sun of peace, which had been said to have risen on
the event of the battle of Bosworth Field.
Henry the Seventh was crowned on the thirtieth of October. The queen
looked on this ceremony as the downfall of her hopes. Housed by this
fear, she entered into a sea of intrigue, in which, after all, she had
no certain aim, except that of re-animating the zeal of the Yorkists,
and of exciting such discontent in the public mind, on the postponement
of her daughter's marriage, as to force Henry to consent to an immediate
union. The gentle Elizabeth had meanwhile submitted patiently to her
destiny. She dismissed regality from her thoughts, and devoted herself
to her mother; recreating herself in the society of her sisters, and now
and then contemplating the faded leaves she had brought from Sheriff
Hutton, and lamenting the fate of Warwick. She had learned to fear and
almost to hate Henry; and, but for the sake of her suffering party, to
rejoice that he had apparently relinquished his intention of marrying
her.
The dissatisfaction manifested by the English people forced Henry to
comply with the universal wish entertained of seeing the daughter of
Edward the Fourth on the throne; yet it was not until the beginning of
January that the princess received intimation to prepare for her
nuptials. This prospect, which had before elated, now visited her
coldly; for, without the hope of influencing her husband, the state of a
queen appeared mere bondage. In her heart she wished to reject her
uncourteous bridegroom; and once she had ventured to express this desire
to her mother, who, filled with affright, laid aside her intrigues,
devoting herself to cultivate a more rational disposition in her
daughter. Henry paid the doomed girl one visit, and saw little in her
except a bashful child; while his keener observation was directed
towards the dowager queen. She, with smooth brow and winning smiles, did
the honours of reception to her future son-in-law--to her bitter foe.
The cold courtesy of Henry chilled her; and a strong desire lurked under
her glossy mien, to reproach the usurper with his weak title, to set up
her daughter's claim in opposition to his, and to defy him to the field.
As soon as Henry departed, her suppressed emotions found vent in tears.
Elizabeth was astonished: she knelt before her, caressed her, and asked
if all were not well now, since the plighted troth had passed between
her and the king.
"Has it passed?" murmured the queen; "and is your hapless fate decided?
Why did I not join you at Sheriff Hutton? Why did I not place your hand
in that of your noble cousin? Ah, Warwick! could I even now inspire you
with my energy, you would be free in arms; and England to a man would
rise in the cause of Edward the Sixth, and my sweet Elizabeth!"
The colour in the princess's cheeks varied during the utterance of this
speech; first they flushed deep red, but the pale hue of resolution
succeeded quickly to the agitation of doubt. "Mother," she said, "I was
your child; plastic clay in your hands; had you said these words two
hours ago, Warwick might have been liberated--I perhaps happy. But you
have given me away; this ring is the symbol of my servitude; I belong to
Henry. Say no word, I beseech you, that can interfere with my duty to
him. Permit me to retire."
On the eighteenth of January her nuptials were celebrated.
The forbidding manners of Henry threw a chill over the marriage
festival. He considered that he had been driven to this step by his
enemies; and that the chief among these, influenced by her mother, was
Elizabeth herself. The poor girl never raised her eyes from the moment
she had encountered at the altar the stern and unkind glance of the
king. Her steps were unassured, her voice faltering; the name of wife
was to her synonymous with that of slave, while her sense of duty
prevented every outward demonstration of the despair that occupied her
heart.
Her mother's indignation was deeper, although not less veiled. She could
silence, but not quell, the rage that arose in her breast from her
disappointment; and there were many present who shared her sentiments.
As far as he had been able, Henry had visited the Yorkists with the
heaviest penalties. An act of attainder had been passed against the duke
of Norfolk, Lord Lovel, the Staffords, and all indeed of note who had
appeared against him. Those with whom he could not proceed to
extremities, he wholly discountenanced. The Red Rose flourished bright
and free--one single white blossom, doomed to untimely blight, being
entwined with the gaudier flowers.
CHAPTER IV
LADY BRAMPTON
My noble queen, let former grudges pass,
And henceforth I am thy true servitor.
SHAKSPEARE.
Meanwhile the Yorkists were impatient for action. The existence of
Prince Richard was a secret to all save Lincoln and Lovel--even the
Staffords were kept in ignorance; their purpose, therefore, was merely
to put down the Lancastrians, and to raise their own party, with Warwick
or Lincoln at their head; they cared not which, so that they got a king
who would, in his turn, uproot the Red Rose. Lincoln would consent to no
decisive step; but from the day of his cousin's marriage, all his
emissaries and friends were on foot to cause insurrectionary movements
in the kingdom, rousing in the old Yorkists their ancient party spirit,
and inspiring the young with hopes of future aggrandizement and victory.
As the spring advanced, Henry sent the young queen, with her mother and
sisters, and the countess of Richmond, to hold her court at Winchester,
while he resolved on a progress through the northern counties of
England, the most affected towards the House of York, to endeavour, by
the royal presence, to awaken affection towards the reigning sovereign.
He passed the festival of Easter at Lincoln, and there he heard that
Lord Lovel and the two Staffords had escaped from sanctuary. The sound
of insurrection is fearful to a newly-anointed king; but as no
explanation was given to their movements, and no name of import mingled
in the tale, he felt less perturbation at this intelligence. As he
proceeded on his journey, the affair took a more serious aspect. The
Staffords advanced to besiege Worcester; and Lovel, with an increasing
army of three or four thousand men, was in the neighbourhood of York.
Sir Edward Brampton joined the forces of Lord Lovel, and he and Lady
Brampton again met. The history of this lady was singular. Ten years
before the time of which we write, being then eighteen, she married, and
attended the court of Edward the Fourth. She had talent and vivacity;
her dark laughing eyes, the animation of her countenance, her gay and
nave manners, attracted her sovereign; and she was soon distinguished
as one whose advancement, if so it might be called, to the highest
influence over him, depended on her own choice between honour and such
preferment. She did not hesitate; but her rejection won Edward as much
as her beauty. A kind of friendship, kept up under the chivalrous
phraseology of the day, was established between them, that gave,
perhaps, more umbrage to the queen than a less avowed connection would
have done. All was open; and if the good humour of her young rival never
permitted her to assume haughtiness, there was something even more
revolting in her girlish assumptions of power and consequence. The queen
hated and affected to despise Lady Brampton; Lady Brampton felt that she
injured the wife of Edward the Fourth. At first she had earnestly sought
to gain her favour, but when rebuffed, she resorted to the weapons of
youth, beauty, and wit, and set at defiance the darkened brow of
Elizabeth. Ten years had passed since then.
Edward the Fourth died, and under Richard the Third Lady Brampton
returned to her natural place in society; nay, the vivacity of speech
with which she defended the rights of his nephews, made him absolutely
discountenance her. In her days of pride she had refused every mark of
favour from Edward, thus to place their avowed friendship far above the
petty intrigues of the courtiers. It might have been thought that the
queen and her rival would now, on the grounds of affection for Edward's
children, have leagued together; but, on the contrary, the mother
expressed contempt and indignation at the presumption of Lady Brampton
in assuming a personal interest in her children, and that lady too well
remembered how often her manner and speech must have offended the queen
to make any vain attempt at reconciliation. The earl of Lincoln and Lady
Brampton had always been friends; her liveliness amused him, her
integrity and real goodness of heart won his esteem. Her passionate love
for the princes in the Tower had caused him, when he withdrew thence the
young Richard, whose ill-health demanded constant feminine attentions,
to confide him to her charge; thus she alone became possessed of the
secret of his existence, and now with Lord Lovel she debated how best
his interests could be furthered.
Lord Lincoln feared by rash measures to endanger the safety of his
nephew. He desired to place him on the throne, but he preferred bringing
him up in freedom and obscurity to any ill-judged attempt that might
throw him into his enemy's hands, and make him prisoner for life. His
plans were all laid upon this principle; he commanded Lord Lovel, who
submitted wholly to him, not to breathe the name of the son of Edward
till he had gained a decided advantage over the reigning sovereign. If
victorious, he might set up the royal standard and proclaim Richard the
Fourth, while the earl, still in London, would call together all the
Yorkists, and, in the absence of the king, seize, in his nephew's name,
upon the capital of the kingdom. If Lord Lovel's attempt proved
unsuccessful, it was decided that the prince should escape immediately
to the Continent, there to remain till some new insurrection was
organized; for, though cautious, he was resolute, and he had determined
never to relinquish his purpose, but to excite rebellion and discontent
against Henry till the rightful heir possessed his own.
These plans were in contradiction to Lady Brampton's views, but she was
obliged to submit. Her quick woman's wit discovered her another danger.
The absolute silence observed concerning the young prince, then only
eleven years of age, might in the end cast a doubt over the justice of
his pretensions, and she told Lord Lovel, that if, after a failure,
Richard quitted England, he must first be seen and acknowledged by his
mother. She resolved, therefore, on immediately going to Winchester to
prepare Elizabeth for the reception of her son; and Lord Lovel, who
agreed in the wisdom of this proposal, promised, at all hazards, that
ere leaving the kingdom the duke of York should cross the country to
that town, whence, by Southampton, he might escape to France. While,
therefore. Lord Lovel increased his army, and marched in high hopes
towards York, Lady Brampton proceeded southward, meditating the safest
and best manner of introducing herself to the queen.
There was a man, Richard Simon, or Symond, who afterwards figured in the
chronicles, that had long been secretly concerned in the course of
events. He was the son of a tenant of Sir John Gray, and had been the
playmate of the Lady Elizabeth Gray's elder children. His love of books,
his sedentary habits, and quick wit on matters of learning, led those
interested in his fate to consider him fitted for the church, and
therefore, he took priest's orders. But his mind, though not attuned to
action in its noblest sense, was not one that could remain at rest. He
loved power; he was sagacious, astute, and intriguing: when the Lady
Gray became queen, he being still too young for high promotion,
preferred an unnoticed but influential situation near her person to more
lucrative employ, which would remove him from the pleasures and dignity
of the court. When Edward died, he devoted himself to the service of his
royal patroness, and hardly escaped being imprisoned for life by
Richard, when the latter was most exasperated against the
queen dowager's relations. From that time Richard Simon found full
occupation for his plotting head, in endeavouring to bring about the
overthrow of the usurping Gloucester, and to raise the hopes of Henry
the Seventh, who requited ill his active zeal: and now again he busied
himself in exalting the queen's party. He looked the man he was--a
prier into secrets--one who conducted the drama of life by back-stairs
and tell-tale valets: his small grey eyes were quick to discern the
meaning of each smile or frown; his young brow was already wrinkled
through care and thought; craft lurked in the corners of his lips; and
his whispering voice betokened habitual caution. He continued to hover
near the queen; now despatched to sound some Yorkist, now closeted to
discuss some expression of the king's, in which to find a secret
meaning. Repose was the thing he hated: and for ever with some plan on
foot, some web to weave or unravel, he was seen with brows a little
elevated by self-conceit, with a courtly bend of the body, and
insinuating address, now assuring a Lancastrian of the perfect
satisfaction of the queen, now whispering to a Yorkist a tale of slights
and injuries practised by King Henry against his consort and her
friends. All the communication that had taken place between Elizabeth
Woodville and the earl of Lincoln had been carried on through this man,
though each knew not that he communicated to the other what either said.
But Lincoln respected his undeviating fidelity towards his patroness,
and valued his talents. It was to this man that Lady Brampton addressed
herself on her arrival at Winchester, to procure for her a private
audience with the queen. Her dark hints respecting the insurrection of
Lovel and the Staffords excited his curiosity, yet he experienced more
difficulty than he expected in bringing the royal dowager to consent to
receive her rival. When our days of prosperity are fled we cling fondly
to all that reminds us of their brightness, and turn with augmented
distaste from every thing that marred their splendour. Elizabeth loved to
remember herself as the chosen bride of Edward, and any circumstance
that spoke of his inconstancy, or detracted from the entireness of her
influence over him, then inspired her with indignation, now with
abhorrence. It required all Simon's dexterity to allay her anger, and
excite her curiosity, sufficiently to induce her to admit her rival to
her presence.
It was at the hour of vespers that the priest introduced Lady Brampton
into the queen's cabinet. Elizabeth was assured that she had secrets of
importance to communicate, and she designed by affability to win her to
a full disclosure of them. Yet her heart and manner grew cold as she
entered the closet where the lady and her guide already were, and
bending her head slightly, she said, "The Lady Brampton desired an
audience with me--I grant it."
With all her vivacity and consciousness of the importance of her
disclosures, the lady felt herself awed and chilled; and the memory of
Edward came across her, who had before shielded her from such
unkindness, and filled her eyes with tears. A long pause ensued; the
queen looked as in expectation, and Richard Simon, who had retired to an
embrasure of a window, was about to come forward, when Lady Brampton,
conquering her emotion, said, "Your grace is the happy mother of the
queen of England, and the hope of an heir, which you now entertain, may
make my intelligence distasteful."
"Say on," replied Elizabeth, haughtily; "I listen to your words."
The lady felt much inclined not to say another word, but assuming almost
equal coldness of manner, she continued, "Would your grace prefer that
your fair daughter should still bear the sceptre, or that Richard the
Fourth should wrest it from the husband's grasp?"
Now indeed the queen started, and cried impetuously, "I charge you,
trifle with me no longer! Explain your words; who would supplant my
child?"
"Her brother," Lady Brampton replied; and seeing the queen lost in a
mixture of amazement and terror, she added, "The Duke of York still
lives: he is now, I trust, at the head of forces sufficient to enforce
his rights. In a few days England will acknowledge him as sovereign."
In reply to these words, spoken with rapidity, as if they were pregnant
with supreme delight to their auditress, the queen with an angry look,
said, "I shall league with no plotters to establish an impostor."
"Beware," said Lady Brampton, indignantly; "let your majesty bethink
yourself before you consign your son to misery and an early grave. Will
his mother be his chief enemy?"
"Who vouches for him?"
"Himself! He is the very Edward who once was yours: his young features
are but the miniature mirror of his royal father; his princely grace,
his wit, his courage, are all derived from him."
"I must see the boy," said the queen, "to end at once this silly masque.
How do you pretend that he escaped form the Tower?"
The independence and sensibility of Lady Brampton's disposition would
not permit her to answer a question asked thus ironically. Had she
looked at the queen, she might have seen, by her change of countenance,
that it was nearly all put on by the jealous instinct that would not
permit her to acknowledge herself under so great an obligation to her
rival. Lady Brampton turned to Simon, saying, "I am ready to depart, Sir
Priest; I see her grace sorrows that the same cold bed does not entomb
Richard of York and Edward the Fifth. Poor prince! My Lord of Lincoln
counselled well, and I was to blame in not acting on his advice."
"Stay," cried Elizabeth, "speak again. Is the earl of Lincoln a party to
this tale?"
"Your majesty insults me," said the lady; "I came here to please a
mother's ear by assurances of her son's safety, and to conduct the
tempest-tost fortunes of this ill-starred boy into the safe harbour of
maternal love. I came with a full heart and an ardent desire to serve
you; no other motive could have led me hither. You receive me with
disdain; you dismiss me with contumely. I fear that so much you hate me,
that, for my sake, your heart is steeled against your princely son. But
as you already know so much as to make it necessary that you should know
all, I will hasten to London, and intreat the noble De la Poole to
communicate with you, and to avert a mother's enmity from her child. I
take my leave."
She was about to depart; but Simon, who knew that a feud between the
prince's partizans must ruin his cause, entreated her to remain; and
then addressing the queen, tried to soothe her, for she was pacing the
rushes of her chamber in excessive agitation. "Peace, good friend," said
she, "I will speak to Lincoln; I will ask him why I, who was deemed by
his honoured uncle fit partaker of his councils, am kept by him in
ignorance of the alleged existence of this poor boy? Even now he might
be sitting on the throne, had I been consulted: instead of this, to what
has this distrust brought him? He is a crownless king, a fugitive
prince, branded as an impostor; a seal is put on his fate, which nothing
probably will ever remove. I, even I, have called my son, if such he be,
a counterfeit!"
Maternal tenderness touched to the quick the royal lady's heart, and she
wept. Lady Brampton was all impulse and goodness of disposition: she
felt that Elizabeth had wronged her, but in a moment she forgave the
offence; she advanced, and kneeling at her feet, touched her hand
gently, as she said, "Let not your grace judge too harshly of our
proceedings. We poor faulty human beings, hurried hither and thither by
passion, are for ever jostling against and hurting each other, where
more perfect natures would coalesce, and thus succeed where we fail.
Forgive, forget the past; it cannot now be changed. Forgive the earl,
who, long bound by an oath to his uncle Gloucester, could only save your
son's life by feigning his death. Forgive the humblest of your servants,
even myself, who acted under his commands, and who now, in disobedience
to them, attempts to bring the royal exile to his mother's arms. Would
that my humility could appease your displeasure, and that you would
acknowledge me your faithful follower. My life should be at the disposal
of you and the princely York."
Lady Brampton, full of vivacity, energy, and even of imperiousness, had
so much grace in her manner and sweetness in her voice, when she laid
these keen weapons aside to assume those of gentleness and love, that
she was irresistible. The queen, at once softened, stretched out her
hand, which the lady pressed respectfully to her lips; then, as friends
bent on one design, they conversed unreservedly together. Lady Brampton
entered into long details concerning the past history of the duke of
York, and the schemes then on foot for his advancement. This was not
their sole interview; they met again and again, and mutual affection
confirming the link which the fate of Richard caused to exist between
them, the queen named the Lady Brampton one of her ladies, and
henceforth they lived together under the same roof.
CHAPTER V
THE INTERVIEW
England, farewell! thou, who hast been my cradle,
Shalt never be my dungeon or my grave.
SHELLEY.
The historical account of Lord Lovel's insurrection is contained in a
few words. While the two Staffords besieged Worcester, this nobleman
advanced against Henry in York. The duke of Bedford was sent against
him, who published a general pardon, for all the rebels who should
submit. The soldiers of Lord Lovel had no powerful watch-word to insure
their union; the existence of Edward the Fourth's son was a profound
secret; they were therefore easily induced to abandon an almost nameless
cause; and in three weeks Lord Lovel found himself with only one hundred
adherents, or rather personal friends, who at his earnest entreaty
disbanded, while he, chiefly bent on saving the life of his princely
charge, felt greater security in being left singly with him.
He had promised to traverse England, and to conduct him to Winchester;
but the hot pursuit on foot forced him to delay this journey. Meanwhile
a present refuge was to be sought. He had a stanch friend in a zealous
Yorkist, Sir Thomas Broughton, who resided in Lancashire, to whose
residence he directed his steps. Still, even during this short journey,
great precaution was necessary. Lord Lovel and his charge travelled
disguised, avoiding highroads and great towns. On the second evening,
when the red aspect of the setting sun threatened an inclement night,
they took shelter in a lone cot, on one of the wild moors of that
county.
A long habit of personal attendance had instilled into Lovel's mind a
parental affection for the little prince. They had journeyed far that
day, and Richard was overpowered by fatigue; his friend strewed for him
a bed of leaves--he stretched himself on it, and quickly fell into a
sound sleep, while the noble kept up the fire he had lighted, and paced
the hut, revolving in his mind a thousand schemes. It was a chill
February evening; and, as night came on, a thick sleet beat against the
windows, while the wind, sweeping over the wide health, howled round the
miserable shepherd's cot. Some time passed thus, and fear in Lovel's
mind gave place to the sense of security, inspired by the desolation of
the spot and the inclemency of the elements. He needed rest, and as soon
as he had thrown himself on the ground, drowsiness overpowered him--the
wind sang a wild lullaby to both the sleepers.
Though still lost to the outer world, a change passed over Lovel's
countenance--again his features relaxed into sleep, and again expressed
disquietude. The tramp of horses' feet was around the hut--voices
mingled alien sounds with the raging blast;--at last a loud knocking at
the door caused the noble at once to start on his feet wide awake.
Richard still slept on. Lord Lovel cautiously withdrew into the shadow
behind the door, listening intently to divine the motives of these
unwelcome intruders. He felt assured that they were emissaries of Henry,
who had traced him hither; he endeavoured to form in his mind some plan
of conduct to save the duke, whom he was about to awaken and put on his
guard, when a woman's voice struck upon his ear. The knocking at the
door was changed into a violent beating, the rude hinges gave way, and
it swung back. The fugitive's heart beat quick; it was a moment full of
fate; such a one as, when passed, we seem to have concentrated a life
into its small space. The man that entered calmed his fears; low in
stature, broadly built, a cloak lined with furs added to his bulk, and a
Flemish hat completed his peaceable appearance; though he was too much
muffled to show his face. Glancing at Lovel a look which was, doubtless,
intended to convey reproach, he muttered some words in a foreign
guttural language, and went back to his companions. Two women now
entered, both enveloped in furs. One stepped lightly on, and drew the
bench, which had lately pillowed the head of Lovel, closer to the fire,
while the other, bending under the burthen in her arms, approached
slower, and sitting down on the seat prepared for her, threw back her
cloak, and discovered that she bore in her arms a sleeping child, about
six years of age. The first, meanwhile, disencumbered herself of her
rich furs, and then leaning over the child, kissed its little hands, and
regarded its sleeping form with mingled anxiety and tenderness, speaking
to the other in a foreign dialect, evidently about the risk the poor
babe had run from exposure to the weather. Lovel remained a mute
spectator; he resolved not to come forward till he should see who their
male attendants were. After a brief interval the first intruder again
entered; he threw off his cloak, and looking round with keen eyes, the
fugitive discovered the well-known features of a friend. His heart now
relieved, his countenance lighted up, and he stepped forward, saying:
"Mynheer Jahn Warbeck, God be with you! you travel on a stormy night."
"And you, Lord Lovel," replied the money-lender, angrily, "are
sufficiently discourteous to wanderers at suck a season. Why even vipers
are harmless during a storm."
"But fair weather returns, and they again find their sting. I might bare
my own breast, but--" he pointed to the bed of leaves, on which, in
spite of the tumult, young Richard still slept.
Warbeck started: but before he could reply, one of his companions turned
to speak to him, and a conversation ensued, begun in Dutch, and
continued in French, concerning the circumstances which had divided them
from their attendants, and their fatiguing wanderings during the storm.
A small saddlebag was produced by Warbeck, containing a few provisions.
A bed for the sleeping child was formed, and the travellers sat round
the fire, enjoying their simple fare. From time to time the fair blue
eyes of the younger lady, who was evidently the mistress, and the other
an attendant, turned to look on the chivalric form and manly beauty of
Lovel; a few smiling observations escaped her in her native language,
which Warbeck answered drily and succinctly. The bench on which the lady
sat was soon sacrificed for firing--the cloaks of the party were dried,
and the women, wrapt in them, sought repose on the bare ground, which
was the sole flooring of the hut, the younger drawing to her bosom the
sleeping child. Lovel and Warbeck kept silence, till the deep breathing
of their companions showed that they slept: then, in reply to the
Fleming's questions, Lovel related the history of the last months, and
at the conclusion frankly asked his advice and assistance in
accomplishing his design of conveying the duke of York to Winchester.
Warbeck looked thoughtful on this demand, and after a pause said, "I
cannot say wherefore this unfortunate prince excites so strong an
interest in me; for in truth my heart yearns towards him as if he were
akin to me. Is it because he bore for a time my poor boy's name?"
Warbeck paused; his hard features were strongly marked by grief--"I and
my sister," he continued, "crossed the country to visit my Peterkin, who
was ill--who is lost to me now for ever."
A pause again ensued: the young soldier respected too much the father's
grief to interrupt it. At length the Fleming said, "Lord Lovel, I
will--I trust I can--save Duke Richard's life. My sister is
kind-hearted; and the silence you have observed concerning the very
existence of King Edward's son makes the task more easy. Madeline is
about to return to her own country; she was to have taken my Peterkin
with her. Let the prince again assume that name: it shall be my care to
escort him in this character to Winchester; and at Portsmouth they may
embark, while you follow your own plans, and take refuge with the
friends you mention in these parts."
As Warbeck spoke, Lovel motioned to him to observe his sister, who,
unable to sleep, was observing them with attention. "Madeline does not
understand our English," said her brother; "but it were well that she
joined our counsels, which may continue in French. I have your leave, my
lord, to disclose your secret to her? Fear her not: she would die rather
than injure one hair of that poor child's head."
On Warbeck's invitation, the lady rose; and he, taking her hand, led her
to the low couch of the duke of York. Sleep and gentle dreams spread an
irradiation of beauty over him: his glowing cheek, his eyes hardly
closed, the masses of rich auburn hair that clustered on a brow of
infantine smoothness and candour, the little hand and arm, which, thrown
above his head, gave an air of helplessness to his attitude, combined to
form a picture of childish grace and sweetness, which no woman, and that
woman a mother, could look on without emotions of tenderness. "What an
angelic child," said the fair sister of Warbeck, as she stooped to kiss
his rosy cheek; "what a noble-looking boy. Who is he?"
"One proscribed," said the cavalier; "one whom he who reigns over
England would consign to a dungeon. Were he to fall into the hands of
his enemies, they might not, indeed, dare not cut him off violently; but
they would consume and crush him, by denying him all that contributes to
health and life."
"Can this sweet boy have enemies?" cried the lady: "Ah! if he have, has
he not friends also to guard him from them?"
"With our lives!" he replied, emphatically; "but that is a small
sacrifice and a useless one; for, to preserve him we must preserve
ourselves. My life,--such acts deserve no record,--I have, and will
again and again expose for him; but the will to save him is not enough
without the power; and that power you possess, lady, to a far, far
greater extent than I."
"The will I have most certainly," said the fair one, regarding the boy
with anxious tenderness. "Command me, sire chevalier; my power, small as
I must believe it to be, and my will, shall unite to preserve this sweet
child."
Warbeck disclosed briefly to his sister the secret of young Richard's
birth, and detailed his plan for his safe journey to Winchester; nay,
and after that, for his crossing the sea, and continuing to personate,
in Flanders, the nephew of Madeline, if so his royal mother deemed
fitting, till the moment should arrive, when the schemes of his
partizans being crowned with success, he could be restored to his
country and his birthright. The fair Fleming joyfully assented to this
proposition, and entered cordially into the details. Lovel was profuse
of thanks: so suddenly and so easily to be relieved from his worst
fears, appeared like the special interposition of some guardian saint.
His heart overflowed with gratitude; and his glistening eyes gave token
of greater thanks than even his emphatic words. Madeline felt all the
excitement of being actively employed in a deed of benevolence: her calm
features were animated with an angelic expression. The discussion of
details demanding the coolest prudence and most vigilant observation,
long occupied them: and the lady brought a woman's tact and keen
penetration to arrange the crude designs of her brother. All was
rendered smooth; every obstacle foreseen and obviated; every pass of
danger reconnoitered and provided for. When, at last, their plans were
perfected, the lady again returned to her hard couch to seek repose: for
some time the cavalier and the Fleming kept watch, till they also, in
such comfortless posture as they might, stretched on the bare ground,
yielded to drowsiness; and grey morning found all the dwellers in the
sheep-cot sunk in profound sleep. Fear, charity, hope, and love, might
colour their dreams; but quiet slumber possessed them all, driving care
and thought from the heart and brain, to steep both in oblivion of all
ill.
When Madeline awoke in the morning, the first sight that met her eyes
was the lovely boy she had promised to protect, playing with her
dark-eyed girl, who displayed all the ecstasy of childish glee with her
new playmate. Madeline was a blonde Fleming, with light blue eyes and
flaxen ringlets--she was about five-and-twenty years of age; an
expression of angelic goodness animated her features, bestowing on them
an appearance of loveliness, which of themselves they did not possess.
It could hardly be guessed, that Richard's playmate was the daughter of
the fair-haired Fleming: but the husband of Warbeck's sister was a
Spaniard, and the child resembled her father in everything except the
soft mouth and sweet smile, which was all her mother's: her large full
dark eyes gave to her infantine face a look of sensibility far beyond
her years. The little girl ran to her mother when she awoke; and
Madeline caressed both her and the prince with the greatest tenderness.
They stood at the door of the cottage; the early sun shone brightly on
the hoar frost that covered the moor; the keen air was bracing, though
cold; the morning was cheerful, such as inspires hope and animation, a
lively wit to understand, and a roused courage to meet difficulties.
Madeline turned from the glittering scene to look on her young
charge--his eyes were fixed on her face. "How beautiful and good you
look," said the boy.
"I am glad that you think me good," replied the lady, smiling; "you will
have less fear in trusting yourself with me: your noble friend has
confided your grace to my care, if, indeed, you will condescend to live
with me, and be as a son to me. I have just lost a little nephew whom I
fondly loved; will you supply his place, and take his name?"
"Fair cousin," said the prince, caressing his kind friend as he spoke,
"I will wait on you, and serve you as no nephew ever served. What name
did your lost kinsman bear? Quickly tell me, that I may know my own, and
hereafter call myself by it."
"Perkin Warbeck," said Madeline.
"Now you mock me," cried Richard: "that has long been my name; but I
knew not that it gave me a claim to so pretty a relation."
"This courtly language," replied the lady, "betrays your grace's
princeliness. What will our Flemish boors say, when I present the
nursling of royalty as mine? You will shame our homely breeding, Duke
Richard."
"I beseech you, fair mistress," said Lovel, who now joined them, "to
forget, even in private, such high-sounding titles. It is dangerous to
play at majesty, unaided by ten thousand armed asserters of our right.
Remember this noble child only as your loving nephew, Perkin Warbeck:
he, who well knows the misery of regal claims unallied to regal
authority, will shelter himself gladly and gratefully under the shadow
of your lowly bower."
And now, as the wintry sun rose higher, the travellers prepared for
their departure. Warbeck first left them to find and to dismiss his
domestics, who would have been aware of the deception practised in the
person of Richard. He returned in a few hours for his sister. The duke
and Lord Lovel then separated. The intervening time had been employed by
the noble in schooling the boy as to his future behaviour, in recounting
to him his plans and hopes, and in instructing him how to conduct
himself with his mother, if indeed he saw her; for Lovel was ignorant
how Lady Brampton had succeeded at Winchester, and how far it would be
possible to bring about an interview between the queen and her son. At
length Warbeck returned; the travellers mounted, and Lord Lovel,
watching from the cottage door, beheld with melancholy regret the prince
depart: the long habit of intercourse, the uncertain future, his high
pretensions, and his present state, had filled the cavalier with moody
thoughts, unlike his usual sanguine anticipations, and energetic
resolves. "This is womanly," at last he thought, as the reflection that
he was alone, and had, perhaps, seen his beloved charge for the last
time, filled his eyes with unwonted tears. "To horse! To my
friends!--There to plan, scheme, devise--and then again to the field!"
Days and weeks passed, replete with doubt and anxiety to the queen and
her enthusiastic friend at Winchester. Each day, many, many times, Lady
Brampton visited the cathedral to observe whether the silver heart was
suspended near the altar, which she had agreed with Lord Lovel should be
the sign of the duke's arrival. The part Elizabeth Woodville had to play
meanwhile was difficult and painful--she lived in constant intercourse
with the countess of Richmond; the wishes and thoughts of all around
were occupied by the hope of an heir to the crown, which the young queen
would soon bestow on England. The birth of a son, it was prognosticated,
would win her husband's affection, and all idea of future disturbance,
of further risings and disloyalty, through the existence of this joint
offspring of the two Roses, would be for ever at an end. While these
hopes and expectations formed, it was supposed, the most flattering and
agreeable subject of congratulation for the dowager queen, she remained
sleepless and watchful, under the anticipation of seeing her fugitive
son, the outcast and discrowned claimant of all that was to become the
birthright of the unborn child.
At length the unwearied cares of Lady Brampton were rewarded; a small
silver heart, bearing the initials of Richard, duke of York, was
suspended near the shrine; and as she turned to look who placed it
there, the soft voice of Madeline uttered the word of recognition agreed
upon; joy filled Lady Brampton's heart, as the brief answers to her
hurried questions assured her of Richard's safety. The same evening she
visited, in disguise, the abode of Warbeck, and embraced, in a transport
of delight, the princely boy, in whose fate she interested herself with
all the fervour of her warm heart. She now learnt the design Lord Lovel
had of placing Richard in safety under Madeline's care in Flanders,
until his friends had prepared for him a triumphant return to England.
She concerted with her new friends the best mode of introducing Richard
into his mother's presence; and it was agreed that, early on the
following morning, Madeline and the duke should seek one of the small
chapels of the cathedral of Winchester, and that Elizabeth should there
meet her son. With an overflowing heart, Lady Brampton returned to
communicate this intelligence to the royal widow, and to pass with her
the intervening hours in oft-renewed conjectures and anticipations
concerning the duke of York.
To modern and Protestant England, a cathedral or a church may appear a
strange place for private assignations and concealed meetings. It was
otherwise in the days of our ancestors, when, through similarity of
religion, our manners bore a greater resemblance than they now do to
those of foreign countries. The churches stood always open, ready to
receive the penitent, who sought the stillness of the holy asylum the
more entirely to concentrate his thoughts in prayer. As rank did not
exempt its possessors from sin nor sorrow, neither did it from acts of
penitence, nor from those visitations of anguish, when the sacred temple
was sought, as bringing the votarist into more immediate communication
with the Deity. The queen dowager excited, therefore, no suspicion,
when, with her rosary formed of the blessed wood of Lebanon encased in
gold in her hand, with Lady Brampton for her sole attendant, she sought
at five in the morning the dark aisle of the cathedral of Winchester,
there to perform her religious duties. Two figures already knelt near
the altar of the chapel designated as the place of meeting; Elizabeth's
breath came thick, her knees bent under her, she leaned against a
buttress, while a fair-haired boy turned at the sound. He first looked
timidly on her, and then, encouraged by the smile that visited her
quivering lips, he sprung forward, and kneeling at her feet, buried his
face in her dress, sobbing, while, bending over him, her own tears fell
on his glossy hair. Lady Brampton and Madeline retired up the aisle,
leaving the mother and child alone.
"Look up, my Richard," cried the unfortunate widow; "look up, son of
King Edward,--my noble, my outcast boy! Thou art much grown--much
altered since I last saw thee. Thou art more like thy blessed father
than thy infancy promised." She parted his curls on his brow, and looked
on him with the very soul of maternal tenderness. "Ah! were I a
cottager," she continued, "though bereft of my husband, I should collect
my young ones round me, and forget sorrow. I should toil for them, and
they would learn to toil for me. How sweet the food my industry procured
for them, how hallowed that winch their maturer strength would bestow on
me! I am the mother of princes. Vain boast! I am childless!"
The queen, lost in thought, scarcely heard the gentle voice of her son
who replied by expressions of endearment, nor felt his caresses; but
collecting her ideas, she called to mind how brief the interview must
be, and how she was losing many precious moments in vain exclamations
and regrets. Recovering that calm majesty which usually characterized
her, she said: "Richard, arise! our minutes are counted, and each must
be freighted with the warning and wisdom of years. Thou art young, my
son! but Lady Brampton tells me that thy understanding is even
premature; thy experience indeed must be small, but I will try to adapt
my admonitions to that experience. Should you fail to understand me, do
not on that account despise my lessons, but treasure them up till thy
increased years reveal their meaning to thee. We may never meet again;
for once separated, ten thousand swords, and twice ten thousand dangers
divide us perhaps for ever. I feel even now that it is given to me to
bless thee for the last time, and I would fain to the last be the cause
of good to thee. I have lived, ah! how long; and suffered, methinks,
beyond human suffering; let the words I now utter live in thy soul for
ever; my soul is in them! Will not my son respect the sacred yearnings
of his mother's heart?"
Touched, penetrated by this exordium, the tearful boy promised attention
and obedience. Elizabeth sat on a low tomb, Richard knelt before her;
one kiss she imprinted on his young brow, while endeavouring to still
the beating of her heart, and to command the trembling of her voice. She
was silent for a few moments. Richard looked up to her with mingled love
and awe; wisdom seemed to beam from her eyes, and the agitation that
quivered on her lips gave solemnity to the tone with which she addressed
her young auditor.
She spoke of his early prospects, his long imprisonment, and late
fortunes. She descanted on the character of Henry Tudor, describing him
as wise and crafty, and to be feared. She dwelt on the character of the
earl of Lincoln and other chiefs of the house of York, and mentioned how
uneasily they bore the downfall of their party. No pains, no artifice,
no risk, she said, would be spared by any one of them to elevate an
offspring of the White Rose, and to annihilate the pretensions and power
of Lancaster. "Still a boy, unmeet for such contest, noble blood will be
shed for you, my son," she continued; "and while you are secluded by
those who love you from danger, many lives will be spent for your sake.
We shall hazard all for you; and all may prove too little for success.
We may fail, and you be thrown upon your own guidance, your unformed
judgment, and childish indiscretion. Alas! what will then be your fate?
Your kinsmen and partizans slain--your mother broken-hearted, it may
be, dead!--spies will on every side environ you, nets will be spread to
ensnare you, daggers sharpened for your destruction. You must oppose
prudence to craft, nor, until your young hand can wield a man's weapon,
dare attempt aught against Henry's power. Never forget that you are a
king's son, yet suffer not unquiet ambition to haunt you. Sleep in
peace, my love, while others wake for you. The time may come when
victory will be granted to our arms. Then we shall meet again, not as
now, like skulking guilt, but in the open sight of day I shall present
my son to his loyal subjects. Now we part, my Richard--again you are
lost to me, save in the recollection of this last farewell."
Her own words fell like a mournful augury on her ear. With a look of
agonized affection she opened her arms, and then enclosed in their
circle the stripling form of her son. She pressed him passionately to
her heart, covering him with her kisses, while the poor boy besought her
not to weep; yet, infected by her sorrow, tears streamed from his eyes,
and his little heart swelled with insupportable emotion. It was at once
a sight of pity and of fear to behold his mother's grief.
Lady Brampton and Madeline now drew near, and this effusion of sorrow
passed away. The queen collected herself, and rising, taking Richard's
hand in hers, with dignity and grace she led him up to the fair Fleming,
saying "A widowed mother commits to your protection her beloved child.
If heaven favour our right, we may soon claim him, to fill the exalted
station to which he is heir. If disaster and death follow our attempts,
be kind to my orphan son, protect him from the treachery of his enemies;
preserve, I beseech you, his young life!"
Madeline replied in a tone that showed how deeply she sympathized in the
queen's sorrows, while she fervently promised never to desert her
charge. "Now depart," said Elizabeth; "leave me, Richard, while I have
yet courage to say adieu!"
Elizabeth stood watching, while the forms of the prince and his
protectress disappeared down the dark aisle. They reached the door; it
swung back on its hinges, and the sound, made as it closed again,
reverberated through the arched cathedral. The unfortunate mother did
not speak; leaning on her friend's arm she quitted the church by another
entrance. They returned to the palace in silence; and when again they
conversed, it was concerning their hopes of the future, the schemes to
be devised; nor did the aching heart of Elizabeth relieve itself in
tears and complaints, till the intelligence, received some weeks
afterwards of the safe arrival of the travellers in France, took the
most bitter sting from her fears, and allowed her again to breathe
freely.
CHAPTER VI
LAMBERT SIMNEL
Such when as Archimago him did view,
He weened well to work some uncouth wile;
Eftsoon untwisting: his deceitful clew,
He 'gan to weave a web of cunning guile.
SPENSER.
The birth of Arthur, prince of Wales, which took place in the month of
September of this same year, served to confirm Henry Tudor on the
throne, and almost to obliterate the memory of a second and resisting
party in the kingdom. That party indeed was overthrown, its chiefs
scattered, its hopes few. Most of the principal Yorkists had taken
refuge in the court of the duchess of Burgundy; the earl of Lincoln only
ventured to remain, preserving the appearance of the greatest privacy,
while his secret hours were entirely occupied by planning a rising in
the kingdom, whose success would establish his cousin Richard duke of
York, the fugitive Perkin Warbeck, on the throne. The chief obstacle
that presented itself was the difficulty of exciting the English to any
act of rebellion against the king, without bringing forward the young
prince as the principal actor on the scene. The confirmed friendship
between the queen and Lady Brampton had produced a greater degree of
intercourse between the former and the earl; but their joint counsels
had yet failed to originate a plan of action; when chance, or rather the
unforeseen results of former events, determined their course of action,
and brought to a crisis sooner than they expected the wavering purposes
of each.
Richard Simon had quitted Winchester to fulfil his duties as priest in
the town of Oxford. No man was better fitted than Simon to act a
prominent part in a state-plot. He was brave; but the priestly garb
having wrested the sword from his hand, circumstances had converted that
active courage, which might have signalized him in the field, to a
spirit of restless intrigue; to boldness in encountering difficulties,
and address in surmounting them. To form plans, to concoct the various
parts of a scheme, wedging one into the other; to raise a whirlwind
around him, and to know, or to fancy that he knew, the direction the
ravager would take, and what would be destroyed and what saved in its
course, had been from youth the atmosphere in which he lived. Now absent
from the queen, he was yet on the alert to further her views, and he
looked forward to the exaltation of her son to the throne as the
foundation-stone of his own fortunes. In what way could this be brought
about? After infinite deliberation with himself, Simon conceived the
idea of bringing forward an impostor, who, taking the name of Richard of
York, whose survival, though unattested, was a current belief in the
kingdom, might rouse England in his cause. If unsuccessful, the safety
of the rightful prince was not endangered; if triumphant, this
counterfeit would doff his mark at once, and the real York come forward
in his place.
In the true spirit of intrigue, in which Simon was an adept, he resolved
to mature his plans and commence his operations before he communicated
them to any. He looked round for a likely actor for his new part, and
chance brought him in contact with Lambert Simnel, a baker's son at
Oxford. There was something in his fair complexion and regular soft
features that was akin to York; his figure was slight, his untaught
manners replete with innate grace; he was clever; and his beauty having
made him a sort of favourite, he had grown indolent and assuming. His
father died about this time, and he was left a penniless orphan. Simon
came forward to protect him, and cautiously to point out the road to
fortune without labour. The youth proved an apt scholar. To hear speak
of princes, crowns, and kingdoms as objects in which he was to have an
interest and a share, dazzled his young eyes. He learnt speedily every
lesson the priest taught him, and adopted so readily the new language
inculcated, that Simon became more and more enamoured of his scheme, and
sanguine as to its results. The next care of Simon was to confirm, in
the partizans of the House of York, the suspicion they already
entertained of the existence of its noblest scion; he despatched
anonymous letters to the chief nobles, and it became whispered through
the country, though none knew the origin of the tale, that the surviving
son of Edward the Fourth was about to appear to claim the crown. The
peaceful sighed to think that the White and Red Roses would again be
watered by the best blood of England. The warlike and ambitious, the
partizans of York, who had languished in obscurity, walked more erect;
they regarded their disused armour with complacency, for war and tumult
was then the favourite pastime of high-born men.
It was at this period that, through the intervention of Lady Brampton,
Sir Thomas Broughton, a most zealous Yorkist and chief friend of Lord
Lovel, was introduced to the dowager queen's presence, then residing in
London. He came full of important intelligence. He had been roused from
his usual repose by one of Simon's anonymous letters, which hinted at
the existence of the duke of York, and counselled a drawing together of
such forces as would be willing to support him; Lord Lovel was with him,
and at the name of Richard at once prepared for action. He was busied in
raising adherents in the south, sending Sir Thomas to London, that he
might there receive the commands of the prince's mother. Scarcely had he
entered the metropolis, when in one of its narrowest alleys he was
accosted by Richard Simon, who had earnestly besought him to obtain an
audience for Simon himself from the queen; acknowledging that he was the
author of the reports and commotions, and that he had important secrets
to disclose.
All this inspired the queen with the deepest disquietude. She readily
arranged with Sir Thomas the desired interview, which, at Simon's
request, was to take place that very night, and agreed that he should
enter the palace by a private door. Lady Brampton giving him admittance.
Broughton departed; and Elizabeth, disturbed and agitated, counted the
hours impatiently which must intervene before the riddle was explained.
Even this interval was full of wonder. A report was circulated, which
soon reached the palace, that the earl of Warwick, in endeavouring to
escape from the Tower in a boat, had fallen into the river, and was
drowned before assistance could be afforded. Such was the current tale;
but many suspected that the king was privy to a more guilty termination
of his unhappy prisoner, of whose death none entertained a doubt. This
circumstance added to the queen's impatience--life was bound up in the
event of the next few hours.
The time arrived--all was quiet in the palace (the queen inhabited
Tower Royal); and the royal dowager and her friend prepared for their
visitor. At the signal given, the door was opened; but Simon came not
alone; the earl of Lincoln, Lord Lovel, Sir Thomas Broughton, and an
unknown youth--it was Edmund Plantagenet--entered. The tale of the
imposture of Lambert Simnel was disclosed, and with it a change of plan,
the result of the death of Warwick. Simnel's age and appearance accorded
better with this prince than with his younger cousin. It were easy to
spread abroad that the report of his death was a fiction contrived by
the king; that he had escaped, in fact, and was in arms. If a more
sinister fate had befallen him, guilt would impose silence on his
murderer; if the attempt failed, no evil would occur; if successful, he
would give instant place to the superior claims of the duke of York.
Lincoln unfolded these schemes with sagacity and deliberation, and the
queen eagerly adopted his ideas as he disclosed them. It was also the
earl's suggestion that Simnel should first appear in Ireland. The duke
of Clarence had been lieutenant there, and was much beloved throughout
the island. Through neglect and forgetfulness all the counsellors and
officers appointed by Clarence had been unremoved by the new government,
and might easily be induced to favour his persecuted son. The duchess of
Burgundy was also to be applied to; and counsel was held as to who
should be informed of the truth--who deceived in this hazardous
attempt. Night wore away, while still the conspirators were in
deliberation; they separated at last, each full of hope--each teeming
with gallant resolution. Henceforth the false smile or ill-concealed
frown of their enemy was indifferent to them; their good swords were
their sure allies; the very victory gained by Henry at Bosworth raised
their expectations; one other battle might give them again all that then
they lost.
CHAPTER VII
THE BATTLE OF NEWARK
Within these ten days take a monastery;
A most strict house; a house where none may whisper,
Where no more light is known but what may make you
Believe there is a day; where no hope dwells,
Nor comfort but in tears.
BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
With the consciousness of this plot weighing on her mind, Elizabeth
Woodville continued her usual routine of life, and made a part of the
court of Henry the Seventh. She had long been accustomed to pass from
one evil to the other, and to find that when one cause for unhappiness
died away, it gave instant place to another. She felt, with all the
poignancy of a mother's disappointed pride, the situation of her
daughter. Neglect was the lightest term that could be applied to the
systematized and cold-hearted tyranny of Henry towards his wife. For not
only he treated her like an unfavoured child, whose duty it was to obey
without a murmur, and to endeavour to please, though sure of being
repulsed. At the same time that he refused to raise her above this state
of degradation, he reproached her with the faults of maturity, and
stung her womanly feelings with studied barbarity. He taunted her with
her attachment, to her family and its partizans; spoke with triumph of
its overthrow; and detailed with malignant pleasure every severe
enactment passed by himself against the vanquished Yorkists. Then,
again, he accused her of participating in her parent's intrigues; and
though proud of the son she had given him, as the heir of his crown, he
divided, as much as possible, the infant from the mother, under the
avowed though ridiculous pretence of preventing her from inculcating
principles of rebellion towards his liege and father.
This last blow sunk deep. She had hitherto borne his harshness meekly,
sustained by the hope of overcoming his flinty nature by softness and
yielding. She had anticipated that the fresh enmity conceived against
her on the event of Lord Lovel's rebellion would be entirely allayed by
her pretty Arthur, whose birth was solemnized by many rejoicings. But
when she found this last hope fail, every expectation of good died away
with it. Among other acts of duty, she had for a long time pursued a
system of self-denial, deeming it a breach of duty to complain of her
husband, even to her mother. But this mother, acquainted with the
secrets of the human heart, and desirous of detaching her entirely from
her husband, exerted all the influence that one experienced and firm can
exercise over the young and vacillating: she brought her to lament her
situation, and to complain of each fresh token of the king's disregard.
The barrier of self-restraint once broken through, the sympathy and
remonstrances of her parent emboldened her to such a change of conduct
towards Henry, as at first excited his surprise, then his contempt. The
many rumours afloat concerning the existence of the duke of York served
also to rouse his angry mood. If at first he appeared somewhat
complaisant towards his mother-in-law, it was from an endeavour to put
her off her guard, and to attract or surprise her confidence on the
point which lay nearest his heart; but when he found that his attacks
were vain, his undisguised arrogance and her ill-concealed resentment
produced scenes, disgraceful in themselves, and agonizing to the wife
and daughter who was their witness.
At this moment, when suspicion was abroad--the Lancastrians fearful,
the Yorkists erect with renewed hopes--like the bursting of a
thunderstorm came the intelligence of the appearance of the earl of
Warwick in Dublin, his enthusiastic reception there, the rising of the
people in his favour, and the menaces held out by him of his intention
to wrench the sceptre of England from the hand of him who held it.
Henry alone heard these momentous tidings with contempt. The earl of
Kildare, lord-lieutenant of the kingdom, had received the pretender with
princely honours; yet the very circumstance of a false son of Clarence
being supported by the Yorkists was the occasion of satisfaction to him;
his only fear arose from the probable mystery covered by these designs.
He was angry at the disloyalty manifested; but it was in a distant
province, and so came not home to him. There appeared no falling off, no
disturbance among his English subjects. Still caution and policy were
the weapons he best loved to wield; and he despatched several spies to
Ireland, to endeavour to fathom the extent and nature of the rebellion.
The chief among them was his own secretary, Frion, a Frenchman--a
crafty and experienced implement. He succeeded in bringing back
irrefragable proof that the dowager queen mingled deeply in the plot.
Henry hated Elizabeth Woodville. He considered that it was principally
through her restless scheming that he had been forced to marry the
portionless (her detested claim to his crown her only dower) daughter of
York, instead of forming an union with a foreign princess; perhaps Mary
of Burgundy, or Anne of Britanny, either of whom would have brought gold
to his coffers, or extensive domains to his empire. He hated her,
because he deeply suspected that she was privy to the existence of a
formidable rival to his state. He knew that the young duke of York had
not died in the Tower. In every way she was his enemy; besides that
linked to her ruin was the sweet idea of confiscation, one ever
entertained with delight by the money-loving king.
He assembled a council in his palace at Shene, which stood near where
Richmond now stands. The chiefs of the English nobility were his
counsellors. The duke of Buckingham, son of him who first favoured, and
then rose against Richard the Third. The lords Dawbeny and Broke, who
had been raised to the peerage for their services in the same cause.
Lord and Sir William Stanley, men to whom Henry principally owed his
crown. Others there were of high rank and note; but the king paid most
attention to two priests: John Morton, bishop of Ely, and Richard Fox,
bishop of Exeter, were his private advisors and friends, as well as
public counsellors. Morton had watched over his interests while in
exile; he first had excited the duke of Buckingham to revolt, and
hatched the plot which placed Richmond on the throne.
The council held was long and solemn, and the results brought about more
by insinuation than open argument, were different from those expected by
most of the persons present. First it was resolved that a general pardon
should be proclaimed to the insurgents. No exceptions were to be made;
those persons then in the very act of setting up his adversary were
included; for as, by the second decree, that the real earl of Warwick
should be shown publicly in London, the deception would become manifest;
if indeed they were deceived, it was thought more politic to reclaim
them by clemency, than by severe measures to drive them to despair.
The third and last enactment was levelled against the queen dowager.
Many of the council were astonished to hear it proposed, that she should
forfeit all her goods and lands, and be confined for life in a convent,
for having consented to the marriage of her daughter and Richard the
Third, while the ready acquiescence of the king and his chief advisers
made them perceive that this measure was no new resolve. These three
decrees passed, the council separated, and Henry returned to
Westminster, accompanied by Sir William Stanley. To him he spoke openly
of the treason of the queen: he even ventured to say, that he was sure
that some mystery lurked beneath; he commissioned Stanley, therefore, to
notify the order of council to her majesty; but at the same time to show
her, that disclosure, and reliance on the king, would obtain her pardon.
Sir William Stanley was a courtier in the best sense of the term; a man
of gentle manners; desirous of doing right, easily excited to
compassion, but ambitious and timid; one in truth than whom none could
be more dangerous; for his desire to please those immediately before
him, led him to assume every appearance of sincerity, and perpetually to
sacrifice the absent to the present.
Elizabeth heard, with utter dismay, the sentence passed against
her;--courage was restored only when she found that her freedom could
be purchased by the confession of her son's existence, and place of
abode. She repelled Stanley's solicitations with disdain; answered his
entreaties with an appeal to his own feelings, of how far, if such a
secret existed, it were possible that she, a mother, should intrust it
to the false and cruel king. Stanley speedily found his whole battery of
persuasion exhausted; he withdrew in some wonder as to what the real
state of things might be, and full of the deepest compassion. She had
indeed scarcely veiled the truth to him; for, calling to mind the fate
of the wretched Margaret of Anjou, she asked him, whether, like her, she
should expose the young orphan York to the fate of the Lancastrian
Prince Edward. But Stanley shrunk from being privy to such disclosures,
and hastily withdrew.
Henry had not exhausted all his hopes: glad as he was to wreak his
vengeance on the queen, and to secure her possessions to himself, he was
not so blind as not to see that the knowledge of her secret were a far
greater prize. His next implement was her eldest son, the marquess of
Dorset. Lord Dorset had been so active in his opposition to Richard the
Third, and had done such good service to his adversary, that Henry
overlooked his near kindred to the queen dowager, regarding him rather
as the representative of his father. Sir John Gray, who had fallen in
the cause of Lancaster. He became indeed a sort of favourite with the
king. Dorset was proud, self-sufficient, and extravagant, but his
manners were fascinating, his spirit buoyant, and Henry, who was
accustomed to find the storms of party lowering like winter over his
domestic circle, found relief only when Dorset was present. The present
occasion, however, called forth other feelings in the haughty noble; he
might be angry with his mother's plotting, but he was more indignant at
the severity exercised against her; and far from furthering Henry's
designs, he applauded her resistance, and so irritated the king, that it
ended by his sudden arrest, and being committed to the Tower.
And now all hope was at an end for the unhappy lady. The various acts of
her tragic history were to close in the obscurity and poverty of a
convent-prison. Fearful that her despair would lead her to some deed
that might at least disturb the quiet and order he loved, Henry had
resolved that no delay should have place, but that on the very morrow
she should be conveyed to Bermondsey. She was to be torn from her
family--her five young daughters, with whom she resided. The heartless
tyrant was callous to every pang that he inflicted, or rejoiced that he
had the power to wound so deeply one whom he abhorred. Lady Brampton was
with her to the last; not to sustain and comfort her; the queen's
courage and firmness was far greater than that of her angry friend; she
pointed out the hope, that the cruelties exercised towards her might
animate the partisans of York to greater ardour; and tears forced
themselves into her eyes only when she pictured Richard, her victorious
sovereign and son, hastening to unbar her prison doors to restore her to
liberty and rank. The night was spent in such discourses between the
ladies. With early dawn came the fated hour, the guard, the necessity
for instant departure. She disdained to show regret before Henry's
emissaries; and with one word only to her friend--"I commit him to your
guidance," she yielded to her fate; submitting to be torn from all she
loved, and, without an expressed murmur, entered the litter that bore
her singly to her living grave.
The same sun that rose upon the melancholy progress of Elizabeth
Woodville towards Bermondsey, shone on a procession, more gaudy in
appearance, yet, if that were possible, more sad at heart. This was the
visit, ordered by the king, of the earl of Warwick to St. Paul's
Cathedral; thus to contradict to the eyes of all men the pretender in
Ireland. Warwick had spent a year in the Tower, in almost solitary
imprisonment. Hopeless of freedom, worn in health, dejected from the
overthrow of all the wild schemes he had nourished at Sheriff Hutton,
linked with the love he bore his cousin, the Lady Elizabeth, now queen
of England, he could hardly be recognized as the same youth who had been
her companion during her residence there. He was pale; he had been
wholly neglectful of his person; carking sorrow had traced lines on his
young brow. At first he had contemplated resisting the order of being
led out as a show to further his enemies' cause: one futile and vague
hope, which could only have sprung up in a lover's heart, made him
concede this point. Perhaps the court--the queen would be there.
He met several noble friends, commanded by Henry to attend him; for it
was the king's policy to surround him with Yorkists, so to prove that he
was no counterfeit. Alas!
"These cloudy princes, and heart-sorrowing peers,"
assembled like shadows in the dim abyss, mourning the splendour of the
day for ever set. They entered the cathedral, which stood a heavy Gothic
pile, on a grassy mound, removed from all minor edifices. There was a
vast assemblage of ladies and knights; all looked compassionately on
this son of poor murdered Clarence, the luckless flower, brought to
bloom for an hour, and then to be cast into perpetual darkness. The
solemn religious rites, the pealing organ, the grandeur of the church,
and chequered painted light thrown from the windows, for a moment filled
with almost childish delight the earl's young heart; that this scene,
adapted to his rank, should be so single and so transient, filled his
soul with bitterness. Once or twice he thought to appeal to his noble
friends, to call on them to resist the tyrant--Elizabeth's husband. His
heart chilled at the idea; his natural timidity resumed its sway, and he
was led back to the prison-fortress, despairing, but unresisting.
Yet, at this hour, events were in progress which filled many hearts with
hope of such change as he would gladly hail. On the news of the queen's
arrest. Lord Lincoln had departed with all speed to Flanders, to his
aunt, the duchess of Burgundy, to solicit her aid to attack and overcome
the enemy of their vanquished family. The Lady Margaret, sister of
Edward the Fourth of England, and wife of Charles the Rash of Burgundy,
was a woman distinguished by her wisdom and her goodness. When Charles
fell before Nancy, and his more than princely domains descended into the
hands of his only child, a daughter--and the false Louis the Eleventh
of France, on one hand, and the turbulent Flemings on the other,
coalesced to rend in pieces, and to prey upon, the orphan's
inheritance--her mother-in-law, the Lady Margaret, was her sage and
intrepid counsellor; and when this young lady died, leaving two infant
children as co-heirs, the dowager duchess entirely loved, and tenderly
brought them up, attending to their affairs with maternal solicitude,
and governing the countries subject to them with wisdom and justice.
This lady was warmly attached to her family: to her the earl of Lincoln
and Lord Lovel resorted, revealing the state of things--how her nephew,
young Richard, was concealed in poor disguise in French Flanders, and
how they had consented to Richard Simon's plots, and hoped that their
result would be to restore her brother's son to the throne of their
native land.
The duchess of Burgundy possessed a proud and high spirit. The abasement
in which her niece, the Lady Elizabeth, was held by the earl of
Richmond; she, the real giver of his crown, not having herself been
crowned; the rigour exercised towards the Yorkist chiefs, many of whom
had been her defenders and friends in time of flight and defeat; the
calumnies heaped on the various members of her royal house; made a
prospect of displanting Henry, and of revenge, grateful to her. She
acceded to the earl's request, gave him an aid of two thousand Germans,
led by Martin Swartz, a man of family and note in Germany, providing
them with vessels to take them to Ireland, and blessing their expedition
with her best and earnest wishes.
On their arrival in Dublin, a gay and brilliant scene was acted, which
raised the enthusiasm of the Irish, and spread a glory round the
impostor they supported. The exhibition of the real earl of Warwick had
produced no effect in Ireland; Thomas Geraldine, earl of Kildare,
asserted that Henry had brought forward a counterfeit, and Lambert
Simnel lost no credit among them. He was proclaimed king of England; he
was crowned by the bishop of Meath with a diadem taken from an image of
the Blessed Virgin; a parliament was convoked in his name, and every
measure taken to insure his power in Ireland, and to gather together
forces wherewith to invade the sister island.
The English lords felt far more anxiety than their allies in the result
of this insurrection. Although it had been disregarded by the Irish, the
effect produced in England by the visit of Warwick to St. Paul's was
such as Henry had anticipated, and the counterfeit in Ireland found few
supporters among the Yorkists. Still it was necessary to end as they had
begun: to acknowledge the imposture, so to bring forward the young son
of Edward, would have been to all appearance too barefaced a cheat.
Lovel, as a gallant soldier, was ready to spend his blood in any
enterprise that promised to advance the White Rose; but he, as well as
the earl of Lincoln, mingling sad memories of the past with careful
forethought, looked forward to the result of Richard Simon's contrivance
with well-founded dread. Still they entertained no thought of retreat,
but mustered their forces, and counselled with their associates for the
furtherance of the cause. On the 4th of June, Lambert Simnel, under the
name of Edward the Sixth, with his, so called, cousin De la Poole, Lord
Lovel, and their constant attendant young Edmund Plantagenet, the Lords
Thomas and Maurice Geraldine, with their force of savage scarce-armed
Irish, and Martin Swartz, with his German auxiliaries, landed at the
pile of Foudray, in Lancashire, where they were soon after joined by Sir
Thomas Broughton, who brought some few English to fight and die for this
unhappy conspiracy.
Henry was prepared for their arrival: to gain grace in his subjects'
eyes, he first made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Walsingham, and then,
proceeding to the midland counties, held council to know whether it were
best to encounter his foes out of hand, or to let them drag on; so to
weary them by delay. A number of nobles and their followers joined the
king, and it was agreed among them to press forward, before the enemy
should gather force in England. Henry had a further view in this: he
could not tell how far the secret of their plot, which he felt assured
was the design to advance the young son of Edward, was divulged among
the Yorkists, and how far believed; as yet the enterprise bore no ill
guise for him, having at its head a manifest impostor; so he hastened
onward to crush it utterly, before it assumed a more fearful
form. The earl of Lincoln, eager to try the fortune of battle,
advanced also on his side, and the rival armies drew nigh each other at
Newark-upon-Trent. The king pitched his tents three miles beyond the
town; and on the same night the earl encamped at Stoke, but a few miles
distant. And now, after a reign of two years, as he had forced King
Richard to fight for his crown against him, an adventurer and an invader
in his realm, did Henry Tudor find himself in his adversary's position,
about to risk life and kingdom on one cast of the die against troops as
ill-assorted but as desperate and brave as his had been. Henry felt in
his heart's core the thrilling pang, which a conviction that all is in
the hands of fortune must ever impart to a human being who is her slave.
He felt that his crown was but an usurpation, that his anointed and
sacred head claimed no reverence from these enemies; he was degraded in
his own eyes from being a sceptred king upheld by the laws, to a wild
adventurer, his good sword his right; a fierce but disciplined anger
filled his heart; his brows were bent, his voice was attuned to
harshness, his thoughts were conversant with overthrow and death. The
hour was come; he was impatient for its passing, and he led forth his
troops, all well-appointed English soldiery, in such hope as the sight
of a noble army might well inspire, in such dread as was the natural
offspring of the many chances and changes that had occurred to the
sovereigns of England during the late struggles.
The earl of Lincoln cherished still mightier fears; yet there was more
of calm and dignity in his meditations than in the impatient misgivings
of Henry. His heart sickened at the idea of battle and bloodshed: he
felt himself responsible for the lives of all: and, while this nerved
his heart to courage, it took rest from his eyes, and planted sorrow
deep in his manly breast. The morrow! oh, the morrow! hours full of
fate! whose looks forward and sees in the morrow the crown or ruin of
the hopes of many, may well pray the swift-pacing hours to lag, and
night to remain for ever as a spell to stop the birth of time.
But the morrow came; a day of slaughter and captivity for the Yorkist
party. The battle was hard fought; the German auxiliaries were veteran
soldiers, who spared neither blows nor blood; their leader, Martin
Swartz, for valour, for strength, and for agility of body, was inferior
to none among the warlike captains of those times. The Irish, though
half-naked and ill-armed, fought with desperate bravery. In vain; the
valour of Henry's soldiers was equal, their discipline and numbers
superior. First the noble Lincoln fell, and his comrades were
slaughtered around him, avenging his death. The Lords Geraldine, Swartz,
and Sir Thomas Broughton, were found among the slain; Lord Lovel was
never heard of more; the young Edmund Plantagenet, struck in the side by
a dart, lay for dead upon the ground. Richard Simon and his
false-seeming pupil were among the prisoners.
Such was the event of the last attempt of the Yorkists to raise the
bruised White Rose to its old supremacy. All of high rank and power that
owned this symbol were gone; Lincoln, the best column of its fortunes,
was destroyed; nothing remained, save the orphan prince, the royal
exile, a boy of thirteen years of age, brought up as the child of a
Flemish money-lender. To hide himself in safe obscurity was his only
wisdom, till time should give strength to his arm, sagacity to his
plans, and power to his acts; happy if he could find any concealment
sufficiently obscure, to baffle the discernment of Henry, and to save
him from the arts of those whom he would employ to discover and seize on
him.
Henry again felt himself secure on his throne: he deeply lamented the
death of Lincoln, as he had hoped to learn from him the secret of the
conspiracy. He found in Lambert Simnel the mere tool of others, and in
contempt made him a scullion in his kitchen, so to throw derision on the
attempt which had been made to exalt him. He dealt otherwise with
Richard Simon. In the secrecy of his prison, every art was practised to
induce him to make a full confession. Simon played a dastardly and a
double part, half revealing, half disguising the truth. Henry became
assured that his rival, the duke of York, survived, and he was led in
some sort to guess at the place of his abode. He had promised liberty to
Simon when the young prince should be in his hands; meanwhile he was
imprisoned in the monastery in which he was fated to close his
existence.
CHAPTER VIII
THE DISCOVERY
Our king he kept a false stewarde,
Sir Aldingar they him call;
A falser stewarde than he was one,
Served not in bower nor hall.
OLD BALLAD.
Whoever writes concerning the actions of the men of the olden time, must
sadden the reader by details of war, descriptions of fields of battle,
narrations of torture, imprisonment, and death. But here also we find
records of high virtues and exalted deeds. It is at first sight strange
that men whose trade was murder, who habitually wore offensive weapons,
whose chief happiness was derived from the glory they acquired by
inflicting misery on others, should be among those who live in our
memories as examples of what is most graceful and excellent in human
nature. Too great security destroys the spirit of manhood, while the
habit of hazardous enterprise strengthens and exalts it. It was not
because they destroyed others, that the warriors of old were famous for
honour, courage, and fidelity; but because, from some motive springing
from the unselfish part of our nature, they exposed themselves to danger
and to death.
It was at times such as these that friendship formed the chief solace of
man's life. The thought of his lady-love supported the knight during his
wanderings, and rewarded him on his return; but the society of his
brothers in arms shortened the weary hours, and made peril pleasure.
Death, the severer of hearts and destroyer of hope, is, in its actual
visitation, the great evil of life--the ineffaceable blot, the
tarnisher of the imagination's brightest hues; but if he never came, but
only hovered, the anticipation of his advent might be looked upon as the
refiner of our nature. To go out under the shadow of his dark banner,
hand in hand, to encounter a thousand times his grim likeness; to travel
on through unknown ways, during starless nights, through forests beset
with enemies, over mountains, whose defiles hid him but to assure his
aim; to meet him arrayed in his full panoply on the field of battle; to
separate in danger; to meet on the verge of annihilation; and still,
through every change, to reap joy, because every peril was mutual, every
emotion shared, was a school for heroic friendship that does not now
exist. In those times, also, man was closer linked with nature than now;
and the sublimity of her creations exalted his imagination, and elevated
his enthusiasm--dark woods, wild mountains, and the ocean's vast
expanse, form a stage on which, when we act our parts, we feel that
mightier natures than our own witness the scenes we present, and our
hearts are subdued by awe to resignation.
Edmund Plantagenet, the forest-bred son of Richard the Third, the late
companion of the illustrious Lincoln and gallant Lovel, lay long
insensible on the field of battle, surrounded by the dead--he awoke
from his swoon to the consciousness that they lay strewed around him
dead, whom he had worshipped as heroes, loved as friends. Life became a
thankless boon; willingly would he have closed his eyes, and bid his
soul also go on her journey to the unknown land, to which almost all
those to whom he had been linked during his past existence had preceded
him. He was rescued by a charitable friar from this sad state--his
wound was dressed--life, and with it liberty, restored to him. After
some reflection, the first use he resolved to make of these gifts was to
visit the young duke of York at Tournay.
Edmund's mind, without being enterprising, was full of latent energy,
and contemplative enthusiasm. The love of virtue reigned paramount in
it; nor could he conceive happiness unallied to some pursuit, whose
origin was duty, whose aim was the good of others. His father, his
ambition and his downfall, were perpetual subjects for reflection; to
atone for the first and redeem the last, in the person of his nephew,
became, in his idea, the only fitting end of his life. Fostering this
sentiment, he speedily formed the determination of attaching himself to
the exiled duke of York: first, to devote himself to the preserving and
educating him during childhood--and secondly, to fight and die for him,
when the time was ripe to assert his rights.
During his hazardous journey to Flanders, Edmund was supported by that
glowing sensation which borrows the hues and sometimes the name of
happiness; it was an ecstatic mood that soared above the meaner cares of
life, and exalted him by the grandeur of his own ideas. Self-devotion
is, while it can keep true to itself, the best source of human
enjoyment: there is small alloy when we wholly banish our own wretched
clinging individuality, in our entire sacrifice at the worshipped
shrine. Edmund became aware of the value of his own life, as he planned
how in future he should be the guardian and protector of his unfriended,
peril-encircled orphan cousin. A religious sentiment of filial love also
influenced him; for thus he could in some sort repair the wrongs
committed by his father. There was much in Edmund's temperament that
might have rendered him a mere dreamer. The baser ends of common men
possessed no attractions for him; but a lofty purpose developed the best
points of his character.
It was early dawn, when, a month after the battle of Stoke, Plantagenet,
in pursuance of his design, arrived at the cottage of Madeline de Faro,
where, under the lowly name of Perkin Warbeck, dwelt the noble scion of
the house of York. It was a lovely spot--trees embowered the cot, roses
bloomed in the garden, and jessamine and woodbine were twined round the
porch. The morning breeze and rising sun filled the atmosphere with
sweets. Already the cottagers were enjoying its fragrance, and Edmund,
as he alighted, beheld the object of his journey--the fair-haired
stripling prince and his protectress Madeline. Edmund was
one-and-twenty, but his brow was more bent, his eye more thoughtful, his
cheek more pale and sunk than befitted his age; it was only when he
smiled that frankness displayed solemnity, and those who conversed with
him were ever eager to call forth those smiles, which, like sunbeams
that chase the shadows on a green hill-side, made darkness light.
Confidence readily springs up between the open-hearted and good; and
Edmund and the inhabitants of the cottage found no impediment to entire
reliance on each other. Madeline was overjoyed that her young charge
should find manly guardianship in his cousin, and mentioned how often
her fears had been awakened on his account, and how suspicions had got
abroad concerning him among the citizens of Tournay.
Madeline, the sister of the Fleming, John Warbeck, was married to a
Spaniard in the service of Portugal. In those days, just previous to the
discovery of America by Columbus, while that illustrious man was
offering his unesteemed services at Lisbon, the Portuguese were full of
the spirit of enterprise and maritime adventure. Each year new vessels
were sent southward along the unexplored shores of Africa, to discover
beyond the torrid zone a route to India. Hernan de Faro was a
mariner--it was during one of his voyages to Holland that he had seen
and married Madeline, and he left her in her native country, while he
pursued his fortunes down the Golden Coast as far as the Cape of Good
Hope. He had been absent longer than she had anticipated, and each day
might bring the wanderer back, when he purposed taking her with him to
his native Spain. What, then, must become of Richard? Plantagenet saw at
once the necessity of visiting the court of Burgundy, and of placing her
nephew at the disposition of the Duchess Margaret.
The young prince was now fourteen--he had shot up in height beyond his
years, beautiful in his boyhood, and of greater promise for the future.
His clear blue laughing eyes--his clustering auburn hair--his cheeks,
whose rosy hue contrasted with the milk-white of his brow--his tall and
slender but agile person, would have introduced him to notice among a
crowd of strangers.
His very youthful voice was attuned to sweetness. If Edmund found the
Lady Margaret lukewarm, he need only lead the noble boy into her
presence to interest her in his favour. Richard heard with tearful eyes
of the imprisonment of his mother, and the slaughter of his kinsmen and
friends. His heart for the moment desired vengeance; he would himself
seek his aunt of Burgundy, and aided by her, attack the usurper. With
difficulty he permitted his cousin to depart alone; but he was obliged
to yield, and Plantagenet set out for Brussels, promising a speedy
return.
About a week after Edmund's departure, another visitor arrived at the
cottage of the exile. A violent storm had overtaken Duke Richard and his
constant companion, Madeline's daughter, in one of their wanderings in
the fields near Tournay. As they stood for shelter under a half-ruined
building, a traveller came to share the asylum. He was a Frenchman--a
Provenal by his accent; for he immediately entered into conversation
with them. As he is a man spoken of in the Chronicles, he shall receive
his name at once; this apparently chance-traveller was Frion, Stephen
Frion, King Henry's secretary. He had been employed to search out the
young prince by such tokens as Richard Simon had given, and chance had
caused him to fall in with Edmund, whom he had before remarked in
attendance on the earl of Lincoln. Easily guessing that Edmund's journey
might have connection with his own, he tracked him to Tournay, and then
by some untoward chance lost sight of him. The indefatigable spy had
spent the last week in a particular survey of every spot round the town
and in the neighbouring cities, to discover his lost clue. Overtaken by
a storm on his return from Lisle, he suddenly found himself under a shed
with a youth whose appearance at once excited his strongest curiosity.
What Frion loved beyond all other things was power and craft. He had
been a subject of the poetical King Ren of Provence; but, despatched
on some occasion to Louis the Eleventh, he entered into the service of
that monarch, whose subtlety and faithlessness were a school of wisdom
to this man. On one subject did he love to dwell--the contrast between
Charles of Burgundy and Louis of France; the first commencing his reign
by combating and vanquishing the latter, and dying miserably at last by
a traitor's hand, his armies cut to pieces, his domains the unresisting
prey of his rival; while Louis, by serpent ways, by words--not
deeds--gained every point, won every follower, and established his rule
at last over the greater part of the wide territories of the fallen
duke. In a minor way Frion aimed at imitating Louis; but he was
naturally more fiery and rash. He had visited Italy also, and studied
there the wiles and cruelties of the Italian lords; crossing back to
Marseilles, he had been seized by corsairs and carried to Africa:--here
he put in practice some of his lessons, and contrived to make himself a
favourite with his Mahometan master, who afterwards crossed to Spain to
serve under the Moorish king of Granada. Frion was quickly distinguished
for his sagacity in the divided counsels of this distracted kingdom, and
became the trusty adviser of him called Boabdil el Chico. When this
unfortunate sovereign was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, Frion was a
chief mediator between them and the Sultana Ayza. At the court of
Ferdinand and Isabella he met several Frenchmen, who awakened in his
heart a keen desire to revisit his native country. He took advantage of
an embassy thither from the court of Spain, to fulfil his wishes, but
arrived at Plessis only in time to witness Louis' death. Two years
afterwards he was found in the train of the earl of Richmond--the
future secretary, spy, and favourite of Henry the Seventh--now
travelling by his order to find, seize, or destroy, the last blossom of
the uprooted White Rose.
Frion was rather handsome in appearance, with bright black eyes and dark
hair, a complexion embrowned by the sun, a look of gaiety--unless when
controlled by the will of a superior, he was always laughing--a quiet
kind of sarcastic laugh; he looked not the man Csar would have feared,
except that his person was rather inclined to leanness; but he was
active and well versed in martial exercises, though better in clerkly
accomplishments. His early youth had been chiefly employed in copying
poetry for King Ren--he wrote beautifully, and his small white hands
were the objects of his own very great admiration. Such was his outward
look; he had stores of science and knowledge within, which he seldom
displayed, or, when necessary, let appear with all the modesty of one
who deemed such acquirements were of little worth--useful sometimes,
but fitter for a servitor than his lord. No words could describe his
wiliness, his power of being all things to all men, his flattery, his
knowledge of human nature, his unparalleled artifice, which, if it could
be described, would not have been the perfect thing it was: it was not
silken, it was not glossy, but it wound its way unerringly. Could it
fail--the rage and vengeance to follow were as certain as dire, for,
next to love of power, vanity ruled this man; all he did was right and
good, other pursuits contemptible and useless.
Such was the serpent-spirited man who contrived to partake Richard's
shelter; he eyed him keenly, he addressed him, and the prince replied to
his questions about an asylum for the night, by a courteous invitation
to his home. "The boy speaks not like a cotter: his eye beams with
nobleness. What a freak of nature, to make one in appearance a king's
son, the plodding offspring of a rude Fleming!" As these thoughts passed
through Frion's mind, the truth came not across him; and he even
hesitated for a moment whether he should not, now the storm had passed,
pursue his way: but his garments were wet, the ways miry, night at hand.
At a second thought he accepted the invitation, and leading his horse,
he accompanied the youthful pair to their cottage home.
Madeline, unsuspicious of one obviously a Frenchman, received him
without fear, and after a fire had dried the visitor's dress, they sat
down to a frugal supper. Frion, according to his usual manner, strove to
please his hosts. His gay discourse, the laughable, yet interesting
accounts he gave of various adventures that had befallen him, made all
three--the fair Madeline the ardent princely boy, and the dark-eyed
daughter of de Faro--sit in chained attention. When he heard that
Madeline was united to a Spaniard, he spoke of Spain, of Granada and the
Moorish wars; Richard's eyes flashed, and the dark orbs of the girl
dilated with wonder and delight.
At length he spoke of England, and his words implied that he had lately
come thence. "How fares the poor island?" asked the youth; "such stories
of its tyrant reach us here, that methinks its fields must be barren,
its people few."
"Had you been my comrade, young master, through merry Kent," said Frion,
"you would speak in another strain. Plenty and comfort, thanks to King
Harry and the Red Rose, flourish there. The earth is rich in corn, the
green fields peopled with fat kine, such as delight yon islanders. 'Give
an Englishman beef and mustard,' says our French proverb, 'and he is
happy;' they will find dearth of neither, while the sage Henry lives,
and is victorious."
"Yet we are told here," cried the youth, "that this Welsh earl, whom you
call king, grinds the poor people he has vanquished to the dust, making
them lament him they named Crookback, who, though an usurper, was a
munificent sovereign."
These words from a Fleming or a Frenchman sounded strange to Frion; the
doubt, which he wondered had not before presented itself, now came
full-fledged, and changed at its birth to certainty; yet, as the angler
plays with the hooked fish, he replied, "I, a stranger in the land, saw
its fair broad fields, and thought their cultivators prosperous; I heard
that the king was victorious over his foes, and deemed his subjects
happy. Yet, I bethink me, murmurs were abroad, of taxes and impositions.
They spoke, with regret, of the White Rose, and scowled when they said
that Elizabeth of York was rather a handmaiden in her husband's palace,
than queen of fertile England."
"Now, were I an English knight, with golden spurs," said the stripling,
"I would challenge to mortal combat that recreant Tudor, and force him
to raise fair Elizabeth to her fitting elevation: woe the while, all
England's good knights are slain, and the noble Lincoln, the last and
best of all, has perished!"
"You speak unwisely and unknowingly, of things you wot not of," said
Madeline, alarmed at the meaning glance of Frion; "good nephew Perkin,
your eyes see not even the English white cliffs, much less can your mind
understand its dangerous policy."
"Nay, dear mother," remarked her little daughter, "you have told me that
the noble earl and the good Lord Lovel had been kind guardians to my
cousin Peterkin: you chid him not when he wept their death, and you may
suffer him to reproach their foe."
"I know nothing of these lords," said Frion, "whose names are a
stumbling-block to a Frenchman's tongue. But methinks it is well for us
that they aim at each other's hearts, and make booty of their own
provender, no longer desolating the gay fields of France with their iron
hoofs."
And now, since that he had found him whom he sought, Frion talked again
of other matters, and, as before, his smooth and gay discourse gained
him pleased auditors. At length, the peaceful cottagers retired to rest,
and Frion sunk to sleep under their hospitable roof, after he had
thought of various plans by which he might possess himself of the
prince's person;--the readiest and safest way was to entice him to
accompany him alone some little space, no matter how short: he trusted
to his own skill to draw him still further and further on, till he
should be put on board the boat that would ferry him to his own revolted
England.
CHAPTER IX
THE DECOY
Gilderoy was a bonnie boy,
Had roses tull his shoone;
His stockings were of silken soy,
With garters hanging doon.
OLD BALLAD.
It was a simple scheme, yet with the simple simplicity succeeds best. A
new face and talk of distant lands had excited York beyond his wont. He
could not rest during the long night, while the image of his disastrous
fortunes haunted him like a ghost. "Were I the son of a falconer or
hind," he thought, "I could don my breastplate, seize my good cross-bow,
and away to the fight. Mewed up here with women, the very heart of a
Plantagenet will fail, and I shall play the girl at the sight of blood.
Wherefore tarries Sir Edmund, our gentle coz? If he be a true man, he
shall lead me to danger and glory, and England, ere she own her king,
shall be proud of her outcast child."
To a mind thus tempered--heated like iron in a smith's forge--Frion,
on the morrow, played the crafty artisan, fashioning it to his will. He
and the prince rose early, and the secretary prepared for immediate
departure. As he hastily partook of a slight repast, he renewed the
conversation of the preceding night, and like the Sultaness Scheherezade
(perhaps he had heard of her device among the Moors), he got into the
midst of the quarrels of El Zagal and El Chico, the kings of Granada, at
the moment it was necessary for him to hasten away--"Good youth," said
he, "I play the idle prater, while mine errand waits for me--lead me to
the stable, and help me to saddle my nag; if you will serve me as a
guide to Lisle, you will do a good deed, and I will reward it by
finishing the strange history of the Moorish kings."
The horse was quickly in order for departure. "I will but say good day
to ray kinswoman, and go with you," said Richard.
"That were idle," replied the secretary, "the sun has hardly peeped out
from his eastern window, and dame Madeline and her dark-eyed daughter
sleep; we kept them waking yesternight; they will scarce have risen ere
you return."
The duke suffered himself to be persuaded--with his hand on the neck of
the horse, he strode beside his tempter, listening to his cunning tales
of Moorish ferocity and Christian valour. The walls of Lisle at length
appeared--"Here we part," said the duke, who remembered the caution
given him, never to enter these border towns, where the English nobles
often resided for a space, and the appearance of the gallant stripling,
and his close resemblance to other members of the princely house of
York, might beget suspicion and danger.
"Wherefore this haste, Sir Perkin?" said Frion; "cooped up under a
thatched roof from Lent to Shrovetide, methinks you should be glad to
stretch your chain. I remain brief space in yonder walls; leave me not
till I depart."
"Who told you I was cooped up?" said the prince, hastily; "if I am
chained, the key of my fetters is in my own hand."
"Put it swiftly in the wards then, and cast away the heavy iron; come on
with me, to where thou shalt ruffle bravely with satin-coated squires."
Frion judged his prize already won, and almost threw aside his usual
caution. Richard liked not the expression his sharp black eye assumed,
nor the wrinkling of his brow; he began to wonder what there had been in
this man so to allure him into friendly converse; now that in a familiar
tone he invited him to continue his companion, his haughty spirit
revolted. "Good sir," said he, "I now have done a host's duty by you. I
saved you from a storm, restored you to your road--yonder path, shaded
by poplars, leads at once to the town's gate--farewell!"
"I am but an unmeet comrade for you, gay gentleman," said Frion; "pardon
me if I have said aught unfitting the cottager of Tournay to hear. I now
go to the noble knight, the Sire de Beverem, and I would fain have shown
him what striplings these swamps breed; methought his gilt palace were
fitter dwelling than yonder hut for one, who, if his face lie not,
aspires to nobler acts than weeding a garden or opening a drain. Come,
my lord,--how tript my tongue? but your eye is so lordly that the word
came of itself--gentle youth, trust yourself with one, who loves to see
the fiery youngster amid his mates, the gallant boy looked on with love
and favour by the noble and valiant."
Prudence whispered to Richard that this was dangerous sport; pride told
him that it were unfit, nameless, and ushered thus, to appear before the
high-born; but thoughtless youth urged him on, and even as Frion spoke,
at a quick pace they approached the town-gate. The Sire de Beverem too,
whom the wily Frenchman named, had been favoured by Edward the Fourth,
and was his guest in London--"Let the worst come, and it were well to
have made such a friend. I will bear myself gallantly," thought York,
"and win the good knight's smile; it may profit me hereafter. Now I
shall see how the world goes, and if any new device or fashion have
sprung up among our chivalry, that I may seem not quite untaught when I
lead the sons of my father's friends to the field. Be it as you please,"
he said to his seducer, "before now my hand has grasped a foil, and I
will not shame your introduction."
Frion went forward conning his part; he felt that his task was not so
easy as he had imagined: the boy was wild as a bird, and so gave in to
the lure; but, like a bird, he might away without warning, and speed
back to his nest ere his wings were well limed. It was many miles to the
coast: Frion's resolution had been hastily formed. The Lord Fitzwater, a
partisan of Henry, was then sojourning at Lisle. He had been to
Brussels, and on his return towards Calais a sickness had seized him,
which forced him to remain some weeks under the roof of the Sire de
Beverem; he was recovering now, and on the eve of his departure; without
confiding the whole secret to him, the papers and tokens Frion bore must
vouch that the king would thank any of his lieges who should aid him in
bringing by force or decoy a pretended son of the traitor earl of
Lincoln (for thus Frion resolved to name his victim) to the English
shores.
Yet the decoyer had a difficult part to play; there was a quickness in
the prince's manner which made him fear that, if his intentions changed,
his acts would not lag behind; and though he did not betray suspicion,
he was so perfectly alive to everything said and done, that any
circumstance of doubt would not fail immediately to strike him. Although
they had hitherto discoursed in French, yet it was certain that his
native English had not been forgotten by him; nay, the appearance of the
Lord Fitzwater's attendants, their livery, their speech, must awaken the
prince's fears, and confound the wiles of his enemy. Frion pondered on
all these obstacles, as he rode gently through the narrow streets of
Lisle; at length they reached the abode of the French noble, and here
Frion halted; while the duke, beginning to be ill-satisfied with the
part he played, and his promised presentation by such a roan, almost
resolved to break from him here and to return; shame of appearing feeble
of purpose alone prevented him. At last, passing through the court-yard
up a dark and massy staircase, he found himself in a hall, where several
men at arms were assembled, some furbishing pieces of armour, others
engaged in talk, one or two stretched along the benches asleep: pride
awoke in the youth's breast, he had gone too far to retrace his steps,
and he resolved to bear himself gallantly towards the noble to whom he
was about to be presented: yet, pausing for a moment, "My memory," he
thought, "leads me far a-field, or some of these men bear English
badges, and their wearers seem grey-eyed Englishmen." Frion meanwhile,
selecting with quick tact one of the followers of the Sire de Beverem
who chanced to be among these men, requested an instant introduction to
Lord Fitzwater, using such golden arguments that the man, half afraid of
being called on to divide the spoil, motioned him quickly to follow,
and, passing through a suite of rooms, as he approached the last, he
said, "He is there, I will call his page." "It needs not," said Frion;
"await me here, Sir Perkin," and pushing forward, to the astonishment of
the attendant, entered unannounced to the baron's presence: Richard
thought he heard a "By St. Thomas!" uttered as the door closed hastily;
but some Englishman might be with the French noble, and though a
momentary wonder crossed him, no doubt of Frion's integrity was
awakened.
"By Saint Thomas!" exclaimed Lord Fitzwater, as Frion almost burst into
his apartment, "what rude varlet is this? Are serfs so used to enter a
baron's chamber in France?"
"Most noble sir," said Frion, "if in three words, or, if you refuse me
these, if in one eye-glance, I do not satisfy you, bid your men beat me
with staves from the door. I am here in King Henry's service."
"God save him!" said the noble, "and you, sir knave, from the fate you
name, which will be yours undoubtedly, if you do not give me good reason
for your ill-mannered intrusion."
Frion looked round. Except the baron there was no one in the room, save
a stripling of about sixteen years. The lad, though short in stature,
was handsome; yet there was a look that indicated the early development
of qualities, which, even in manhood, detract from beauty. He seemed
conversant in the world's least holy ways, vain, reckless, and selfish;
yet the coarser lines drawn by self-indulgence and youthful sensuality,
were redeemed in part by the merry twinkling of his eye, and the ready
laugh that played upon his lips. "My words are for your ears alone, my
lord," said Frion, "and be assured they touch your liege nearly."
"Go, Robert," said Fitzwater, "but not further than the ante-chamber."
"There is one there," said Frion, anxiously: "he must not quit it--he
must not escape, nor learn in whose hands he is."
"Your riddles, sir, ill please me," replied the noble.
"Look at this paper, my lord, and let it vouch for the heavy import of
my business."
Lord Fitzwater recognized his royal master's signature, and with an
altered tone he said, "Leave us, Robert; tarry not in the ante-chamber,
but bear my greeting to my noble host, and ask him, when I may, at his
best leisure, pay my thanks to him and my kind lady. I depart to-morrow
at dawn; and mark, speak not to the stranger who waits without."
The youth made obeisance, and departed. A piece of tapestry hung before
the door, which, together with the massy boards themselves, prevented
any sound from piercing to the other side; the lad was about to proceed
on his errand, when curiosity prompted him to look on the stranger, with
whom he was commanded not to parley. Richard stood in the embrasure of
one of the windows, but turned quickly as the folding-door shut with no
gentle sound; his candid brow, his bright blue eyes, his frank-hearted
smile, who that had ever seen could forget them? nor were the traits of
the other's countenance less marked, though less attractive. The words
burst at the same instant from either--"My Lord of York!" "Gentle Robin
Clifford."
"My prison playfellow," cried the prince; "this for me is a dangerous
recognition. I pray you be wise, and--as you were ever--kind, and keep
my secret close."
"Alas! my lord," said Robert, "you have opened your hand, and let the
winged fool fly unwittingly, if you think it has not been discovered by
yonder false loon. Know you where you are?"
"Then I am betrayed! I see it, feel it. Farewell, Robin, my fleet legs
will outrun their slow pursuit."
"Nay, an' that were possible," said Clifford; "but it is not; let me
better advise your highness; trust me you shall be free; but hark, they
come; I must not be found here. Show no suspicion; yield to your fate as
if you knew it not, and confide in me; my hand on it, this night you are
at liberty."
Clifford quitted the apartment by the opposite door, while Frion entered
from the other, beckoning the duke to approach. He took him by the hand,
and led him to Lord Fitzwater, who started back when he saw him, and was
about to exclaim; but Frion, in French, addressing him as the Sire de
Beverem, entreated his kind favour for Perkin Warbeck, the gallant youth
before him. The baron evidently was ill-pleased at the part he had
consented to play; he said a few words with an ill grace, and bidding
Perkin welcome, promised him favour, and permission for the present to
remain in his abode. Richard saw through the flimsy disguise which the
Englishman threw over his native speech, though he did not know who his
receiver was; but, feeling that it was best to follow his young friend's
counsel, he replied, also in French, that, at his guide's invitation, he
had eagerly sought an interview with the renowned Sire de Beverem; that
the honour done him would be deeply engraven in his heart; that on some
future occasion he would gratefully avail himself of his offers; but, at
the present time, he had left his home without intimating any intention,
of a prolonged absence, and that he owed it to a kind kinswoman, not to
disquiet her by delaying his return. He prayed the noble to dismiss him
therefore, craving leave only to attend him some other day.
"Be it so," said Fitzwater; "to-morrow at dawn you shall depart hence;
but you must not refuse my proffered hospitality. I shall introduce you
to my household as one who ere long will be admitted into it, and show
my friend. Sir Lalayne, who is now here, what gentle boors our Flanders
breeds."
"I can return to-morrow, my good lord," Richard began; but the noble not
heeding him, added, "Stay till my return; I now go to hear mass," and
passed hastily from the chamber.
The prince's first impulse was to reproach Frion's knavery, assert his
freedom, and, ere any measures had been taken to secure his person, to
quit his new prison. But he did not know how deep-laid the plot might
be; he was inclined to think that all was prepared for his reception and
safe custody, so that any open attempt to regain his liberty would be
resisted by force; while, through the assistance of his friend Clifford,
he might hope to escape, if, giving in to the stratagem, he took
occasion by the curb, and forced it to his purpose. "Are you mad," said
Frion, "my rustic, that you resist the proffers of a high and powerful
man of your native land?"
Richard wondered, when he beheld Frion's sneer and crafty glance, how he
had not mistrusted him from the moment he beheld him; the double meaning
of his words, and the familiar tone in which they were uttered, grated
him like a personal insult. He repressed the angry reply rising to his
lips, and said, "It seems I must submit, yet I should be beholden to you
if you contrived an excuse, and lent me your horse, that I might ride
back and inform Dame Madeline. To-morrow I might return."
Frion opposed this intention, and led the prince to a chamber at some
distance from any other, at the end of a corridor, saying, "that it had
been assigned to him;" and after a short conversation left him. Richard
heard the shooting of the bolt as the door closed; "Son of King Edward,"
he thought, "thy folly disgraces thy parentage; thus at once to have run
into the gin. Yet I am of good cheer, and my heart tells me that I shall
relate the merry tale of my escape to Madeline and my sweet coz, and dry
this night the tears my disappearance has caused them to shed." It soon
appeared, by the long absence of his betrayer, that it was not intended
to continue the farce longer; but that, from the moment he had entered
that chamber, he was in treatment as well as in fact a prisoner. After
several weary hours had elapsed, his blithe spirit began to sink; he
reflected that Clifford had probably promised more than he could
perform; but courage awoke with the sense of danger; he resolved to be
true to himself, and to effect his escape singly, if he could gain no
assistance. "Men have ears and hearts," he thought, "and I can work on
these; or they may be neglectful while I am on the alert, and I can
profit by their carelessness. In all forms my fortune may take, I will
not fail to myself; and there is small danger in any change for a true
man. With my light spirit and resolved will, I could, I doubt not,
persuade an armed band to make way for me, or open prison bolts with
charming words, though my witchcraft be only that of gentle courtesy,
moulding with skilful hand the wax of soft humanity." Pacing the
apartment, he continued these meditations, imagining every circumstance
that might and would arise, and how he was to turn all to the best
advantage. He framed persuasive speeches, wily answers to ensnaring
questions, cautious movements, by which he might withdraw himself from
the hands of his enemies; and while he thus occupied himself, his eyes
gleamed, and his cheeks glowed, as if the moment of action had come, and
his life and liberty depended on instant deed.
At two hours past noon the door was unclosed, and a servant entered
bearing food; impatient to begin his plans of escape, Richard was about
to speak to him, when, in the doorway, he beheld the slight, stunted
figure of Clifford, whose forefinger was pressed on his lips, and who,
after exchanging one glance with his friend, cast aside his stealthy
expression of countenance, entering with a half-swaggering look, and
saying, in French, "My lord, young sir, has sent me on a pleasant
embassage, even that of dining with your pageship, saying, two boys like
us were better and merrier together, than in the great hall with the
arrogant serving-men." Richard felt no great appetite; but taking the
tone from his friend, he thanked him, and they fell to on the viands.
"Now, kind Thomas," said Clifford, "of your bounty bring us a stoup of
wine; the day is rainy, and we cannot abroad; so ray gossip and I will
tell long stories over our bottle, and lay some plan of merry mischief
which you and your fellows may in good time rue."
The domestic obeyed; nor till the wine was brought, the servant fairly
dismissed, and the door closed, did Clifford put aside the character he
had assumed of a stripling page, in a noble master's abode, entertaining
a stranger visitant of his own years. At length, when they were quite
alone, the merry boy put his hands to his sides and indulged in so gay a
peal of laughter, that the prince, who at first stared in wonder, at
last caught the infection, and laughed too, while tears from
superabundant glee streamed down their cheeks. Once, twice, and thrice
did Richard check himself, and turn seriously to inquire the cause of
this merriment; and Clifford strove to answer; but laughter bubbling up
choked his voice, and both again yielded in accord to the overpowering
fit. At last gasping, holding their sides, and by degrees commanding
their muscles, the duke said, "I would ask you, friend Robin, what this
means? But at the word, lo you! your very voice is lost. Now, prithee,
feel half as weary as I do of this folly, and you will be as grave as
tumbledown Dick. Do you remember the simpering fellow we made good sport
of in the Tower?"
"You have broken the spell, my lord," said Clifford; "that word suffices
to make me as grave as Brakenbury himself, when he looked on your
brother's corpse. Ah dear, your highness, the name of the Tower is worse
than a raven's croak! God and St. Thomas preserve you from ever getting
the other side of its moat!"
"Amen, Robin, with all my heart," said Richard; "a shudder runs through
my limbs down to my finger tips, making the skin on my head creep, when
I think there is any chance of my passing long years in those dreary
cells, with their narrow deep windows; the court-yards, which the sun
seldom visits; the massy dark walls, whose black stones seemed to frown
angrily if our childs' voices were ever heard in sport."
"There your cousin, my lord of Warwick, pines out his melancholy days,"
replied Clifford; "and that is your destined abode. My grandfather was
slain by Queen Margaret's side, and stained the Red Rose with a
blood-red dye, falling in its cause. Your father and his brothers did
many a Clifford much wrong, and woe and mourning possessed my house till
the line of Lancaster was restored. I cannot grieve, therefore, for the
exaltation of the earl of Richmond; yet I will not passively see my
playmate mewed up in a cage, nor put in danger of having his head laid
on that ungentle pillow in Tower Yard. The daughter of Warwick, our
Edward's affianced bride, your crookbacked uncle's wife, loved my pranks
and nurtured my youth; and by her good leave, many a mirthful hour I
spent in the dark place you name. May neither of us ever see it more!"
"You will, then, assist my escape?" asked Richard.
"As faithfully, gossip Dickon, as God his grace shall await me at the
last day! And now I will tell you a merry tale."
CHAPTER X
THE ESCAPE
--It is thy merit
To make all mortal business ebb and flow
By roguery.
HOMER'S HYMN TO MERCURY.
And then, with you, my friends, and the old man,
We'll load the hollow depth of our black ship,
And row with double strokes from this dread shore.
THE CYCLOPS.
Notwithstanding the promise Clifford made of a merry tale, both he and
his auditor looked grave as he commenced. Richard expected, with some
anxiety, an explanation from his friend, and the other assumed the
self-consequence resulting from having achieved a victory. No two beings
ever displayed, in their way, a greater contrast than these youths. The
prince was many inches taller than his companion, and his slim make
promised increase of height. His brow was smooth as infancy, candid as
day; his bright blue eyes were lighted up with intelligence, yet there
was a liquid lustre in them that betokened tenderness; nor did his lips,
that nest of the heart's best feelings, belie his eyes. They were full,
a little curled, can we say in pride, or by what more gentle word can we
name a feeling of self-elevation and noble purpose, joined to
benevolence and sweetness? His oval cheeks were rounded by the dimpled
chin, and his golden hair clustered on a throat of marble whiteness,
which, as the white embroidered collar thrown back over the doublet,
permitted the outline to be seen, sustained his head as the Ionic flute
rears its graceful capital. Clifford was shorter, but firm set and more
manlike in form, his grey eyes were bright or dull as his soul spoke in
them; his brow slightly scowled, pending over, and even thus early,
lines were delved in it, hardly seen when he was in repose, but which,
as he spoke, showed deep and distorted; his smile was tinctured by a
sneer, his voice attracted no confidence, yet Richard now hung intently
on it as he spoke:
"When I returned from doing my lord's bidding, I found him moving about
the room, more like a parched pea than a stately noble; for now he stood
still, and then shot off with a quick step, showing every sign of being
ill at ease. Now, boy as I am, for I can number but sixteen summers, my
lord more than loves me, he trusts me, and not without cause--for when
at hazard--but my story will be too long--enough that ere now I have
done him service. Had I not known the cause of his disquiet I should
have asked it, but, believing myself fully aware of what this all meant,
I went to my post, and busied myself in making some flies for angling,
seeming most intent upon my work. My lord stood over me, and twice or
thrice fetched a sigh, and then strode away, and came again, saying, "I
am a fool, a dolt--the king can mean no ill to this lad--and yet--" I
cannot tell you how long this indecision lasted, while I patiently
toiled at a fly of green and gold, bright as those which trouts love to
snap at in clear streams during May. At length he asked me, 'Robin, did
you mark the boy that stood in the ante-chamber?' 'Aye, my good lord!'
'And what thought you of him?' 'Thought, my lord?' I spoke inquiringly,
for it suddenly came across me that he did not know you, and it was not
for me to betray your secret. 'Aye,' he replied, 'thought? Does he
resemble any one you ever knew? Of what country do you divine him to
be?' 'These Flemings are sandy-haired,' I said, 'yet he does not look of
Flanders. Methinks he seems English born.'
"'You are right,' said he, 'English he is confessedly. This Frion calls
him a natural son of De la Poole--of the late Earl of Lincoln. He says
that he has knowledge of a secret treasure concealed by his father
before this last rebellion, and the king wishes to get him into his
hands, thus to secure the gold. The tale is not unlikely, for the Tudor
ever loved the glitter--nay, the very dust of the precious metal,--and
the boy resembles strangely the House of York. Yet, I care not for the
task put upon me of kidnapping a child, and of betraying him into his
enemy's hands--perhaps of delivering him up a prisoner for life, for
the sake of---- Poor fellow! if he know aught of a concealed treasure,
in God's name, let him confess it while on this side the fatal channel
that now divides him from tyranny or death.' 'Let me deal with him,' I
said, 'let me throw out some toy, such as is this gold and green thread
to a silly fish, and learn the truth; if he discovers the hiding-place
of this so coveted coin, we may spare him the trouble of his enforced
journey.' 'I know not that,' answered my patron; 'Master Frion is
earnest for his safe keeping; and no one is nearer our liege's inner
wishes than this Provenal, who served him in exile, and who followed
him in his expedition thence; and yet there is a noble daring in the
boy, a mountain freshness in his cheek, a springy freedom in his gait,
that it were a thousand pities to fetter and limit within narrow prison
bounds.' Seeing that my lord was thus favourably inclined, I used all my
poor eloquence to urge him further, and at last brought him to consent
that I should converse with you; learn, if possible, your secret; inform
you of your danger, and advise you to escape. One only difficulty
remained: my lord had promised this master secretary that none should be
admitted to talk with you; but when the subtle fiend, the double-dealing
Frenchman entered, I told him with a long visage, that our noble host,
the Sire de Beverem, had heard that we were carrying off by force a
Fleming; and that, considering his hospitable mansion stained by the
act, he had commanded strict watch to be kept on the morrow, that if any
of the English suite were unwilling to go, or appeared in durance, he
should be rescued. It was advisable therefore, that you should be kept
in good-humour till fairly beyond the gates of Lisle; and this my
wisdomship offered to do, if admitted to parlance with you. You look
grave, sir prince, but had you seen Frion's sage look of hesitation, and
heard his many exhortations that I would by no means betray my knowledge
of who you really were; and how I, with a bow, careful as if my curls
were white from years, promised discretion, you would laugh as I did,
when, the mime over which I played before the servitor, I doffed my
page's seeming equality, and in duteous phrase to his highness of York,
offer my best services to liberate him."
"That seems already done," said Richard; "usher me to the Lord
Fitzwater. I will declare myself to him; his compassion already
excited----"
"Would then be cool as snow at Christmas. Wise young sir, Baron
Fitzwater wears the blushing Rose; and for him there is wormwood in the
name of York. Now, as a chance offshoot of the white thorn, he only sees
in you a harmless boy, whom it were sin to injure; but give yourself a
name whose very echo would bring St. Albans, Tewkesbury, Bosworth Field,
and a thousand scaffolds streaming with his kinsmen's blood before him,
and without remorse he would let Frion have his will of you. Even I,
Duke Richard, I am sprung from those who fell for Lancaster----"
"Enough," replied the prince, haughtily. "I am content to stand alone,
to achieve my freedom singly, or to submit to my fate."
"Not so, my noble, playmate," said the other. "I will not offer you my
knee, my oath, my sword, for my allegiance belongs to the anointed King
of England; but, I beseech you, suffer Robin Clifford to assist
high-born Plantagenet to escape from a prison or from death; permit him
to pay, if not the duty of a subject, yet that of a loving friend to the
former companion of his childish sports."
Richard listened somewhat sullenly to these offers; he ill brooked the
thought that any of English parentage should, knowing who he was, refuse
to acknowledge him for his liege: but Clifford would not be refused;
while it was hardly worth while to contend with his light spirit, which
appeared incapable of a serious or profound idea. After a short
resistance, therefore, the duke entered willingly into a discussion of
the best means of effecting his escape in such a way, that he should
have several hours the start of Frion, and be distant from danger before
his seducer could discover that he was not still safe in his hands.
In the midst of this discussion, Frion suddenly entered. The stake for
which he played was too momentous to trust it wholly to the stripling
page, and distrust of the wily boy entered also into his calculations;
he broke in, therefore, not only unannounced, but with such stealthy
quiet as showed that he meant to pounce on his victim unawares. The
youths sat, their stools drawn close; Clifford was leaning forward
earnestly propounding his schemes, and Richard listened, his whole soul
in his countenance. Frion was close upon them before he was perceived by
either, his eyes glimmering with their usual suspicious look. The
artless Richard started, and would with a conscious mien have drawn
back; but Clifford, more used to the wiles and watchfulness of others,
and his own double mode of action, continued to speak in the same tone
the same words, without moving a muscle. The prince wondered, and
regained his self-possession; not from entering into the deceit of his
companion, but from the haughty sentiment of his own dignity, which even
in danger refused to cower.
Clifford had been saying--"I will hence to the sire: a word to him of
whose secretary this Provenal is, and insinuation that he is now on a
secret expedition to the Flemish towns, will awaken his curiosity; he
will send for him; fortunately the good knight speaks so slow that a
mass can be said while he is introducing the subject of his inquiries;
as each word expires, he pauses while a requiem might be sung for its
death; our antagonist will writhe and--" and a glance askance informed
the speaker that this man was at his side: he continued--"and strive
vainly to escape; the heavy weight will be too much for him, he must
submit. Such feints suit well us boys who have not strength nor skill
for more declared warfare. To-morrow's dawn I will practise with you in
the court of the castle ere you depart. But, indeed, my gossip, you must
promise to be at Calais on the sixteenth, when we shall see a combat of
good knights fit for royal princesses to look on. And now, fair sir,
farewell; here is your friend. The Sire de Beverem commanded my presence
at this hour. If I see you not again to-night, the saints have you in
their keeping!"
When Clifford, with his pagelike vivacity, ran from the room singing a
gay romance, Frion felt himself embarrassed; and more so when Richard
said,--"My guest, it is hard, after giving you harbourage last night,
that I should be forced, whether I will or not, to tarry here, leaving
my kinswoman in dread and doubt. Make you my excuse to the chevalier,
and delay me no longer, I beseech you."
Frion, without directly replying, said, "Anon I will speak of that;
meanwhile, I have news for you." And he entered into a long account of
an expected sedition in Flanders, and how the Sire de Beverem had
promised to enlist Perkin Warbeck in his particular troop, when with
courage and good fortune, he could not fail to rise. While he was
talking, one of the men-at-arms of the noble entered, and notified to
Frion that his lord desired an instant interview with him. The secretary
hastened to obey; he thought that good fortune itself provided this
excuse for him to escape from his victim, and resolved not again to
present himself before him. He was scarcely gone when Clifford returned.
"Now quick," he cried, "down the back staircase! My own steed stands
saddled for you; ride fast and far--but whither--whither do you intend
to go?"
"In the first place, to Dame Madeline's cottage."
"That were midsummer madness," cried Clifford; "Frion will never rest
till he ensnares his bird again; nay, though I trust he will not
discover your escape till to-morrow morning, that part of my scheme may
fail; and his papers from the king are such, that my lord could not
refuse to aid him, I pray you set space and cloudy mystery between you."
"It shall be so. Probably I shall seek refuge at Brussels; but I must
see my gentle guardian and my sweet cousin, calm their fears, and bid
them farewell."
They had descended a narrow winding staircase; Clifford unlocked a
postern, opening on a dark alley. A small light-limbed horse stood
without, held by a stout, almost gigantic fellow. "Here, Bryan," said
Clifford, "this is the smuggled article of which I spoke. Convey it in
safety to the gate; once without, the road is known. How now, sweeting!
you sit your steed as if you were used to this gear--in truth thou art
a false one--yet take care--fold your cloak thus. Not one kiss ere we
part?" He sportively snatched the prince's hand, and pressing it to his
lips, continued, "No weeping, lovely: my merry heart hates tears like
verjuice. The blessed Virgin protect you; I must in. Remember, in every
ill, Robert Clifford is your fast, your sworn friend. Look at her,
Bryan; one would swear by her bearing it were a beardless page, and not
a long-haired girl; remember, though gamesome, she is gentle, and
respect her on your life."
Laughing at his own deceits, the guileful boy re-entered the mansion;
nor could Richard avoid smiling at the merry and ready subterfuges which
his friend had at command on every occasion. Brian demurely held the
rein, and hardly hazarded a look or covert joke, as, with a pace that
put the pony to a trot, he led the prince through the narrow streets to
the western gate. The youth breathed freely when, after having passed
the hollow sounding drawbridge, he saw the dark wall of the town behind
him, and before, the green plain. In his haste he scarcely bestowed a
benison on his guide; but snatching the rein from his hand, and with the
other throwing some money at his feet, and exclaiming, "Beware of
prating, as thou art willing to save thyself from the whipping-post!" he
impatiently struck his unarmed heel against the horse's sides, and
bounded swiftly forward. Bryan picked up the angels, and told them
slowly, as he said "I meant to have paid myself in other coin; but, by
St. Julian, she rides more like a trooper than a gentle dame--and her
speech--Master Robert has before now entrusted a damsel to my guidance,
but they ever spoke me lovingly, with 'fair Sir,' and 'sweet Bryan!'
Forsooth, Flemish girls ruffle more like pranksome pages than
soft-cheeked wenches."
The thought of his conductor had passed as swiftly from the prince's
thoughts, as he made the ground fly from under his horse's hoof. He was
aware that he did neither the safest nor best thing in seeking, like a
hunted hare, the form from which he had been roused in the morning; but
the desire of calming Madeline's anxiety, and imprinting a farewell kiss
on the sweet lips of her daughter, prevented him from altering his first
purpose. The night was cloudy and very dark, but the road was known to
him, and he continued at full speed till a voice, calling aloud,
attracted his attention--the words could not be mistaken--his own
name, "Perkin Warbeck!" sounded through the night. His first thought
was, that he was pursued, but reflection told him that assuredly his
pursuers would not halloo to him, while any sent in search of him by
Madeline, might naturally so try to stop him as he rode so fast through
the dark. He checked his speed, therefore, and in a few moments a
cavalier, a stranger was at his side, mounted on a tall black horse; his
form seemed gigantic, and little else could be discerned; the stranger
spoke to him in French, with a foreign accent. He asked him, "Are you
not he they call Perkin Warbeck?" This address was sufficiently
startling; and the youth haughtily replied, "My name imports not to you,
while to me this interruption is unseasonable."
"Enough; you go towards the cottage of Madeline de Faro: I follow your
highness thither."
Richard grasped the small poniard which hung from his belt; yet how
could he, a child, contend with the tall and muscular form beside him?
"Whoever thou art," he cried, "and whoever I may be, follow me not; I am
no serf to be seized and carried back to his suzerain. Depart in God's
name, that the fingers of neither may receive an ill stain!"
"Thou art a gallant boy!" cried the stranger, as placing his hand on the
youth's arm, his most gentle touch was felt as an iron vice pressing on
his flesh: "Pardon, my lord, the interference of one unknown to you,
though I will not call myself a stranger. I am Hernan de Faro, the
husband of Dame Madeline; now stay not your speed, while we hasten to
relieve her thousand fears. I am come in search of you."
The heart of Richard warmed towards his new friend; he felt, that with
him on his side, he might defy Frion, Fitzwater, and all their
followers; for there was something in De Faro's mien, which spoke of a
thousand combats, and as many victories; his deep voice out-roared the
elements; his hand might arrest a wild horse in mad career. When they
arrived at the wicket entrance to the cot, he lifted the boy from the
saddle, as a child would handle a toy, and shouted aloud in his own
language, "Viva el Duque de Inglatierra y el Marinero, Hernan de Faro."
The dangers Richard had run, and the delight she experienced in seeing
him, when again under her roof, stopped all Madeline's reproaches. "Is
he not worthy all my fears?" she said to her husband, who stood eyeing
the boy as he caressed his daughter. De Faro stretched out his hand,
saying, "Will you, Seor Don Ricardo, accept my services, and my vow to
protect you till the death, so help me the Blessed Virgin and the Holy
Trinity."
De Faro was a mariner who had sailed in the service of the king of
Portugal, along the unsounded shores of Africa, and sought beyond the
equator a route to the spicy Indian land. His dark skin was burnt to a
nearly negro die; his black curled hair, his beard and moustachios of
the same dusky hue, half hid his face; his brow somewhat lowered over
eyes dark as night; but, when he smiled, his soft mouth and pearly
teeth, softened the harshness of his physiognomy, and he looked gentle
and kind. Every nerve, every muscle, had been worn and hardened by long
toilsome navigation; his strong limbs had withstood the tempest, his
hands held unmoved the cordage, which the whirlwind strove vainly to
tear from his grasp. He was a tower of a man; yet withal one, to whom
the timid and endangered would recur for refuge, secure of his
generosity and dauntless nature. He heard the story of Richard's
dangers; his plan was formed swiftly: he said, "If you choose, Sir
Prince, to await your foes here, I am ready, having put these girls in
safety, to barricade the doors, and with arquebus and sword to defend
you to the last: but there is a safer and better way for us all. I am
come to claim my Madeline and our child, and to carry them with me to my
native Spain. My vessel now rides off Ostend. I had meant to make
greater preparation, and to have laid up some weeks here before we went
on our home-bound voyage; but, as it is, let us depart to-night."
The door suddenly opened as he spoke--Madeline shrieked--Richard
sprang upon his feet, while De Faro rose more slowly, placing himself
like a vast buttress of stone before the intruder. It was Clifford.
"All is safe for the night," he cried; "your grace has a few hours the
start, and but a few; dally not here!"
Again the discussion of whither he should fly was renewed, and the duke
spoke of Brussels--of his aunt. "Of poison and pit-falls," cried
Robert; "think you, boy as you are, and, under pardon, no conjuror, that
the king will not contrive your destruction?"
Probably self-interested motives swayed Clifford; but he entered warmly
into De Faro's idea of hastening to the sea-coast, and of sailing direct
for Spain. "In a few years you will be a man--in a few years----"
"Forgotten! Yes--I may go; but a few months shall mark my return. I go
on one condition; that you, Clifford, watch for the return of my cousin,
Sir Edmund, and direct him where to find me."
"I will not fail. Sir Mariner, whither are you bound?"
"To Malaga."
And now, urged and quickened by Clifford, who promised to attend to all
that this sudden resolve left incomplete, the few arrangements for their
departure were made. Favoured by night, and the prince's perfect
knowledge of the country, they were speedily on their way to Ostend.
Clifford returned to Lisle, to mark and enjoy Frion's rage and
Fitzwater's confusion, when, on the morrow, the quarry was found to have
stolen from its lair. Without a moment's delay, the secretary followed,
he hoped, upon his track: he directed his steps to Brussels. A letter
meanwhile from Ostend, carefully worded, informed Clifford of the
arrival and embarkation of his friends; again he was reminded of
Plantagenet; nor had he long to wait before he fulfilled this last
commission.
Edmund had found the Lady Margaret glad to receive tidings of her
nephew; eager to ensure his safety and careful bringing-up, but
dispirited by the late overthrow, and deeply grieved by the death of the
noble and beloved Lincoln: no attack could now be made; it would be
doubly dangerous to bring forward the young Richard at this juncture.
She commissioned Plantagenet to accompany him to Brussels that she might
see him; and then they could confer upon some fitting plan for the
privacy and security of his future life, until maturer age fitted him to
enter on his destined struggles.
Edmund returned with brightened hopes to Tournay, to find the cottage
deserted, his friends gone. It may easily be imagined that this
unexpected blank was a source of terror, almost of despair to the
adventurer. He feared to ask questions, and when he did propound a few,
the answers only increased his perplexity and fears. It was not until
his third hopeless visit to the empty dwelling, that he met a stripling
page, who, with an expression of slyness in his face, spoke the
watch-word of the friends of York. Edmund gladly exchanged the
countersign, and then the boy asked him, whether he called himself
cousin to the fugitive duke of York, laughing the while at the
consternation his auditor exhibited at the utterance of this hidden and
sacred word: "You come to seek your prince," he continued, "and wonder
whither he may be flown, and what corner of the earth's wilderness
affords him an abode. He is now, by my calculations, tossing about in a
weather-beaten caravel, commanded by Hernan de Faro, in the Bay of
Biscay; in another month he may anchor in the port of Malaga; and the
dark-eyed girls of Andalusia will inform you in what nook of their sunny
land the fair-haired son of England dwells. The king is defeated, Master
Frion balked, and Lord Fitzwater gone on a bootless errand: the White
Rose flourishes free as those that bloom in our Kentish hedges."
Without waiting for a reply, but with his finger on his lip to repel
further speech, the youth vaulted on his horse, and was out of sight in
a moment. Edmund doubted for some time whether he should act upon this
singular communication. He endeavoured to learn who his informant was,
and, at last, became assured that it was Robert Clifford, a young
esquire in Lord Fitzwater's train. He was the younger son of the Lord
Clifford who fell for Lancaster, at the battle of St. Alban's. By birth,
by breeding, he was of the Red Rose, yet it was evident that his
knowledge was perfect as to the existence of the duke of York; and the
return of Lord Fitzwater and King Henry's secretary to Lisle,
disappointed and foiled, served to inspire confidence in the information
he had bestowed. After much reflection, Plantagenet resolved to visit
Paris, where he knew that the brother of Madeline, old John Warbeck,
then sojourned; and, if he did not gain surer intelligence from him, to
proceed by way of Bordeaux to Spain.
CHAPTER XI
THE EXILES
A day will come when York shall claim his own;
Then York be still awhile, till time do serve.
SHAKSPEARE.
The further Edmund journeyed from the late abode of his lost cousin, the
more he felt displeased at the step he had taken; but on his arrival in
Paris his uncertainty ended. Warbeck had received intimation of the
hurried embarkation of his sister, and here also he found Lady Brampton,
whose husband had taken refuge in Paris after the battle of Stoke. Like
the queen dowager, the fate of Margaret of Anjou's son haunted this
lady, and she warmly espoused the idea of bringing the duke of York up
in safe obscurity, until his own judgment might lead him to choose
another line of action, or the opposing politics of Europe promised some
support to his cause. She agreed to repair herself to Brussels, to take
counsel with the duchess, to use all her influence and arts, and, as
soon as time was ripe, to proceed herself to Spain to announce it to the
prince. Meanwhile, Plantagenet, following his former purpose, would take
up his abode with Richard in Spain; teach him the science of arms, and
the more difficult lessons of courage, self-command, and prudent
conduct. In pursuance of this plan, Edmund lost no time in going to
Bordeaux, whence he embarked for Malaga, and following his friend's
steps, arrived shortly after him at the retreat De Faro had chosen among
the foldings of the mountains on the borders of Andalusia.[1]
De Faro's was a singular history. In those days, that park of Andalusia
which comprised the kingdom of Granada, was the seat of perpetual wars,
and even when armies did not meet to deluge its fertile plains and
valleys with their blood, troops led by noble cavaliers and illustrious
commanders overran its districts in search of plunder and glory. During
one of these incursions, in the year 1452, some impulse of religion or
humanity made a Spanish soldier snatch from a couch in the country-house
of a noble wealthy Moor, already half consumed, an infant hardly a year
old; the band was already in full retreat, and, fortunately, this
incident took place on the very frontiers of Granada, or the benevolence
of the soldier would hardly have been proof against the trouble his
little charge occasioned him. Toiling up the mountains on their return
to the kingdom of Jaen, they entered the little town of Alcala-la-Real,
where, on the side of the mountainous road, rose the walls of a
monastery. "How better," thought the soldier, "save the soul of this boy
than by giving him to the monks?" It was not, perhaps, the present they
would most readily have selected, but compassion and piety forbade them
to refuse it: the little Moor became a Christian by the name of Hernan,
and was brought up within the sacred precincts of the convent. Though
the monks were able to make a zealous Catholic of their nursling, they
did not succeed so well in taming his fiery spirit, nor could they
induce him to devote himself to the inactive and mortifying life of a
priest. Yet he was generous and daring, and thus acquired their
affection; next to being a recluse vowed to God, the vocation of a
soldier for the faith, in the eyes of these holy men, was to be
selected. Hernan advancing in life, and shooting up into strong and
premature manhood, was recommended by the abbot to his cousin, the
illustrious Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, marquess of Cadiz. He fought
several times under his banners, and in the year 1471 entered with him
the kingdom of Granada, and was wounded at the taking of Cardela. In
this last action it was, that a sudden horror of taking up arms against
his countrymen sprung up in Hernan's breast. He quitted Spain in
consequence; and, visiting Lisbon, he was led to embrace a sea-faring
life, and entered the marine service of the king of Portugal; at one
time, visiting Holland, where he sought and won the hand of Madeline:
and afterwards, with Bartholomew Diaz, he made one of the crew that
discovered the Cape of Good Hope. He sailed with three vessels, one of
which lost company of the others, and its crew underwent various and
dreadful perils at sea, and from the blacks on land: after nine months
they again fell in with their companions, three sailors only remaining.
One of these was Hernan de Faro; his skill, valour, and fortitude, had
saved the vessel; he was exalted to its command, and now, in safer
voyage over seas more known, he had freighted it with the fugitives
from Tournay.
During all his wanderings, even in the gay and rich Portugal, Hernan
turned with fond regret to his mountain home. To its rugged peaks, its
deep and silent dells; its torrents, its verdure, its straggling and
precipitous paths; its prospect over the rich and laughing Vega of
Granada. He had promised himself, after weary toils, a long repose in
this beloved spot; and hither he now led his wife, resolving to set up
his tent for ever in the land of his childhood, his happy childhood. It
was a strange place to choose, bordering on Granada, which at that time
was as lists in which Death and Havock sat umpires. But the situation of
Alcala-la-Real preserved it secure, notwithstanding its dangerous
neighbourhood. It was perched high upon the mountain, overlooking a
plain which had been for many years the scene of ruthless carnage and
devastation, being in itself an asylum for fugitives--a place of rest
for the victor--an eagle's nest, unassailable by the vultures of the
plain.
Here, then, Plantagenet found his cousin; here, in lovely and romantic
Spain. Though defaced and torn by war, Andalusia presented an aspect of
rich and various beauty, intoxicating to one whose life had been spent
in the plains of England, or the dull flats of Flanders. The purple
vineyards; the olive plantations clothing the burning hill-side; the
groves of mulberry, cork, pomegranate, and citron, that diversified the
fertile vegas or plains; the sweet flowing rivers, with their banks
adorned by scarlet geranium or odoriferous myrtle, made this spot
Nature's own favoured garden--a paradise unequalled upon earth. On such
a scene did the mountain-home of the exiles look down. Alcala, too, had
beauties of her own. Ilex and pine woods clothed the defiles of the
rugged Sierra, which stretched far and wide, torn by winter torrents
into vast ravines; variegated by a thousand intersecting lines, formed
by the foldings of the hills; the clouds found a home on the lofty
summits; the wandering mists crept along the abrupt precipices;
alternate light and shadow, rich in purple and golden hues, arrayed each
rocky peak or verdant slope in radiance all their own.
All this fair land had been under the dominion of the Moors. Now, town
by town, stronghold by stronghold, they had lost it; the riches of the
land belonged to the Christians, who still, by military conquest or
policy, pressed the realm of the Moorish sovereign into a narrower
compass; while, divided in itself, the unhappy kingdom fell piecemeal
into their hands. De Faro was a devout Catholic; but, with all his
intrepidity, more humanity than belonged to that age warmed his manly
heart. He remembered that he was a Moor: whenever he saw a Moslem
prisoner in chains, or a cavalgada of hapless women driven from their
native towns to slavery, the blood in his veins moved with instinctive
horror; and the idea that among them might pine and groan his parents,
his own relatives, burned like living coal in his breast. He had half
forgotten this when he came to Alcala, bringing his wife and child, and
resolved to set up here his home; but when, in the succeeding spring,
the Spanish army assembled on the frontiers of Murcia, and swept on
towards the south--when deeds of Moorish valour and Moorish suffering
reached Alcala--when the triumph of the Christians and their ravages
were repeated--the gallant mariner could endure no longer. "It is a
fruitless struggle," he said; "Granada must fall; and God, who searches
hearts, knows that his victory will be dear to me when the cross floats
from the towers of the Alhambra. But I cannot behold the dark,
blood-stained advances of the invader. I will go--go where man destroys
not his brother, where the wild winds and waves are the armies we
combat. In a year or two every sword will be sheathed; the peace of
conquest will reign over Andalusia. One other voyage, and I return."
He went without fear, for Alcala appeared a safe retreat, and left his
family spectators of the war. What a school for Richard! Edmund rejoiced
that he would be accomplished in knightly exercise in the land of
chivalry; but he was not prepared for the warlike enthusiasm that sprung
up in his cousin's heart, and even in his own. It was the cause of God
that armed the gentlemen of Spain, that put daring into the politic
Ferdinand's heart, and inspired with martial ardour the magnanimous
Isabella. The veteran cavaliers had lost many relatives and companions
in arms, in various defeats under the rocky castles, or within the
pathless defiles of Andalusia; and holy zeal possessed them to avenge
their deaths, or to deliver those who pined in bondage. The younger
knights, under the eye of their sovereigns, emulated each other in
gallantry and glory. They painted war with pomp, and adorned it by their
virtues.
Not many months before, the earl of Rivers, with a band of Englishmen,
aided at the siege of Loxa, and distinguished himself by his undaunted
bravery; his blunt but gay humour; his eager emulation with the Spanish
commanders. The duke of York heard, with a leaping heart, his mother's
brother's name. Had he still been there; but no, he had returned to fall
in affray in Britany, the victim of Tudor's heartless desertion--this
circumstance had given distinction and honour to the name of Englishmen;
nor did Edmund feel inclined to lower the national character by keeping
away from the scene of glory. What was to be done? York was a mere boy;
yet when Plantagenet spoke of serving under one of the illustrious
Catholic chieftains, York said, "I follow you; I will be your squire,
your page, your stirrup-boy; but I follow!"
In 1489 the siege of Baza was formed. It was defended with desperate
valour by the Moors, while every noble Spaniard capable of bearing arms
assembled in Ferdinand's camp, which glittered in silks and gay
caparisons; yet the very luxury of the warriors was ennobled by their
valour. The sallies on the part of the besieged were furious; the
repulse they sustained, determined and successful. When closely hemmed
in, the Moors relaxed in their desperate efforts. The younger Christian
cavaliers used the leisure so afforded them to unite in making
incursions in the surrounding country, to cut off supplies, and to
surprise the foraging-parties of the enemy. Two youths became
conspicuous in these exploits; both proclaimed their English origin. One
bore a knight's golden spurs (Edmund had been knighted on the eve of the
battle of Stoke by the earl of Lincoln), and boasted of his royal,
though illegitimate, descent; the other, a beardless, fair-haired,
blooming boy, was nameless, save by the Christian appellation of
Ricardo, to which was added the further designation of El Muchacho, from
his extreme youth. It was a lovely yet an awful sight to behold this
pair. The elder, whose dark eyes and dun complexion gave him a greater
resemblance to his southern comrades, never lost sight of his young
friend; side by side, his shield before Richard's breast, they went to
the field. When Edmund would otherwise have pressed forward, he hung
back to guard his cousin; and when the boy was hurried forward in the
ardour of fight, still his kinsman's gaze was on him--his sword
protecting him in every aspect of danger. If the stripling were
attacked, Edmund's eyes flashed fire, and mortal vengeance fell upon his
foe. They became the discourse of the camp; and Plantagenet's modesty,
and Richard's docility in all, save avoiding peril, advanced them still
further in the favour of the grave, courteous Spaniards. "Art thou,
then, motherless?" Isabel asked; "if thou art not, thy gentle parent
must pass many wakeful nights for thee!" At length, in one skirmish,
both the youths got surrounded by the foe. Richard's young arm, wearied
by the very sword he bore, gave ineffectual blows. Forgetting that he
left himself unguarded, Edmund rushed between him and his assailant;
others came to their assistance; but Plantagenet was already struck to
the ground; and for many weeks York forgot even the glorious emulation
of arms, while watching over his best and dearest friend. Meanwhile Baza
surrendered; and the cousins returned to Alcala, to Madeline and her
fair child; and domestic peace succeeded to the storms of war. Richard
loved Madeline as his mother; her daughter was his sister, his angel
sister, whose tenderness and heroism of character commanded deep
affection.
Monina de Faro was, even in childhood, a being to worship and to love.
There was a dreamy sweetness in her countenance, a mystery in the
profound sensibility of her nature, that fascinated beyond all compare.
Her characteristic was not so much the facility of being impressed, as
the excess of the emotion produced by every new idea or feeling. Was she
gay?--her large eyes laughed in their own brightness, her lovely
countenance became radiant with smiles, her thrilling voice was attuned
to lightest mirth, while the gladness that filled her heart overflowed
from her as light does from the sun, imparting to all around a share of
its own essence. Did sorrow oppress her?--dark night fell upon her
mind, clouding her face, oppressing her whole person, which staggered
and bent beneath the freight. Had she been susceptible of the stormier
passions, her subtle and yielding soul would have been their unresisting
victim--but though impetuous--wild--the slave of her own sensations,
her soft bosom could harbour no emotion unallied to goodness: and the
devouring appetite of her soul, was the desire of benefiting all around
her. Her countenance was the mirror of her mind. Its outline resembled
those we see in Spanish pictures, not being quite oval enough for a
northern beauty. It seemed widened at the forehead, to give space for
her large, long eyes, and the canopy of the darkly fringed and veined
lid: her hair was not black, but of a rich sunny chesnut, finer than
carded silk, and more glossy; her skin was delicate, somewhat pale,
except when emotion suffused it with a deep pink. In person, she was not
tall, but softly rounded; and her taper, rosy-tipped fingers, and little
feet, bespoke the delicate proportion that moulded her form to a beauty,
whose every motion awakened admiration and love.
With these companions Richard passed the winter. The following spring
brought war still nearer to the English exiles--Baza had fallen; one of
the kings of Granada, surnamed El Zagal, the Valiant, had submitted to
the Spaniards: and now Ferdinand commanded his former ally, Boabdil el
Chico, to deliver up to him proud Granada, the loved city of the Moors.
Poor Boabdil, whose misfortunes had been prophesied at his birth, and
whose whole career had been such as to affix to him the surname of el
Zogoybi, or the Unfortunate, was roused from his state of opprobrious
vassalage by this demand, and followed up his refusal by an inroad into
the Christian country, near Jaen. Count de Tendilla, a veteran warrior
of high reputation and brilliant exploits, commanded this district. His
headquarters were in the impregnable fortress of Alcala-la-Real itself;
and when the cry came, that the Moors had passed his border, he resolved
to stoop from his eagle's eyrie, and to pounce upon the insolent foe, as
they returned from their incursion. He chose one hundred and fifty men,
and lay in ambush for them. Plantagenet was of the number, and our young
warrior also; though with sage entreaties Edmund, and with tears
Madeline, had besought him to stay. The count succeeded to his
wish--the Moors fell into his toils--few escaped slaughter or capture:
but while the Christian hero exulted in victory, a messenger, pale with
horror, spent with weariness, came to tell that a band of Moors had
taken advantage of his absence, to fall upon Alcala. Indignation and
fury possessed the noble captain; he left half his troop to protect his
spoil, and with the rest, all weary as they were, he hurried back to
Alcala, eager to fall upon the marauders before they should have secured
their prey in a neighbouring fortress. Edmund and Richard were among the
foremost; their rage could only be calmed by the swiftness with which
they returned to deliver or avenge their friends. The sun was sinking in
the west when they arrived at the foot of the Sierra. At first Tendilla
desired that his wearied troop should repose; but several stragglers
among the enemy, perceiving them, gave the alarm to their comrades, who,
laden with booty, were preparing to depart. Harassed as the Christians
were, they had no choice, while their position, on the lower ground,
rendered their attack very disadvantageous. But nothing could check
their fury: with loud cries and flashing weapons they fell upon the
enemy, who, burthened by their prey and wearied by their very outrages,
could ill resist men fighting to avenge their desolated hearths. Still,
so accustomed to war, so innately brave was every soldier on either
side, that the combat was long and sanguinary. Night, the swift-walking
darkness of the nights of the south, came suddenly upon the combatants:
the casques of one party, and the turbans of the other, were scarce
perceptible, to guide the scimitar, or to serve as an aim for the
arquebus. The discomfited Moors, leaving their booty, dispersed along
the defiles, and, forgetful of their prisoners, availed themselves of
the obscurity to make good their flight. Alcala was retaken; and through
the shadows of night, husbands and fathers called aloud on their wives
and children to tell them if they were safe, while many a sound of
woman's wail arose over the corpse of him who had died to save her.
The troop, diminished in number, was drawn up the following morning in
the square of Alcala. "Where," asked the count, "are my two English
soldiers? I saw the elder leading five others across a steep
mountain-path, so as to fall on the enemy's rear; it was a sage measure,
and succeeded well. Ricardo I beheld contending with two bearded Moors,
who held in their fierce grasp a young and fainting girl. I sent Diego
to his rescue: Diego, they say, was slain: night prevented me from
knowing more: have both these strangers fallen? I would pay them a
Spaniard's thanks for their aid--a knight's praise for their
gallantry."
Alas! both thanks and praise would have visited their ears coldly. They
had forgotten Tendilla, his troop, the very Christian cause, in the
overwhelming calamity that had befallen them. Assisted by Diego, who was
cut down in the conflict, Richard had delivered Monina; and, forcing his
way through the enemy, now already scattered, clambered with her in his
arms to their mountain abode: he was guided towards it by the glaring
light of the flames that destroyed it. Meanwhile, the fight still raged;
York placed Monina in safety, and returned to share its perils.
The peace of desolation that came with the morning united the cousins;
and they sought the ruins of their home, and their miserable friend,
whose broken and harrowing tale recorded how Madeline had fallen a
victim to the savage cruelty of the enemy, as she strove to defend her
daughter from impending slavery.
This was the result of Moorish wars--death and misery. Richard's young
heart had bounded to the sound of trump and clarion; and he returned to
hear the melancholy bell that tolled for death. Their very home was in
ruins; but it was long before, amidst deeper woe, they remembered to
lament the destruction of many papers and hoarded objects, the relics
and the testimonies of Richard's royal descent.
[Footnote 1: I had originally entered more at large on a description of
Andalusia, and the history of the conquest of Granada. The subsequent
publication of Mr. Washington Irving's very interesting work has
superseded the necessity of this deviation from the straight path of my
story. Events which, in their romantic detail, were before only to be
found in old Spanish folios, are now accessible to every English reader,
adorned by the elegance of style, and arranged with the exquisite taste,
which characterize the very delightful "Chronicle of the Conquest of
Granada."]
CHAPTER XII
THE CHALLENGE
Ah! where are they who heard in former hours
The voice of song in these neglected bowers?
They are gone!
MOORE.
The chain is loos'd, the sails are spread,
The living breath is fresh behind;
As with dews and sunrise fed,
Comes the laughing morning wind.
SHELLEY.
This was a gloomy lesson for these young and affectionate beings; they
consoled one another, and wept as they consoled. At first Monina
despaired; her ceaseless laments and unassuaged grief appeared to
undermine her very life; but, when she marked the sorrow she
communicated, when she heard Richard exclaim, "Oh! for spring and
battle, when I may avenge Monina's grief, or die! Death is a thousand
times preferable to the sight of her woe!" and felt that the fate and
happiness of those about her depended on her fortitude: she forced
smiles back to her lips, and again her sweet eyes beamed, undimmed by
tears.
Spring came at last, and with it busy preparation for the siege of
Granada; troop after troop defiled through Alcala, bearing the various
ensigns of the noble commanders; the Count Tendilla, leaving his
mountain nest, united himself to the regal camp before the devoted city;
Isabella joined her royal husband accompanied by her children. Where
women looked on the near face of war, even the timid were inspired to
bear arms. The reputation the English warrior youths had gained forbade
inglorious ease, even had they not aspired with their whole hearts for
renown; yet Plantagenet looked forward with reluctance to the leading
forth his brave, dear cousin to new dangers; divided between pride in
his valour, satisfaction at his thus being schooled to arms, and terror
from the perils to which he would be exposed in a war, on the side of
the enemy, of despair and fury--his thoughtful eyes rested on the young
prince's glowing cheek, his unsullied youth; if wound or fatal hurt
maimed his fair proportion, how should he reply to his widowed mother's
agony? If, snapt like a poor flowret, he fell upon the death-strewn
Vega, what tale should he report to the ardent Yorkists? None! At least
he should be pierced only through him, and Edmund's corse would rampart
his heart, even when he had died to save him.
Thus they again appeared in the Spanish army, and were hailed as among
its ornaments. Whatever desperate enterprise kindled the young Spaniards
to heroic frenzy, found the English pair among their numbers. At the
beginning of the siege, the Moors, few in numbers, and often defeated,
cheated victory of its triumph by various challenges to single combat,
where many a Spaniard fell: their frays resembled, in the splendour of
their armour and their equipments, the stately ceremonial of the
tournaments, but they were deadly in the event. Ferdinand, sure of
victory, and reluctant to expose the noble youth of his kingdom to
needless peril, forbade these duels; and the Moors enraged, multiplied
their insults and their bravadoes, to draw their enemies to the field;
nor lost any opportunity of committing the defence of their beloved city
to the risk of battle, rather than the slow progress of famine. One
memorable engagement took place on occasion of the visit of Queen
Isabella to the hamlet of Zubia, there to obtain a nearer view of
beautiful Granada. The Moors seeing the Spanish troops in array before
their walls, came out to attack them; a battle was fought under the very
eyes of the queen, wherein it was the good fortune of Richard to make so
gallant a figure, that on the very spot the Count Tendilla conferred on
him the honour of knighthood.
Proud was the young duke of York, and eager to paint his maiden shield
with worthy device; he was now nearly eighteen, boyish in aspect, yet
well-knit in person, and accustomed to the fatigue of arms. He no longer
burst on his foes, like an untrained dog, seeking only to slay: there
was forethought in his eye, and a most careful selection of worthy and
valorous opponents. Edmund still was to be found within a javelin's
throw of him; but he no longer feared his untaught rashness, as before
he had done.
In July occurred the conflagration of the Christian camp. The day
following, Ferdinand led forth his troops to make a last ravage among
the gardens and orchards, the emerald girdle of Granada. During the
fray, it was the young duke's chance to throw his javelin so as to slay
on the spot a veteran Moor, whose turban having fallen off, exposed him
thus. His companion in arms, a tall fierce Moslem, rushed forward to
fell the insolent youth; others interposed. Still the Moor kept his eye
upon his boyish foe; a thousand times he threw his dart; twice or thrice
he rushed on him with uplifted scimitar: the battle racked among the
orchard-paths and flowery hedges of the thickly-planted gardens, and
ever some obstruction thwarted the infidel. Plantagenet had marked his
rage and his purpose; he watched him keenly, and the fierce Gomelez
boiled with impatient indignation, as some impediment for ever baffled
his design. His last effort was to fling an arrow, which stuck in the
ground quivering at Richard's feet: a label was affixed--"Dog and
infidel," thus was the cartel worded--"if thou hast courage, meet me at
dawn at the Fountain of Myrtles."
The following morning, at the hour when Plantagenet was wont to see his
cousin, the prince was absent. Noon approached; the troops reposed after
the battle of the day before, or were employed in clearing the dark
ruins of the camp: some thoughtless project might occupy the duke: some
excursion to the other side of Granada. The shades of evening gathered
round the lofty towers, and dimmed the prospect of its Vega: still
Richard came not. Sad, anxious night drew near. Edmund roved through the
camp, questioning, seeking; at last, on the morrow he heard the report,
that the previous evening a cavalier had seen Almoradi Gomelez issue
from a little wood half a league from the city, and ride towards a
postern; that he was galloping up to him, when he saw the Moor totter in
his saddle, and at last fall from his horse; before succour could come,
he died. His last words only spoke of the Fountain of Myrtles; in agony
of spirit, for Gomelez had surely stricken to death his stripling foe,
ere he left the place of combat, Edmund hurried to the spot; the herbage
round the fountain was trampled and torn, as by horses' hoofs. It was
moistened, but not with water; a bank, thickly overgrown with geraniums,
bore the print of a man's form, but none was there.
Monina had been left in Alcala-la-Real, a prey to fear, to gaze from the
steep summit on the plain, whereon, beyond her sight, was acted the real
drama of her life; to question the wounded, or the messengers that
visited Alcala, and to address prayers to the Virgin, were the sad
varieties! of her day. In the midst of this suspense, two unexpected
guests visited her abode--her father, and an Irish chieftain; a
Yorkist, who came to lead the duke from his Spanish abode, to where he
might combat for his lost crown. De Faro had not heard of the death of
Madeline; and with awe his child beheld the tears that bedewed his
rugged checks at this sad termination of his ocean-haunting vision. He
embraced his daughter--"Thou wilt not desert me; we will leave this
fated spot: and thou, Monina, will sail for ever with thy father on the
less barbarous sea."
De Faro's companion was named Lord Barry. He was baron of Buttevant, in
the county of Cork, and allied to the Geraldines, chiefs of that soil.
He had fought at Stoke, and been attainted by Henry; so that he was
forced to wander a banished man. Eager to reinstate himself, every
Yorkist plot numbered him among its warmest partizans. He had for some
time resided either at Paris or at Brussels, where he often held counsel
with Lady Brampton. Weary of delay, he at last stole back to Ireland, to
see whether his noble kinsmen there would abet and rise in favour of the
duke of York. He came away, proud and delighted with his success;
promises of service for the White Rose had been showered on him--his
eloquence and enthusiasm conquered even Lady Brampton. War also seemed
impending between France and England; if that were once declared, every
objection would be obviated. At any rate, the times seemed so fair, that
she agreed with Lord Barry to visit the present home of the young
English prince; and, as if to further their designs. Sir Edward Brampton
was at that moment requested by the Archduke Maximilian to undertake a
private embassy to Lisbon. Thither they had sailed, and now, leaving
this lady in Portugal, Lord Barry had continued his voyage to Andalusia,
with the intention of returning again to Lisbon, accompanied by the
promise and hope of the house of York. He met De Faro in the port of
Malaga: the name was familiar to him. They journeyed together to
Alcala-la-Real.
Lord Barry was all eagerness that the English prince should immediately
join Lady Brampton at Lisbon. It was agreed that they should proceed
thither in De Faro's caravel. The mariner abhorred the name of warfare
between Spaniard and Moor; and Madeline's death only added poignancy to
this sensation. He would not look on the siege of Granada. While the
Irish noble and Monina proceeded to the camp to prepare the cousins, he
returned to Malaga to bring round his vessel to the nearer port of
Almeria. Lord Barry and the fair Moor commenced their journey on the
morning of a most burning day; they wound down the steep declivities of
the Sierra, and entered upon the bright blooming plain. Noon with all
its heat approached. They rested under a grove of mulberries, reposing
by a brook, while Lord Barry's horse and Monina's mule were tied to the
nearest shrubs. Slight accidents are the wires and pullies on which the
machinery of our lives hang. Stung by flies, the noble horse grew
restive, broke his rein, and galloped away; through the thick shade his
master pursued, till tramp of feet and crackling of branches died on
Monina's ear. A quarter of an hour, half an hour passed, when on her
solitude came a Moorish voice, an exclamation in the name of Allah, and
the approach of several men whom already she painted as enemies. To take
to her mule, to ride swiftly through the grove, was the impulse of her
fear; and, when again silence gave her token of security, she found that
she had lost her way. It was only after many vain attempts that she
extricated herself from the wood, and then perceived that she had
wandered from the direct road to Granada, whose high towers were visible
at a distance. The burning July noon-day sun scorched her. Her mule
lagged in his pace. As a last effort, she sought a plantation of elms,
not far distant. The grateful murmur of flowing waters saluted her ears
as she approached. For a few minutes more she was exposed to the glaring
sunshine, and then entered the cool umbrage of the trees--the soft
twilight of woven leaves and branches; a fountain rose in the midst, and
she hastened to refresh herself by sprinkling herself with cool waters.
Thus occupied, she thought she was alone in this sequestered nook, when
a crash among the underwood startled her: the mule snorted aloud, and
from the brake issued a mare caparisoned with saddle and bridle. She had
lost her rider; yet her distended nostrils, the foam that flaked her
sides, the shiver that made her polished skin quiver, spoke of recent
contest or flight. She looked on her--could it be? She called her
"Daraxa," and the animal recognized her voice; while, in answer to the
dreadful surmises that awoke in her heart, a low groan was heard from
the near bank. Turning, she beheld the form of a man lying on the
herbage; not dead, for he groaned again, and then stirred, as if with
returning sense. Quick as lightning, she was at his side; she unlaced
his helmet, nor did she need to look at his pallid countenance to be
assured of what she already knew, that Richard of England lay there, but
for her help, expiring. She filled his helm with water, and sprinkling
it over him, he opened his eyes, and groaning again, strove to clasp his
head with his unnerved hand. With light fairy fingers she released him
from his coat of mail, and saw on his right sight side a mass of
congealed blood, which his faintness had made cease to flow from his
wound, bearing that it would bleed again as he revived, she bound it
with his scarf and her own veil, and then gave him water to drink; after
which he showed still more certain signs of recovery.
It was wonder to him to find himself alive, when already he had believed
the bitterness of death to be passed; still greater wonder was it to
behold his own sweet Monina, like a spirit of good, hovering over to
recover him. He tried to raise himself, and she bent down to support
him, resting his head on her gentle heart; he felt its beating, and
blest her with a thousand soft thanks and endearing names. Though the
wound in his side was deep, yet now that the blood was staunched, it did
not seem dangerous. The immediate cause of his swoon was a stunning blow
on his head, which had beat in the iron of his helm, but inflicted no
further injury. It was long, however, before he could move; and the
evening shades had made it almost night, before he could sit his horse
and slowly quit the wood. Wishing to conduct him to where they might
find succour, Monina directed his steps to a village, east of the grove.
They had hardly ridden half a mile, when Richard felt dizzy; he faintly
called her to his side--she received him as he fell, and, supporting
him to a bank, called aloud in agony, in hopes that some wandering
soldier or peasant might be near to aid them. It happened to her wish;
several countrymen, who had been carrying fruit to the Christian camp,
passed them--she conjured them, in the Virgin's name, to assist a
soldier of the faith, a crusader in their cause. Such an appeal was
sacred in their ears; they contrived, with the poles and baskets in
which they had carried their fruit, covering them with a part of their
habiliments and the saddle-cloths of the animals, to form a sort of
litter, on which they placed Richard. Monina followed on foot, clasping
his hand; the men led the horses: and thus they proceeded up the
mountains to a village about two leagues from Granada, where every house
was open to them. The prince was permitted to repose in the habitation
of the Alcalde, and the deep sleep into which he soon fell was a dear
assurance to his friend's anxious heart, of the absence of danger, and a
promise of speedy recovery.
Yet the night that began so well with the patient, wore a less
prosperous appearance towards the conclusion. Monina sat beside his
couch, and perceived with alarm symptoms of pain and fever. According to
the custom of the time, she had acquired some little skill in surgery;
this, when the wound came to be dressed, made her acquainted with its
irritated and dangerous appearance. As the heat of the day came on, the
prince's sufferings increased. In this little village there was neither
physician nor medicaments necessary for the emergency; and the place
itself, low-built, hedged in by mountains, and inhabited by peasants
only, was ill suited for the patient. She resolved that he should that
night be removed to a town on the eastern side of the mountains,
overlooking the plain bordering the sea. A litter was prepared; and she,
fatigued by her journey, and by long and painful solicitude, yet walked
beside it, listening to his low breathing, catching the smallest sound
he made in complaint or questioning. Before she quitted the village, she
employed a peasant to seek Plantagenet, and convey to him intelligence
of the actual state of his friends.
After three days of fear and anxious care, the wound began to heal, and
Richard became convalescent. Who could tell, during the long hours that
composed those days and nights, the varying emotions that agitated poor
Monina? That he should die, was a thought in which, in its extent and
reality, she never indulged: but an awful fear of what of suffering the
coming hours might produce, never for a moment slept within her. She
spent long intervals of time kneeling by his couch--her soft fingers on
his pulse, counting the rapid vibration--her cool hand alone tempered
the burning of his brow; and often, supported by her, he slept, while
she remained in the same position, immovable. The very pain this
produced was a pleasure to her, since it was endured for him who was the
idol of her innocent and pure thoughts; she almost lamented when he no
longer needed her undivided attention: the hours she gave to repose came
like beggars following in a procession of crowned heads; they were no
longer exalted by being devoted to him.
After the lapse of three anxious days he grew rapidly better, and at
evening-tide enjoyed at the open casement the thrilling sweetness of the
mountain air. How transporting and ineffable are the joys of
convalescence!--the calm of mind--the voluptuous langour--the
unrebuked abandonment to mere pleasurable sensation--the delight that
every natural object imparts, fill those hours with a dream-like, faint
ecstasy, more dear to memory than tumultuous joy. Monina sat near him,
and it was dangerous for their young hearts thus to be united and alone
in a fairy scene of beauty and seclusion. Monina's ardent spirit was
entranced by delight at his recovery: no thought of self mingled with
the single idea that he was saved--saved for youth, for happiness, and
for his long-lost rights. Darkness crept around them, the clumps of
chesnut trees grew more massy and indistinct--the fire-fly was alive
among the defiles of the hills--the bat wheeled round their humble
dwelling--the heavy-winged owl swept with huge flapping wings out of
the copse. "Are ye here?" were the first sounds that broke the silence;
it was the voice of Edmund. Monina sprung up, and glad to disburthen her
full heart, welcomed with an embrace this beloved friend. "Guardian
angel of our lives," he cried; "you are destined at all times to save
us!" Dear, soothing expressions, which then, formed the joy, long
afterwards the master-impulse of her fervent and devoted spirit.
Each told their tale; the one of hazard and mischance, the other of
agonizing inquietude. For Richard, Edmund had feared; but when, wearied,
terrified, and in despair, Lord Barry had brought intelligence of
Monina's disappearance from the streamlet's side where he had left her,
and of a distant view he had caught of Moorish horsemen who took refuge
in Granada--heaven seemed at once to empty on him its direst curses,
and his fate was sealed with misery for ever.
The peasant dispatched by Monina had delayed; not for three days did he
deliver her letter to Plantagenet, who still, trembling in recollection
of his past terror, and what might have been the ultimate event of the
prince's wound, departed on the moment for ----.
And now farewell to Spain! to romantic Spain, to Moorish and Christian
combat, to the gay fields of the Vega, to the sunny mountains of
Andalusia! De Faro's caravel, true to its appointment, arrived at
Almeria. They embarked; their immediate destination was Lisbon; but
their thoughts were fixed on the promised termination of their
wanderings. Soon they would bend their course far away to the islands
of the turbid Northern sea, where nature veils herself in clouds, where
war assumes a sterner aspect, and the very virtues of the inhabitants
grow stubborn and harsh from the struggle they make to be enabled to
bear the physical ills of existence.
Farewell to Spain! to boyhood's feats, to the light coursing of shadows
as he ran a race with the swift-footed hours. A kingdom calls for
Richard! the trials of life attend him, the hope of victory, the
fortitude of well-endured defeat.
CHAPTER XIII
TEMPTATION
To England, if you will.
SHAKSPEARE.
A thousand recollections and forgotten thoughts revived in Richard's
bosom when he saw his childhood's friend, the Lady Brampton. He was
reminded of his sufferings in the Tower, of his noble cousin Lincoln, of
her maternal tenderness, when under her care he quitted the gloomy
fortress, his brother Edward's tomb. His mother's last embrace again
thrilled through his frame, and Lovel's parting blessing; what sad
changes had chanced since last he saw her! Sad in all, but that he, then
a boy, had sprung up into the riper age of youthful prowess.
Even with the banished prince we must recur to the state of affairs in
the north of Europe. The French king, Charles the Eighth, had directed
all his attempts to the subjugation of Britany, which was now under the
dominion of the youthful Anne, its orphan duchess. The English nation
espoused her cause, watched with jealousy and indignation the progress
of the French arms, and clamoured loudly for war in her support. Henry,
on the contrary, was obstinately bent upon peace, though he took
advantage of his subjects' appetite for war, to foist subsidies upon
them, which were no sooner collected than his armaments were disbanded,
and an ambassador, sent on a mission of peace, was substituted for the
herald ready apparelled for defiance. This could not last for ever.
French policy triumphed in the marriage of Charles the Eighth with Anne
of Britany; and that duchy became finally annexed to the crown of
France. England was roused to indignation; the king, forced to listen to
their murmurs, promised to invade the rival kingdom the following
spring; a benevolence was granted him; all his acts tended to the
formation of an expedition, which was the best hope of York.
Lord Barry was urgent against delay, while the English partisans wished
that Richard's landing in Ireland, and Henry's in France, should be
consentaneous. Nay, they had deeper views. Ireland, since Simnel's
defeat, appeared but a forlorn hope, and they fostered the expectation
of being able to make England itself the scene of their first attempt,
so soon as its king should be fairly engaged in hostilities on the other
side of the Channel. The duke himself, eager as he was to begin his
career, warmly supported this project; communication with the North was
slow meanwhile, and months wore away--not fruitlessly. Richard gained
in every way by the delay; his knowledge of English affairs grew
clearer; his judgment formed; his strength, weakened by the events of
the summer, was restored during the repose and salubrious coolness of
the winter months.
Accident furthered their designs; a visitor arrived from England, who
brought with him accounts so encouraging, that hope blossomed into
certainty in the hearts of the warm-hearted followers of York. But ere
we introduce this new and seemingly important personage, we must return
awhile to England, to speak of Henry's suspicions, his fears, his artful
policy.
All that Frion had achieved through his abortive attempt, had been but
to ascertain the existence of the duke of York, and to spread still
wider the momentous secret; so that Henry, suspicious and irritated,
received him on his return with anger, resenting his failure as the
result of treachery. Frion had been dismissed; and now years passed
over, without the occurrence of any circumstances that spoke of the
orphan heir of the English crown. The king brooded over the secret, but
spoke of it to no one. The royal youth grew to his imagination, as in
reality he did, passing from boyhood to almost man's estate. Yet, when
Henry reflected on the undisturbed state he had enjoyed for years, on
the firmness with which he was seated on the throne, and the strong hold
he had acquired through the lapse of time on his subjects' minds, he
sometimes thought that even Richard's friends would advise him to
continue in an obscurity, which was, at least, void of danger.
Nevertheless, whenever there had been a question of attacking France,
the feeling that his rival was ready to come forward, and that, instead
of a war of invasion, he might have to fight for his own crown,
increased his unwillingness to enter on the contest.
Now rumours were afloat--none knew whence they came, from France or
Ireland--of the existence of King Edward's younger son, and that he
would speedily appear to claim his succession. Henry, who was accustomed
to tamper with spies and informers, was yet the last to hear of a
circumstance so nearly affecting his interests. The name of Lady
Brampton at length reached him, as being abroad on a secret and
momentous expedition. This name had made a considerable figure in
Richard Simon's confessions; it was connected with Lincoln, Lovel, the
dowager queen, all whom the Tudor feared and hated. Yet he paused before
he acted; his smallest movement might rouse a torpid foe; he only
increased his vigilance; and, from past experience knowing that to be
the weak point, he dispatched emissaries to Ireland, to learn if any
commotion was threatened, any tale rife there, that required his
interference. As the time approached when it was expected that the
English prince would declare himself, the policy of his friends greatly
changed; and, far from maintaining their former mysterious silence, the
circumstance of his abode in Spain, and the expectation of his speedy
appearance in Ireland, made, during the winter of 1491-92, a principal
topic among such of the native nobility as the earl of Desmond had
interested in his cause. Henry's spies brought him tidings beyond his
fears; and he saw that the struggle was at hand, unless he could arrest
the progress of events. Meanwhile, he continued to defer his war with
France; he felt that would be the signal for his enemy's attack.
As he reflected on these things, a scheme developed itself in his mind,
on which he resolved to act. The enemy was distant, obscure, almost
unknown; were it possible to seize upon his person where he then was, to
prevent his proposed journey to Ireland, to prepare for him an
unsuspected but secure prison--no cloud would remain to mar his
prospect; and, as to the boy himself, he could hope for nothing better
than his cousin Warwick's fate, unless he had preferred, to the
hazardous endeavour of dethroning his rival, a private and innocuous
life in the distant clime where chance had thrown him. This was to be
thought of no more: already he was preparing for the bound, but ere he
made it, he must be crushed for ever.
In those times, when recent civil war had exasperated the minds of men
one against the other, it was no difficult thing for a Lancastrian king
to find an instrument willing and fitting to work injury against a
Yorkist. During Henry's exile in Brittany, he had become acquainted with
a man, who had resorted to him there for the sole purpose of exciting
him against Richard the Third! he had been a favourite page of Henry the
Sixth, he had waited on his son, Edward, prince of Wales, that noble
youth whose early years promised every talent and virtue; he had
idolized the heroic and unhappy Queen Margaret. Henry died a foul death
in the Tower; the gracious Edward was stabbed at Tewkesbury; the royal
Margaret had given place to the widow Woodville; while, through the
broad lands of England, the sons of York rioted in the full possession
of her wealth. Meiler Trangmar felt every success of theirs as a
poisoned arrow in his flesh--he hated them, as the mother may hate the
tiger whose tusks are red with the life-blood of her first-born--he
hated them, not with the measured aversion of a warlike foe, but the
dark frantic vehemence of a wild beast deprived of its young. He had
been the father of three sons; the first had died at Prince Edward's
feet, ere he was taken prisoner; another lost his head on the scaffold;
the third--the boy had been nurtured in hate, bred amid dire curses and
bitter imprecations, all levelled against Edward the Fourth and his
brothers--his mind had become distorted by the ill food that nurtured
it--he brooded over the crimes of these men, till he believed that he
should do a good deed in immolating them to the ghosts of the murdered
Lancastrians. He attempted the life of the king--was seized--tortured
to discover his accomplices: he was tortured, and the father heard his
cries beneath the dread instrument, to which death came as a sweet
release. Real madness for a time possessed the unhappy man, and when
reason returned, it was only the dawn of a tempestuous day, which rises
on the wrecks of a gallant fleet and its crew, strewn on the dashing
waves of a stormy sea. He dedicated himself to revenge; he had sought
Henry in Brittany; he had fought at Bosworth, and at Stoke. The success
of his cause, and the peace that followed, was at first a triumph, at
last almost a pain to him. He was haunted by memories which pursued him
like the hell-born Eumenides; often he uttered piercing shrieks, as the
scenes, so pregnant with horror, recurred too vividly to his mind. The
priests, to whom he had recourse as his soul's physicians, counselled
him the church's discipline; he assumed the Franciscan habit, but found
sackcloth and ashes no refuge from the greater torture of his mind. This
man, in various ways, had been recalled to Henry's mind, and now he
selected him to effect his purpose.
To any other he would have feared to intrust the whole secret; but the
knowledge that the destined victim was the son and rightful heir of King
Edward, would add to his zealous endeavours to crush him. Besides that
Trangmar had a knowledge of the fact, from having been before employed
to extract in his priestly character this secret from a Yorkist, Sir
George Neville, who had been intrusted by Sir Thomas Broughton. Everything
yielded in this wretch's mind to his hatred of York; and he scrupled not
to hazard his soul, and betray the secrets of the confessional. Neville
fortunately was informed in time of the danger that menaced him, and had
fled; while Trangmar, thunderstruck by the magnitude of his discovery,
hastened to reveal it to the king. It were long to detail each act of
the crafty sovereign, and his scarcely human tool. By his order, the
friar introduced himself to the dowager queen, at Bermondsey, with a
plausible tale, to which she, in spite of her caution, was induced to
give ear, and intrusted a message by him, as he said that he was on his
way to Spain, to seek and exhort to action the dilatory prince. He then
departed. Henry had rather to restrain than urge his furious zeal. The
scheme projected was, that Richard should be entrapped on board a
vessel, and brought with secrecy and speed to England, where he might be
immured for life in some obscure castle in Wales. Trangmar promised that
either he would accomplish this, or that the boy should find a still
more secret prison, whence he could never emerge to disturb the reign of
Henry, or put in jeopardy the inheritance of his son.
Such was the man who, in the month of April, 1492, following Lady
Brampton's steps, arrived at Lisbon, and found to his wish the prince
there also, and easy access afforded him to his most secret counsels. He
brought letters from the dowager queen, and some forged ones from other
partisans of York, inviting the prince, without application to any
foreign sovereigns, or aid from distant provinces, at once to repair to
England, and to set up his standard in the midst of his native land,
where, so these letters asserted, the earl of Surrey and many other
powerful lords anxiously awaited him. All this accorded too well with
the wishes of the little conclave not to insure assent; nay, more, when
Trangmar urged the inexpediency of the duke's being accompanied by such
notorious Yorkists as Plantagenet and Lady Brampton, it was suddenly
agreed that Richard should embark on board a merchantman, to sail with
the next fair wind for England, while his friends dispersed themselves
variously for his benefit. De Faro, in his caravel, was to convey Lord
Barry to Cork. Plantagenet resolved to visit the duchess of Burgundy, at
Brussels. Lady Brampton departed for the court of France, to engage the
king at once to admit young Richard's claim, and aid him to make it
good. "You, sweet, will bear me company;" and Monina, her whole
soul--and her eyes expressed that soul's devotion to Richard's
success--remembered, starting, that the result of these consultations
was to separate her from her childhood's companion, perhaps, for ever.
As if she had tottered on the brink of a precipice, she shuddered; but
all was well again. It was not to be divided from the prince, to remain
with Lady Brampton, to proceed to Paris with her; on his earliest
triumph to make a part of it, and to join his court in London. All these
words, king, victory, and court, wove a golden tissue before the ardent
girl's eyes; she had not yet
"Lifted the painted veil which men call life;"
as a child who chases the glories of the west, she knew not that night
was falling upon her, while still she fancied that she advanced towards
the ever-retreating splendour of the sky.
Lady Brampton and Plantagenet trembled, as they committed their beloved
charge to other hands; they importuned Trangmar with their
injunctions--their entreaties, their thousand last words of care and
love--the friar heard, and smiled assent to all. Monina had need of all
her courage for the hour, which she knew not that she dreaded till it
came. He was going; the truth flashed suddenly upon her--he, from whom
since childhood she had scarcely been absent for a day. So blind had she
been to her own sensations, that it was not until he leaped into the
boat, and put off from shore, that she became aware of the overwhelming
tide of grief, disquiet, almost of despair, that inundated her heart.
Where was her gaiety, her light, ethereal spirit flown? Why lagged the
hours thus? Why did ceaseless reverie seem her only refuge from
intolerable wretchedness?
She had one other solace; she was still with his friends, whose whole
thoughts were spent upon him; his name enriched their discourse; the
chances of his voyage occupied their attention. Little knew they the
strange and tragic drama that was acting on board the skiff that bore
afar the idol of their hopes.
CHAPTER XIV
THE TRAITOR PUNISHED
This friar boasteth that he knoweth hell,
And God it wot that is but litel wonder;
Friars and fiends ben but litel asonder.
CHAUCER.
Richard meanwhile sailed fearlessly, with treachery for his nearest
mate. Trangmar had at once exhibited audacity and prudence in the
arrangement of his plan. He had made no great preparation, nor confided
to any the real object of his intents. His only care had been, that the
duke should sail on board an English vessel; and chance had brought into
the Tagus one whose captain was inclined to the party of Lancaster. He
also contrived to have two hirelings of his own engaged on board as part
of the crew, who knew that it was their employer's design to carry to
England a prisoner for the king. He was besides provided with a warrant
from Henry, empowering him to seize on his rebel subject--the name a
blank, for the monk to fill up--alive or dead. The paper ran thus; so,
in case of struggle, to afford warranty for his darker purpose.
Richard was now a prisoner. The vessel belonging to any country is a
portion of that country; and the deck of this merchantman was virtually
a part of the British soil. The prince, not heeding his position, was so
far from fearing his enemy's power, that he felt glad to find himself
among his countrymen. He looked on the weather-beaten countenances of
the honest sailors, and believed that he should find friends and
partisans in all. He spoke to Trangmar of his purpose of declaring
himself, and gaining them over; making this tiny offshoot of wide
England his first conquest. Trangmar had not anticipated this. He was
ignorant of the versatile and active spirit of the youth with whom he
had to deal; nor had he, by putting himself in imagination in the
prince's place, become aware how the project of acquiring his own was
his sleepless incentive to every action, and how he saw in every event a
stepping-stone in the prosecution of his enterprise. He started at the
proposal, and in his own heart said, "I must lose no time; that which I
thought to do next week, were better done to-morrow." With Richard he
argued against this measure: he showed how the captain was bound to the
present English government by his fortunes; how far more likely it was
that, instead of gaining him and his crew, he would be made a prisoner
by them, and delivered up to his enemy. Richard lent no great credence
to this, but he yielded to the authority of the elder and the priest.
It was not in the power of his wily adversary to prevent him from
ingratiating himself in the hearts of all around him. Besides his
gentleness, his unaffected sympathy, and noble demeanour, his gay and
buoyant spirit was congenial to the reckless sailors, who, during the
dead calm that succeeded their first day's sail after quitting the
Tagus, were glad of amusement to diversify their monotonous lives. He
interceded with their captain when any fault was committed; he learned
their private histories, promised his assistance, and scattered money
among them. Sometimes he called them around him to teach him their art,
discoursing about the stars, the magnet, the signs of the weather; he
climbed the shrouds, handled the ropes, became an adept in their
nautical language. At other times he listened to tales of dreadful
shipwrecks and sailors' hardships, and recounted in turn De Faro's
adventures. This made them talk of the new African discoveries, and
descant on the wild chimeras or sage conclusions of Columbus, who at
last, it was said, was to be sent by the sovereigns of Spain in quest of
the western passage to India, over the slant and boundless Atlantic. All
this time, with flapping sails, they lay but a short distance off the
mouth of the Tagus; and Trangmar, impatient of delay, yet found it
prudent to postpone his nefarious purpose.
After the calm had continued for nearly a week, signs of bad weather
manifested themselves; squalls assailed the ship, settling at last in a
gale, which grew into a tempest. Their little vessel was decked, yet
hardly able to resist the lashing waves of the Bay of Biscay. A leak,
which had shown itself even during the calm, increased frightfully; the
men were day and night employed at the pumps, exposed to the beating
rain, and to the waves, which perpetually washed the deck, drenching
their clothes and bedding; each hour the wind became more furious, dark
water-spouts dipping into the boiling sea, and churning it to fury,
swept past them, and the steep sides of the mountain-high billows were
ready at every moment to overwhelm them. Their tiny bark, which in these
days would scarcely receive a more dignified name than a skiff, was
borne as a leaf on the stream of the wind, its only safety consisting in
yielding to its violence. Often at the worst the men despaired. The
captain himself, frightened at the danger--and, strange inconsistency,
still more fearful of the ruin that must attend him if his vessel were
wrecked--lost all presence of mind. The prince displayed, meanwhile,
all his native energy; he commanded the men, and they obeyed him,
looking on him as a superior being; when, by following his orders, the
progress of the leak was checked, and the tossed bark laboured less
among the surges. "Sailors have short prayers," he said; "but if they
are sincere ones, the saints will not the less intercede for us before
God. Join me, my men, in a pious vow. I swear, by our Lady's precious
name, to walk barefoot to her nearest shrine the first land we touch,
and there to make a gift of incense and candles at her altar. This, if
we escape; if not, here is Father Meiler, a holy Franciscan, to give us
short shrift; so that, like devout Catholics, we may recommend our souls
to the mercy of Jesus. And now to the pump, the ropes; bring me a
hatchet--our mast must overboard."
Three days and nights they worked unremittingly; the lull that then
succeeded was followed by another tempest, and the exhausted mariners
grew desperate. They had been borne far into the Atlantic, and now the
wind shifting, drove them with the same fury into the Bay of Biscay.
Every moment in expectation of death, the heart of Trangmar softened
towards his victim in spite of himself; he was forced to admire his
presence of mind, his unvanquishable courage; his light, yet gentle
spirit, which made him bear up under every difficulty, yet pity those
who sunk beneath, cheering them with accents at once replete with
kindness and fearless submission to the decree of Providence. Feeling
the crew bound to him as his natural subjects, he extended towards them
a paternal love, and felt called upon to guard and save them. After, for
a fortnight, they had thus been the sport of the elements, the gale
decreased; the violent breakers subsided into one long swell, which bore
them into a sheltered cove, in the wild coast that surrounds the Bay of
Biscay. The men disembarked, the vessel was drawn up; all hands were
employed in unlading and repairing her. "Ye do ill," said Richard; "do
you not remember our vow? Doubtless some village is near which contains
a shrine where we may pay it."
This piety was in accord with the spirit of the times; and the men,
rebuked, revered still more the youth who had saved them in danger, and
who now in safety paid, with religious zeal, the debt incurred towards
their heavenly patroness. A little village lay secluded near the creek,
and above it, on a high rock, was a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary of
the Ascension, erected by a noble, who had vowed such offering on
escaping, as the prince of England had, from death on those perilous
seas. Bareheaded, barefooted, bearing lights, following the Franciscan
who led the way, the crew of the St. George proceeded towards the
shrine. Next to the Blessed Virgin, Richard claimed their gratitude; and
after due Aves had been said at the altar, still in the sacred place
they gathered round him, offering their property and their lives,
imploring him to accept from them some pledge of their thankfulness. The
heart of the outcast sovereign swelled within him. "I reign here, in
their breasts I reign," was the thought that filled his bright eyes with
a dew springing from the fulness of his soul. With a smile of triumph he
looked towards Father Meiler, as if to appeal to his judgment, whether
now he might not declare himself, and claim these men's allegiance. He
was startled by the dark and even ferocious expression of Trangmar's
countenance. His coarse brown Franciscan dress, belted in by a rope; the
cowl thrown back, displaying the monkish tonsure; the naked feet: these
were symbols of humility and Christian virtue, in strong contrast with
the deep lines of his face, and the glare of his savage eyes. He met the
glance of his victim, and became confused, while the prince in wonder
hastened to ask what strange thoughts occupied him, painting his visage
with every sign of fierce passion.
"I was thinking," said Trangmar, hesitating; "I was deliberating, since
God has cast us back on the land, whether it were not wiser to continue
our journey through France, bidding farewell to the perils of the ocean
sea?"
"That will I not," cried the prince. "Father Meiler, I watched you
during the storm; you acted no coward's part then; why do you now?"
"When danger is near, I can meet it as a man of courage," said Trangmar;
"when it is far, I can avoid it like a prudent one."
"A good clerical distinction, fit for a monk," replied the duke; "but I,
who am a cavalier, father, love rather to meet danger, than to avoid it
like a woman or a priest."
"Insulting boy!" cried Meiler; "dare you taunt me with cowardice? That I
was a soldier ere I was a monk, some of your race dearly rued!"
Before these words were fully uttered, Trangmar recollected himself; his
voice died away, so that his last expression was inaudible. The duke
only beheld his burst of passion and sudden suppression of it, and said
gently, "Pardon me, father; it is my fault that you forgot the respect
due to me. I forgot the reverence meet from youth to age--most meet
from a sinful boy to a holy monk."
"I thank your highness," said the friar, "for recalling to my memory a
truth that had half escaped it. Henceforth be assured that I will not
forget that you are the undoubted offspring of the earl of March--of
Edward of England."
Fate thus urged this wicked and miserable man to his fiend-like purpose.
Awakened again to deadly vengeance, he resolved to delay no longer; to
trust no more to chance: he saw now all the difficulties of his former
scheme of taking his enemy a prisoner to England; and this soothed his
conscience as he recurred to more fatal designs. During the short delay
that intervened before they again put out to sea, he watched an
opportunity, but found none. At length they weighed anchor; and with a
favourable wind, bore down the coast of France. The time was come, he
surely thought: for during this long voyage he could frame an
opportunity; during some dark night, when the ship sailed cheerily
before a fair breeze, he would engage the prince in engrossing talk
concerning the conduct he should pursue when in England, taking
advantage of his victim's incautiousness to allure him near the brink,
and then push him overboard. His single strength was more than a match
for his slight adversary; but to render his scheme doubly sure, he would
have the two men in his pay near him, to assist, in the case of
struggle, and vouch for his innocence if he were accused of foul play.
It is the fortune of those hurried into crime by violent passion, that
they can seldom find accomplices as wicked as themselves. Thus was it
with Trangmar. The men whose assistance he relied upon, the enthusiasm
of their fellow-sailors for their noble passenger. After they had again
set sail, the wind blowing gently from the south, bore them onwards with
a favourable navigation, till, shifting a few points eastward, it began
to freshen. It was then that the Franciscan, not wholly betraying his
purpose, but hinting that their presence would be necessary, ordered his
men to contrive that the rest of the crew should be below, and they near
at hand, while he that night should be alone with Richard upon deck. One
of the men replied by stoutly declaring that if any evil was threatened
the prince, he would not be a party in it. "You possess King Henry's
warrant," he said, "to make this Fitzroy a prisoner. I will not oppose
his majesty's command. You have him safely; what would you more?"
The other apparently yielded an assent to his employer's commands, and
then found a speedy opportunity to warn Richard of his danger A veil
fell from the prince's eyes. "Surely I knew this before," he thought;
"ever since I was in Saint Mary's Chapel, I must have known that this
dastard monk was my enemy. I am indeed betrayed, alone, friendless, on
board an English vessel, surrounded by an English crew. Now let the
trial be made, whether simple honesty be not of more avail than cruelty
and craft. But first let me fathom the full intention of this man, and
learn whether he have a worse design than that of delivering me over
defenceless to my adversary. It cannot be that he would really murder
me."
The breeze had rather sunk towards sunset, but it arose again with the
stars; the vessel's prow struck against the light waves, and danced
gaily on through the sea. One man stood at the helm; another, one of the
friar's hirelings, loitered near; the other kept out of the way. Still,
beneath the thousand stars of cloudless night, the little bark hurried
on, feeling the freshening of the wind; her larboard beam was deep in
the water, and close at the deck's leeward edge, Meiler and his intended
victim paced. One thoughtless boy, high among the shrouds, whistled in
answer to the winds. There was at once solitude and activity in the
scene. "This is the hour," thought Richard; "surely if man's sinful
heart was ever touched with remorse, this man's may now. God's throne,
visible in all its beauty above us--beneath, around, the awful roaring
waters, from which we lately so miraculously escaped." He began to speak
of England, of his mother, of the hopes held out to him by his
companion; eager in his desire of winning a traitor to the cause of
truth, he half forgot himself, and then started to find that, ever as he
walked, his companion got him nearer to the brink of the slant, slippery
deck. Seized with horror at this manifestation of the worst designs, yet
scarcely daring to credit his suspicions, he suddenly stopped, seizing a
rope that swung near, and steadying himself by winding his arm round it,
an act that escaped his enemy's observation, for, as he did it, he
spoke: "Do you know, Father Meiler, that I suspect and fear you? I am an
inexperienced youth, and if I am wrong, forgive me; but you have changed
towards me of late, from the kind friend you once were. Strange doubts
have been whispered: do you reply to them. Are you my friend, or are you
a treacherous spy?--the agent of the noble Yorkists, or Henry Tudor's
hireling murderer?"
As he spoke, the friar drew still nearer, and the prince recoiled
farther from him: he got on the sheer edge of the deck. "Rash boy!"
cried Trangmar, "know that I am no hireling: sacred vengeance pricks me
on! Son of the murderer! tell me, where is sainted Henry? where Prince
Edward? where all the noble martyrs of his cause? where my brave and
lost sons? There, even where thou shalt be: quick, look back, thy grave
yawns for thee!"
With the words he threw himself furiously on the prince: the stripling
sprung back with all the force lent him by the rope he held, and pushed
at the same time Trangmar violently from him, as he cried aloud on the
sailors, "What, ho! treason is among us!" A heavy splash of the falling
Meiler answered his call: the strong man was cast down in his very
pride; the waters divided, and sucked him in. In a moment the crew were
on deck; Trangmar's hireling, scared, cried out, "He is King Henry's
prisoner! seize him!" thus increasing the confusion. The friar, his
garments floating, now appeared struggling among the waves; a rope was
thrown to him; the vessel sped on meanwhile, and it fell far short;
Richard, horror-struck, would have leapt in to save his enemy; but the
time was gone. One loud shriek burst on the ear of night, and all was
still; Trangmar, his misery, his vengeance, and his crimes, lay buried
in the ocean's hoary caves.
What explanation could follow this tremendous incident? The prince spoke
of his life attacked; the men of the warrant their master had for his
seizure: what was his crime none knew. "That will I declare freely,"
said the royal youth; "that unhappy man has sealed my truth by his
death. In my childhood I was nurtured in a palace, and bore the title of
the duke of York. Edward the Fourth was my father, Edward the Fifth my
brother."
"Why this is foulest treason," cried the trembling captain.
"Ay, or fairest loyalty; speak, my friends; which of you will lay hands
on your liege, on Richard the Fourth of England?"
The reckless and ignorant sailors, riotously and with one acclaim, swore
to die for him; but their commander shuddered at the peril that beset
him: while his men were hanging round their idolized prince, he retired
with his mate to lament the ugly chance of Trangmar's death, and to
express terror at the very name of York. If the captain was a
coward-friend of Tudor, the mate was a sturdy Lancastrian; he
recommended his chief to seize the boy, and convey him a welcome gift to
his sovereign; the clamours of the delighted crew showed that this was
vain advice. He had said to them, with all the ingenuousness of youth,
"My life is in your hands, and I know that it is safe." Yet, when they
spoke of seizing their unwilling commander, and of delivering the vessel
in his hands, he said, "My good friends, I will not make lawless acts
the stepping-stones to my throne; it is grief enough for me that my
young hands have unwittingly destroyed the life of one who, not as an
armed knight, but in holy garb set himself against me. I myself will
persuade your captain to do me all the service I require."
This poor man was willing enough to hear what he called reason; at first
he would fain have entreated Richard to suffer himself to be carried a
prisoner to England; and, when he found his discourse vain, he yielded
timid obedience to York's wishes, in spite of the lowering brow of his
mate: thus, at least, his cargo would be saved, and his crew preserved
from mutiny. Richard simply requested to be set on shore in Cork
harbour, suddenly relinquishing every thought of England, now that he
saw the treachery that awaited him there, and recurring to the former
plans of Lord Barry. In Ireland, in the county of the Desmonds, he
should find friends, adherents, almost prepared for his arrival; and
there also, if Barry forgot not his promise, this stanch partisan would
speedily join him: the captain gladly assented to any project that did
not force him to land this dangerous pretender on the English shores.
For one week they ran before the wind; and Ireland, far and low, was
discernible on the horizon; the dear land of promise to the weary exile,
the betrayed, but high-hearted prince: during this short navigation it
had required all his fortitude to banish from his mind the image of the
friar struggling in the waves, of a man precipitated in the very act of
crime "unhouseled, unanointed, unannealed," into the life-quenching
waters. Besides all other expectations, Richard longed to get on shore,
that in a confessional he might lift this burthen of involuntary guilt
from his soul.
At length the iron-bound coast was right ahead; the ponderous rocky jaws
of the creek were open, and they sailed up Passage, past beautiful and
woody islands, under forest-crowned hills, till they cast anchor before
the picturesque and hill-set city of Cork, whose quay was crowded by
multitudes, gazing on the newly-arrived vessel.
The duke of York stood on the prow of his skiff, reflecting on the first
step he ought to take. He knew little of Ireland, and that little had
been gleaned from Lord Barry: he heard from him of its warlike chiefs,
its uncivilized septs, and English settlers, scarce less wild, and quite
as warlike as its aboriginal inhabitants. He called to mind the names
most familiar to him--the earl of Kildare, abettor of Simnel, pardoned
by Henry, and continued in his office of Lord Deputy; the earl of
Desmond, whom Lord Barry had particularly interested in his favour, who
affected the state of an Irish chieftain, or rather king, and who, in
his remote abode in Munster, disdained to attend the Dublin parliament,
or to make one of the lawful governors of the land. Other names he
remembered of less note: Plunket, the lord chief justice, whom, with
infinite reluctance, Henry had pardoned; Keating, prior of Kilmainham,
who had been constable of Dublin Castle, and who, ejected from his
office after the battle of Stoke, had saved himself by flight, and was
now concealed in an abbey near Buttevant. Much, however, of what he had
heard, escaped his memory; and he stood on the threshold of this unknown
land, vainly seeking in his recollection for the dim and shadowy forms
which were to guide him in the new and unexplored world before him.
Another reflection also presented itself: Lord Barry had quitted Ireland
the year before, and communication there had been none since then--Was
Kildare still deputy? did incursions of the natives, or turbulence among
themselves, occupy the lords of the Pale? Should he find a band of
nobles and their followers ready to assist him, or the motley population
of a barbarous wild, whose sole ideas were internal struggles for power,
whose watchwords for enterprise were names and things in which he had no
portion?
In a hurried manner, York resolved on his plan of action. He had, on
their approach to land, arrayed himself in gay and rich apparel. The
Spain from which he came was parent of this act: there embroidery,
housings inlaid with gold, and arms encrusted with jewels, formed the
pride of the high-born cavaliers. He stood prepared to land; he thanked
the captain for his enforced courtesy; he held out his hand to the crew,
who gathered round him with their prayers and blessings. "My own!" was
his first thought as he set his foot on shore: "Hail, realm of my
fathers! Hear the vow of the fugitive who claims your sway! Justice,
mercy, and paternal love, are the gifts with which I will repay your
obedience to my call; your submission to my rule."
"Heave the anchor, and away!" thus spoke the captain of the craft he had
left.
"For England; to warn our king of this springal's insolent presumption,"
said the mate.
"To any quarter of the wide world, save England," replied the timid
captain: "Would you have me run my neck into the noose for not having
clapped under hatches this mercurial spark? Master mate, learn from an
old sailor, that the best you can do with kings and grandees, is to have
nought to do with them."
CHAPTER XV
THE LANDING AT CORK
Then Paridell, in whom a kindly pride
Of gracious speech, and skill his words to frame
Abounded, being glad of so fit tide
Him to commend to them, thus spake, of all well eyed.
SPENSER.
Cork was an asylum for civilization in the centre of a savage district.
The cautious burghers, made wealthy by trade, and ever in fear of
incursions from the surrounding septs, kept the strictest guard upon
their city, as if they had a continual siege laid to it. They forbade
all intercourse or intermarriage between those within and without the
walls, till every citizen became linked together by some sort of
kindred. It is true, that the country around was peopled to a great
degree by English lords; but they were the degenerate English, as they
were styled, who imitated the state and independence of the native
chiefs. Such was the earl of Desmond, of the family of the Geraldines,
who ruled as a king over Munster, and with whom the Barrys, the De
Courcys, the Barrets, and the Mac Carthys, Mac Swineys, and other native
chiefs, were connected by marriage, or struggling with him for
"chieferie" in the mutable chance of war.
There was no appearance of timidity in the frank and assured aspect of
the unfriended adventurer, as, without entering the city, but merely
passing through its suburbs, he proceeded to the cathedral church. It
was twelve o'clock on the 24th of June, the feast of Saint John the
Baptist; and high mass was celebrating. The duke of York entered the
church--his soul was filled with pious gratitude for his escape from
the dangers of the sea, and the craft of his enemies; and, as he knelt,
he made a vow to his sainted patroness, the Virgin, to erect a church on
the height which first met his eyes as he approached shore, and to endow
a foundation of Franciscans--partly, because of all monkish orders they
chiefly venerate her name, partly to atone for his involuntary crime in
the death of Meiler Trangmar, who wore that habit. The appearance of
this young, silken-suited, and handsome cavalier, drew the eyes of
Erin's blue-eyed daughters:--the men whispered together that he must be
some Spanish grandee or English noble; but wherefore, unannounced and
unattended, he came and knelt in their church before the shrine of Saint
Finbar, was matter of vague conjecture. The congregation passed out;
then, impelled by curiosity, formed a wide semicircle round the gates of
the cathedral, watching the motions of the graceful stranger. Master
John Lavallan, the mayor, John O'Water, the wealthiest citizen, and
former mayor of the town, and other rich burghers, stood close to the
Round Tower within the walls of the Garth, in expectation of being
addressed by their distinguished visitor. The duke of York cast a quick
glance around; and then, as the mayor advanced, the youth stepped
forward to meet him. The citizen, as one habituated to exercise
hospitality, bade the knight welcome, beseeching him to honour his abode
with his presence, and to command his services. The duke frankly
accepted the invitation, and descended with the mayor into the main
street, where that officer resided; and here again Richard was made
welcome to the city of Cork.
It was a gala day at the mayor's; and now, at the dinner hour, twelve
o'clock, the long tables groaned under the weight of viands, and round
the hospitable board were seated the principal families of the town. No
questions were asked the visitor--his golden spurs bespoke his
honourable rank; he was placed at the right hand of Lavallan; and, while
the clatter of knives and trenchers went on, he was only remarked by the
younger guests, who gazed, even to the injury of their appetites, on his
burnished ringlets, his fair open brow, his bright blue eyes, and smile
of courteous affability: but time went on; the dishes were carried away,
the goblets placed; when the mayor, rising, drank welcome to the
stranger, and asked, if no reason forbade him to reply, his name and
mission. Already Richard had become acquainted with most of the
countenances of his entertainers--that is, of those nearest him; for,
far through the long hall, almost out of sight, the table extended,
crowded by city retainers, and a few of the mere "Irishry," whose long
hair and loose saffron-coloured mantles contrasted with the doublet,
hose, and trimmed locks of the townsmen. Those near him bore the latter
character, though their vivacious glances and quick gestures were more
akin to the inhabitants of the south, among whom he had been accustomed
to live, than to the steady, dull demeanour of English traders.
When Lavallan drank to the stranger, every eye turned to the object of
the toast, Richard arose--his plumed cap was doffed; his shining hair,
parted on his brow, clustered round his throat; his sunny countenance
was full of confidence and courage--"Sir Mayor," he said, "my most kind
entertainer, and you, my friends, men of Cork, may the grateful thanks
of the homeless adventurer be as kindly received by you, as they are
gladly paid by him. Who am I? you ask. Wherefore do I come? My name is
the best in the land; my coming is to claim your aid, to elevate it to
its rightful place of pride and honour. Were I craven-hearted, or you
less generous, I might dread to declare myself; but fear never entered
the heart of a Plantagenet; and, when, unreservedly, I place my life in
your hands, will you betray the trust?"
A murmur quickly hushed, the sound of suppressed emotion, as the winds
of thought passed over the minds of those around, for an instant
interrupted the speaker--
"Neither is my name nor lineage unknown to you," he continued: "you
honour both and have obeyed them; will you refuse to submit to me, their
descendant and representative? Did you not vow fealty to Richard duke of
York, who, driven from his own England by false Lancaster, found refuge
and succour here? Was not Clarence your ruler, and Edward of England
monarch of your isle? In the name of these, in the name of the White
Rose and Mortimer and Plantagenet--I, the son of Edward the Fourth, the
victim of my uncle Gloster's treachery, and low-born Tudor's usurpation;
I, named in my childhood duke of York and lord of Ireland, now, if
rightly styled, Richard the Fourth of England, demand my lieges of Cork
to acknowledge my rights, to rise in my cause. I, a prince and an
outcast, place myself in their hands, through them to be a fugitive for
ever, or a king."
Had Richard planted this scene, with deep insight into the dispositions
of those with whom he had to deal, he could not have projected a better
arrangement. They had learned of his existence from Lord Barry, and were
prepossessed in his favour. Their fiery hearts were lighted at the
word--his name, with a thousand blessings attached to it, rang through
the hall: by means of the servants and followers at the lower end of the
table, it reached the outer apartments and avenues of the mansion-house;
while, with a kind of exalted rapture, the mayor and his guests hung
over their new-found prince. The citizens began to gather without, and
to call aloud for the White Rose of England; the day was finished in
festal tumult; the mayor led forth his princely visitor--he was hailed
lord of Ireland with one acclaim. Some elders, who had known his
grandfather, or had been followers of the duke of Clarence, and others
who, visiting England, had seen Edward the Fourth were struck by the
likeness he bore to his progenitors, and enthusiastically touched for
his truth. To see and hear the mad exultation of the moment, an
uninterested spectator must have thought that a messenger from heaven
had arrived, to bestow liberty on the groaning slaves of some
blood-nurtured tyrant. The duke was installed in the castle with
princely state, a town-guard appointed him, and the night was far
advanced, before he was permitted to repose, and wondering to collect
his thoughts, and feel himself an acknowledged sovereign in the first
town of his alienated dominions in which he had set foot.
The morrow brought no diminution to the zeal of his partizans. The first
measure of the day was his attending high mass, surrounded by the mayor
and citizens; when the holy ceremony was finished, he took oath on the
Gospels, that he was the man he had declared himself. The eager people
clamoured for him to assume the name of king; but that he said he would
win with his good sword, nor, till he possessed its appanage, assume a
barren title: he was the duke of York, until at Westminster he received
his paternal crown.
From the church the mayor and citizens attended his council at the
Castle, and here Richard more fully explained to them the projects of
Lord Barry, his hopes from the earl of Desmond, and his wish to attach
to his cause the earl of Kildare, Lord Deputy of Ireland. He learned the
changes that had taken place but a month or two before: some suspicion
having entered Henry's mind, the earl of Kildare had been dismissed from
his high office, and Walter, archbishop of Dublin, substituted in his
room. The baron of Portlester, who had been treasurer for forty years,
was obliged to resign in favour of a Butler, hereditary and bitter
enemies of the Geraldines, while the exaltation of Plunket, from the
office of chief justice to that of chancellor, only proved that he was
entirely gained over to the Lancastrians. The acts of this new
government tended to mortify the late deputy, who bore ill his own
degradation and the triumph of his enemies. On various occasions brawls
had ensued; and when Sir James of Ormond wished to place a creature of
his own in a castle over which Kildare claimed seignory, the latter
defended it by arms. This turbulent state of things promised fair for
the adventurer: and his first deed was to despatch letters to the earls
of Kildare and Desmond, soliciting their assistance, setting forth the
ready zeal of the city of Cork, and the promises and attachment of Lord
Barry, whom he daily expected to see arrive.
In all that the English prince did, nothing spoke louder for him to his
Irish friends than his fearless confidence, and artless, yet not
undignified reliance on their counsels. He had gained a warm friend in
the former mayor, O'Water, a man reverenced throughout Munster. In his
youth he had served in the army, and his spirit was hardly yet tamed to
the pacific habits of a burgher. He was sixty years of age; but he bore
his years lightly, and remembered but as the occurrence of yesterday the
time when the duke of York, grandfather of young Richard, was lord of
Ireland. He had attached himself particularly to his person, and
followed him to England, returning to his own country after his patron's
death. He saw in the descendant of his chief, his rightful lord, to
refuse obedience to whom was a sin against the laws of God and man. He
fervently swore never to desert him, and despatched emissaries on all
sides to spread the tidings of his arrival, and excite the partizans of
the White Rose to his active assistance.
When the letters were written, council held, and a course of conduct
determined on, still the caravel of De Faro did not appear, and Richard
grew weary of his state of indolence. A week passed; and during the
second, at the conclusion of which, the answers from the noble
chieftains were expected, the duke of York announced to O'Water his
intention of visiting Buttevant, the seat of Lord Barry, where, in the
Abbey of Ballybeg, he hoped to find the abbot of Kilmainham; a man who,
in exile and poverty, exercised great influence over the Irish Yorkists.
He had been insolent and cruel towards his enemies when in power, but he
was endowed with popular qualities for his followers; while among his
friends, he was valued for his boldness, sagacity, and undaunted
courage. His career had been turbulent; he had supported himself against
his sovereign by acts of lawless violence, till, obliged at last to
yield, he found himself, in his old age, a poor brother in a distant
monastery, obliged, for safety's sake, to veil his lofty pretensions in
the obscurest guise. Lord Barry had offered him an asylum in the Abbey
of Ballybeg; venerating, with the blind admiration of a soldier, the
learning and craft of the priest, conjoined, as it here was, to
dauntless courage. O'Water, on the contrary, disliked the subtle prior,
and endeavoured to dissuade the prince from the journey; but he spurned
the city laziness, and in spite of his friends' entreaties, and their
fears for his safety among the followers of Desmond, Barry, and
Macarthy, departed on his intended visit, attended only by Hubert Burgh,
the foster-brother of Lord Barry.
The way from Cork to Buttevant was not far, but more desolate than
Granada during the Moorish war. Summer and the sun adorned that smiling
land, casting a verdurous mantle over her deep wounds, painting the rude
visage of war with brilliant hues. The forests, dark hills, and
uncultivated wilds of Munster, showed nakedly the deep traces of the
sovereign ill. But lately this neighbourhood had been the seat of war
between the earl of Desmond and the chief of the Macarthys; the latter
had fallen in battle, but his brother and Tanist had succeeded to him,
and was already gathering together his sept for a more desperate
struggle. Never in Spain had Richard seen such wild, strange figures, as
crossed his path during this short journey; whether it were the native
kern, wrapt in his mantle, disguised by his glibb, or long shaggy hair,
or the adherents of Desmond, who affected the state of an Irish
chieftain, whose leather-quilted jackets, long saffron-coloured shirts,
cloaks and shaggy moustachios, riding without stirrups, bearing spears,
formed objects not less uncouth and savage; the very women bore a
similar appearance of incivilization. And as a comment on such text,
Burgh told, as they rode, the history of the late wars of Desmond with
O'Carrol, prince of Ely, and with Macarthy; and, a still more dread
tale, the incursion of Murrogh-en-Ranagh, an O'Brien; who, rising first
in Clare, spread through the country, overrunning Munster, and bold from
success, advanced into eastern Leinster. All these accounts of battle
were interwoven with tales of feuds, handed down from father to son, of
the natural hatred of the native chiefs to the lords of English origin;
interspersed with such strange wild tales, where the avowedly
supernatural was intermingled with deeds of superhuman prowess and
barbarity, that the English born prince, nursling of romantic Spain,
felt as if he were transplanted into a new planet, and stopped the
speaker at each moment, to obtain some clearer explanation, or to have
interpreted words he had never before heard, the names of customs and
things found only in this land.
Thus entertained, the way to Buttevant, or as the Irish called it,
Kilnemullagh, which was about twenty miles, seemed short. One thing was
evident in all these details, that it was easy to rouse the English
lords in Ireland to any act of turbulence and revolt; but that it would
be difficult nevertheless for their ill-armed followers, and
undisciplined bands, to compete with the soldiery of England.
CHAPTER XVI
NEW FRIENDS
Sisters, I from Ireland came.
COLERIDGE.
The duke, immediately on his arrival at the Castle of Buttevant,
despatched Hubert Burgh to the prior of Kilmainham, with a message from
himself and a token from Lord Barry, announcing his intention of
visiting him at the abbey the next day. But Keating feared thus to draw
the eyes of some enemy upon him, and appointed a meeting in a secluded
dell, near the bank of the Mullagh, or Awbeg, the river which Spenser
loves to praise. Early in the morning Richard repaired alone to this
rural presence-chamber, and found Keating already there. Hearing of the
priest's haughty pride, Richard, with a sensation of disgust, had
figured a man something like the wretched Trangmar, strong of limb, and
with a ferocious expression of countenance. Keating appeared in his
monk's humble guise; his light eyes were still lively, though his hair
and beard were snowy white; his brow was deeply delved by a thousand
lines; his person short, slender, bent; his step infirm; his voice was
silver-toned; he was pale, and his aspect in its lower part sweetly
serene. Richard looked with wonder on this white, withered leaf--a
comparison suggested by his frail tenuity; and again he almost quailed
before the eager scrutiny of the prior's eye. A merchant at a Moorish
mart he had seen thus scan a slave he was about to purchase. At length,
with a look of great satisfaction, the monk said, "This fits exactly;
our friends will not hesitate to serve so goodly a gentleman. The
daughter of York might in sooth mistake thee for a near kinsman. Thou
comest from Portugal, yet that could not have been thy native place?"
Richard started. This was the first time he had heard an expression of
doubt of his veracity. How could he reply? His word alone must support
his honour; his sword must remain sheathed, for his injurer was a
priest. Keating caught his haughty glance, and perceived his mistake. It
was with an effort that he altered his manner, for he exchanged with
pain a puppet subject to his will, for a man (prince or pretender) who
had objects and a state of his own to maintain. "Pardon the obscure
vision of an old man," he said; "my eyes were indeed dim not to see the
true marks of a Plantagenet in your appearance. I was but a boy when
your princely grandsire fell; nor has it been my fortune to visit
England or to see your royal father. But the duke of Clarence honoured
me with his friendship, and your cousin De la Poole acknowledged my zeal
in furthering his projects. I am now neither prior nor commander; but,
poor monk as I am become, I beseech your highness to command my
services."
This swift change of language but ill satisfied the pride of Richard,
and in reply, he briefly recounted such facts as established his right
to the name he claimed. The noble artlessness of his tone conquered the
priest's lurking suspicions: in a more earnest manner he besought the
duke's pardon; and a cordial intercourse was established between them.
The place where they met was secluded and wild; a bower of trees hid it
from the view of the river, and an abrupt rock sheltered it behind. It
was apparently accessible by the river only, and it was by its bank that
the duke and prior had arrived. Nothing could equal the picturesque
solitude around them. The waving of the leafy boughs, the scream of the
water-fowl, or the splashing they made as they sprung from among the
sedge and darted across the stream, alone interrupted the voiceless
calm; yet, at every moment, in his speech, Keating stopped, as if
listening, and cast his keen eyes, which he libelled much in calling
dim, up the steep crag, as if among its herbage and shrubs some dreaded
spy or expected messenger might appear. Then again he apologized to the
duke for having selected this wild spot for their interview. A price, he
observed, had been set upon his head, and his only safety lay in
perpetual watchfulness and never-sleeping caution. "My zeal in your
highness's cause," he added, with a courtier smile, "cannot be deemed a
strange frenzy, since your success will not only assure my restoration
to the dignity of which I have been unjustly deprived, but prevent an
old man from perpetually dreaming of the sword of the slayer, or the
more frightful executioner's axe."
Again the prior fixed his eyes on a fissure in the rock, adding, "I had
appointed to meet one in this place before your message was communicated
to me--and in good time; for, methinks, the object of your visit may be
furthered by the intelligence I hope soon to receive. Your highness must
have heard at Cork of the war carried on by the great earl of Desmond
and a native sept of this region. Macarthy, their chief, fell during the
struggle, but his successor and Tanist mustered his broken forces to
avenge him. The earl is impatient of this resistance, for his presence
is necessary in Thomond to drive the O'Carrols from that district. At
his invitation he and Macarthy meet this day to parley but a few miles
hence. I was to have made one among them, but a boding raven told me
that danger was abroad."
The tidings of the near presence of the earl of Desmond were unexpected,
and most welcome to the duke. He immediately resolved not to lose the
golden hour. He eagerly asked where the meeting was to be, and how
speedily he might reach the spot.
As he was thus earnestly expressing his desire, a slight rustling caught
the prior's ear: he looked up; a human form hovered as in mid-air,
scarcely, as it were, alighting on the precipitous rock; quickly, but
cautiously, it threaded its steep and tortuous path. A large mantle was
wrapt round the mountaineer, a large white kerchief enveloped the head
in the manner of a turban, yet the prince caught the outline of a female
figure, which soon descended to the little plain on which they stood,
and advanced towards them; she was evidently very young, but
weather-worn even in youth: her wild, picturesque dress concealed the
proportions of her form; her large white sleeves hid her arm, but the
emaciated appearance of her face and hands, and bare feet, struck
Richard with pity. She seemed astonished at seeing him, and spoke to his
companion in the language of the country, which he did not understand:
the prior's face darkened as she spoke: there dwelt on it a mixture of
disappointment and ferocity, of which it could hardly have been deemed
capable by one who had hitherto seen it only bland and smiling; swiftly,
however, he dismissed these indications of passion, and addressed the
prince calmly. "I cannot go," he said; "my time is still to be deferred,
though it shall not be for ever lost. How does your courage hold? if you
are not afraid of going alone with a guide whose very dialect is a
mystery to you, through a country torn by opposing factions; if you do
not fear presenting yourself friendless to a haughty noble, who deems
himself sovereign in this domain, I will contrive that, ere four hours
elapse, you shall find yourself in Desmond's presence."
"Fear!" the prince repeated. His eyes glanced with some contempt on the
priest's cowl, which alone could suggest pardon for such a thought; yet
he checked himself from any angry disclaiming of the accusation, as he
said, "Whatever in my presumption I may hope, sage forethought tells me
that I walk a road strewn with a thousand dangers, leading, it may be,
to an early death. Not for that will I deviate one furlong from my path.
Sir Prior, where is the guide you promise?"
Keating, after a few minutes' reflection, instead of replying, conversed
again with the girl, and then addressed the duke: "This hapless child is
a victim of the wars; she was born far hence, and is the last surviving
of my foster-sister's once blooming family. Her mother saved my life.
This child, barefoot as she is, guided me hither. Is not a Keating
fallen, when he cannot give succour to an offspring of his fosterer's
house? And she, poor girl! she has walked far for me to-day; but she
will not slacken in her toil when I bid her proceed. She shall be your
guide, and your grace may rely upon her; the dog you fed from its birth
were less faithful. Now, at the hour of noon, Desmond meets Macarthy of
Muskerry, on Ballahourah. But for the bogs and streams that cross your
path, it is not far; at the worst, you can reach Mallow, where the earl
will lie to-night. It is best not to delay; for, if there is peace in
Munster, very speedily Desmond will be on his way to Thomond."
This was a fresh spur to Richard. He accepted the proffered guide, who
listened attentively to Keating's instructions given in her native
tongue. He followed the girl but a short distance ere he looked back;
the prior was gone; the solitude of the wild crags and shrubs alone met
his eye. Meanwhile his companion stepped forward, motioning him to
follow. They plunged into the brake; the sun rose high; the birds winged
their glad flight among the trees. Now toiling up a steep, now wading a
stream, now entangled in a thicket, now stepping lightly over boggy
earth: now meditating on Andalusia, and now wondering at his present
position, Richard followed his swift and silent guide through the wild
country between Buttevant and Mallow.
Already the meeting between the earl of Desmond and Macarthy, the chief
of Muskerry, was at an end. They parted with fair words and exasperated
thoughts. The native lord could ill brook the settler's haughty
assumptions; nor Geraldine endure the obstinate pride of the conquered
native. Still their relative positions enforced a peace.
They had separated, and after a hasty repast, spread on the heathy side
of Ballahourah, the earl proceeded towards Mallow. He was surrounded by
warriors, who all claimed the Geraldine name, and who variously
distinguished themselves as the White Knight, the Knight of Kerry, and
the Knight of the Glen. There was Lord Fermoy, his father-in-law, and
others of the Roches. Nor did all the native chiefs absent themselves.
One sister of the earl had married Macarthy Reagh; another, an O'Brien,
whose daughter had intermarried with an O'Carrol--all this in defiance
of the English law, which forbade such alliances, through which, the
father of the present earl was beheaded in the year 1467. Their antique
costume, tight truise, saffron tunics, and flowing robes, distinguished
them from the Saxons; yet these had not followed the fashions of the
times, but dressed in the garb used by the courtiers of Edward the
Third.
Maurice, tenth earl of Desmond, was brave even to a proverb. He loved
war, and deemed himself rather king of Desmond, than a chief of English
descent. To extend and secure his possessions, rendering them at once
independent of his sovereign and of the native chieftains, was the aim
of his life. He now meditated the invasion of Thomond; but Macarthy's
angry demeanour showed that he must not be left unchecked in his rear.
"Where is my cousin Barry--where the lord of Buttevant--the chief of
the Barrymores? Flying before a slip of parchment indited in far London,
as if my sword held not better sway in these regions than a Parliament
attainder! Were he here, the O'Carrolls should hear the thunder of my
arms ere this moon waned. Muskerry could make no gathering in the vales,
while Barry sat on his perch at Buttevant."
The earl had time to waste in thought, as he was borne along--at the
age of fifteen, pushing rashly forward in an assault, he received a
wound in his leg, which lamed him for life, so that he was carried about
in a litter, and went by the name of Claudus; yet he was not deemed the
less an experienced and gallant warrior. With the virtues of a chieftain
he possessed the defects: Munster was his world; his universe was
peopled by the Geraldines, the Macarthys, the Barrys, Donegans,
Barrets, Roches, O'Briens, O'Carrolls, and the rest; he disdained his
noble brethren of the pale. He considered it a mark of distinction to be
exempted by a law from attendance of Parliament and the government of
the land; he saw in the king of England, not his monarch, but the
partizan of Ormond, and therefore an enemy. This, and an ancient
alliance, linked him to the cause of the English outcast prince, who
solicited his aid; he had replied favourably to his request; but his
interests and the conquest of a kingdom must be delayed, while he
subdued the half-naked septs who insulted his power.
While thus busied, reflecting upon the events of the day, the earl sat
silent and thoughtful. Suddenly, at a turn in the road, he called on his
followers to stop; his eye lighted up,--he saw two horsemen swiftly
approaching--Lord Barry was the foremost rider. Forgetting his lameness
in his joy, the noble warrior almost threw himself from the litter, as
he cried, "Jesu speed you, my loving cousin! spur on! spur on! remember
your badge, Boutez en avant! No enemy ever turned his back on your sword
to avoid, so eagerly as my arms will open to receive you! Were you
bound for Mallow?"
"No, my noble coz," replied Lord Barry, "I am for Kilnemullagh; an
eaglet I have nursed has winged its way thither, and I fear may suffer
injury in my absence; for he is young, and his pinions all untried."
"Leave him to his fate, my lord," said the earl; "if he be a faithful
bird he will find his way back to his fosterer; meanwhile the king of
eagles, thy cousin Desmond himself, has need of thee."
"One word, dear Maurice, will explain the greater duty that I owe my
princely fowl. The White Hose of England, missing him, loses all; you,
I, each, and every one of us, are his servants and must become his
soldiers."
"Cousin," replied Desmond, "one son of York made my father, whose soul
God assoilzie! Lord Deputy; another chopped off his head--so much for
the White Rose! Still I allow this new Lancastrian king is a bitterer
enemy: he is a friend of the Butlers, whom the fiend confound. We will
first subdue the O'Carrolls, humble the Macarthys, take Coollong from
Clan Cartie Reagh, and root out the Desies; and then, when we are kings
of Munster, in good hour let us march with your duke of York, and set
our foot on the necks of the Butlers in Dublin."
The earl spoke with rapidity and energy; all Munster spread before Lord
Barry's mind--city, town, stronghold, held by ancestral enemies; and it
was wonderful what a change was wrought in his mind by his cousin's
eloquence, and the names of all these sons of Erin, with each of whom he
had a mortal quarrel. He agreed, therefore, to go with the earl to
Mallow that evening, postponing his visit to Buttevant till the
following day.
Such were the wise counsels that stayed the mighty power Barry had
promised York should rise at his name to vanquish England. It was better
thus; so the royal boy thought himself, when, welcomed by Desmond at
Mallow, he looked round on kern and gallowglass, hearing a language that
was not English, viewing their strange attire and savage countenances.
"It is not thus, my England, that I will seize on you. Your own nobles
shall place the crown on my head; your people wield the sword that will
injure only our common enemy. Shall I make a Granada of my native land,
and shed Christian blood, better spilt in the cause of God against
infidel dogs?"
When the earl of Desmond found that the prince, whom he regretted to
receive with such cold hopes, was well content, nothing doubting that
the good-will of the English would prove a better ally than the spears
of the Irish, he conceived a sudden affection for him. It was no wonder;
for the ingenuousness of untarnished youth is ineffably winning; and
here it was added to a quick wit, a grace and gallantry, that shone as a
vision of light in this wild region.
A few days brought still greater satisfaction to all parties. An embassy
had arrived in Cork from the king of France to the duke of York to
invite him to Paris. Desmond would not relinquish his guest: he carried
him to his noble seat at Ardfinnin; and thither repaired in due time the
messengers from Charles the Eighth.
The chief of these was our old friend Frion, besides a Frenchman called
Lucas, and two Englishmen, Stephen Poytron and John Tiler. The duke was
not well pleased with the selection of Frion; but, while this man by his
singular arts of insinuation made good his cause, Barry showed how in
two points his cause was benefitted by him. First, that having been
secretary to Henry, he knew many secrets, and was acquainted with many
circumstances that might be turned to use; and, secondly, that his very
attempt to entrap the prince was a proof that he was fully aware of who
he was; that he would prove a useful link between Perkin Warbeck,
Richard Fitzroy, and the duke of York; that he need be no more trusted
than was deemed expedient; but that meanwhile it were good to entertain
him with fair words. Richard yielded; and Frion made good use of this
standing-room by which he meant to move the world. Master of the arts of
flattery, cunning and wise, he so ingratiated himself with the duke, and
afterwards with his other friends, that by degrees he was admitted to
their confidence; and at last succeeded in his chief wish, of becoming
follower, secretary, counsellor, he called himself friend, of the
English prince.
Urged by the earl of Desmond and Lord Barry, and sufficiently inclined
in his own mind, the duke accepted the French king's invitation, and
prepared to cross to France. On the very eve of his departure, he was
surprised by a visit from John O'Water, of Cork. This warm-hearted old
man had conceived a paternal love for the royal youth. He came to
recommend his return to Cork--his taking up a kind of regal residence
there--the not deserting a nook of his kingdom which acknowledged him.
He came too late:--already the prince was on board the vessel in
Youghall Harbour which was to convey him away. "One day you will return
to us, my lord," said O'Water; "a future day will afford us opportunity
to prove our zeal. I am old; I had given up public life: but I will take
to the oar again. John O'Water will once more be mayor of Cork, and his
right beloved Sovereign shall command him in his service."
The good man departed; with blessings, thanks, and glad prognostics,
Desmond and Barry also took leave of him. The wind was fair, the sea
smooth: before morning they lost sight of the hospitable shores of
Ireland, and turned their thoughts from its quarrels, its chieftains,
its warm hearts, and kind reception, to the civilized land of France,
and the more influential protection promised by its king to the royal
adventurer.
CHAPTER XVII
THE FRENCH COURT
Long die thy happy days before thy death;
And, after many lengthened hours of grief,
Die neither mother, wife nor England's queen!
SHAKSPEARE.
The voyage of the duke of York was easy and auspicious. He repaired to
Paris; and all the exiled Yorkists, to the number of one hundred
gentlemen, instantly gathered round him, offering him their services,
and forming his court, Charles assigned him magnificent apartments in
the Tuileries, and appointed a guard of honour, under the command of the
lord of Concressault, who, as was the case with every one who approached
him, soon became warmly attached to the princely youth. Having just
concluded a peace with Britany by marrying its young duchess, the king
of France found himself in so prosperous a state at home, that he began
to look abroad for wars, and resolved to invade Naples, to whose crown
he had a claim. Meanwhile, the utmost splendour and gaiety reigned in
Paris:--balls, tournaments, and hunting-parties, succeeded one to the
other; now to celebrate a marriage--now to grace the entrance of some
noble gentleman into the order of knighthood. Charles was an amiable
prince--his queen a beautiful and spirited lady--the duke of Orleans
an accomplished and adventurous cavalier. They all vied in acts of
courtesy and kindness towards their royal visitor. There was an
innocence in Richard's vivacity, an ingenuousness in his reliance on
their protection, that particularly captivated the chivalrous Orleans
and the fair Queen Anne. How changed the scene from the wilds of Ireland
and the semi-barbarous halls of the Desmond! The courtly and soft grace
of the French, different from the dignity of the Spaniard, was
irresistible to the inexperienced youth. It seemed to him that his
standard was set up here for ever. No change could sully the fair favour
of these illustrious friends. All young as he was, to be treated as
rightful king of England by this potent government satisfied for the
moment his ambition. He and his English friends welcome everywhere, all
honoured--himself beloved--were the ascendant star in Paris. O'Maurice
of Desmond! O'Barry, and good, honest--hearted O'Water!--though still he
acknowledged your kindness, how did your uncivilized hospitalities fade
before the golden splendour of King Charles's court!
York might by the sober be blamed for yielding to the current, for
setting his swelling canvas with the favouring wind--exulting. It was a
boy's blindness; the unsuspiciousness of inexperience; the fault lay in
the falsehood; and that was not his.
On the sixth of October Henry the Seventh landed at Calais; on the
nineteenth he sat down before Boulogne, with sixteen hundred
men-at-arms, and twenty-five thousand infantry. Charles could not much
fear the tardy operations of his foe; but the name of an English
invasion, so associated with defeat and disaster, was portentous to the
French: besides, Charles was eager to prepare for his Italian wars. Thus
disposed, peace was easily brought about. One only obstacle presented
itself. Henry insisted that the newly-arrived duke of York should be
delivered up to him; Charles rejected the proposition with disdain: the
negotiations were suspended, and the French king grew uneasy: it was no
pleasant thing to have thirty or forty thousand of those English in the
kingdom, who had disputed it inch by inch, at the expense of so much
misery and slaughter, with his grandfather. Their king was averse to
war; but the body of the army, the nobles, and leaders, ardently desired
it: some intrigue, some accident, might light up a train to be quenched
only by seas of blood; and all this for a prince, in whom, except that
he was gallant and unfortunate, Charles took no concern.
Richard, basking in the noon-day of regal favour, of a sudden felt a
cloud spread athwart his sunshine, and a chill take place of the glowing
warmth. The complaints of his followers, principally of Lady Brampton,
opened his eyes; for the king and princes, on the eve of betraying him,
were in manner kinder than ever. First, Queen Anne asked this lady, if
it were not the duke's intention to repair to Flanders, to claim the
support of the Lady Margaret. It seemed as if nothing was to be spoken
of but Brussels, the Low Countries, Maximilian of Austria, and, above
all, the virtues and sagacity of the illustrious widow of Charles the
Rash. In youth we are slow to understand the covert language of
duplicity. Frion was next put in requisition; he arrived in Paris after
ten days' absence, with an invitation to her so-named nephew from the
duchess of Burgundy; and when, from the disinclination of the French to
an act of glaring inhospitality, and of the English so to pain the
confiding spirit of their prince, he was still kept darkling, suddenly
one night his friend, the sire de Concressault, visited him. He brought
many sugared words from his sovereigns; but the end was, that their ever
dear friend, and most honoured guest, the duke of York, would render
them special pleasure, if, for some short time, he would visit Brussels.
The fiery spirit of youth blazed forth at a dismission, still more when
Concressault added, that horses were already prepared, and everything
arranged for his immediate departure. To qualify this insult,
Concressault could best bring his own warm, affectionate feelings. He
loved the English prince, and by the frankness of his explanations,
soothed him, while he made the wound deeper, by showing whence it was
directed, and that Henry Tudor's was the master-hand.
This name calmed York by elevating his thoughts above the actual evil.
"It is well, my lord: I shall obey," he said; "I had forgotten myself;
and your monarch's kindness was an opiate to my unripened purpose. I
might have lived his happy truest; reigning over the English hearts
around me, forgetful, like Dan Ulysse of old in the Lotus land, of my
native isle, and rightful kingdom, I thank my enemy he has not permitted
this: his insults rouse me; his injuries place the sword in my hand; on
him fall the harm."
The French sovereigns did all they could to salve this ill-favoured
wound. The duke of Orleans visited York at the moment of his departure;
his English partizans were loaded with presents; he quitted France; and,
on the day following, the treaty of peace with England was signed.
Pride, indignation, and heroic resolve sustained the duke under this
insult; but violent, angry emotion was foreign to his disposition, and
only kept alive in his bosom at the expense of much suffering. How
gladly he took refuge from these painful sensations in the gratitude and
affection inspired by his noble aunt. Margaret had never seen him; the
earl of Lincoln, Lady Brampton, Lovel, Plantagenet, and others were
vouchers for his truth; still his first unsupported appearance in
Ireland, and his long absence in Spain, engendered doubts, not in her
mind, but in Maximilian and other nobles and counsellors around her. She
replied to their arguments, but they remained unconvinced; at once,
therefore, to justify her acknowledgment of him in their eyes, and to
force them to the same credence as herself, she caused his first
audience to be a solemn one, nor gave him a kinswoman's reception until
he had proved his right to it.
He, who has heard some one falsely traduced and vilely calumniated, and,
if not quite believing the detraction, yet impelled by it to some
distaste of its object, and when that object appeared, radiant in
innocence, attended by the dignity of truth and conscious worth, at once
has yielded to the evidence of sense, will have some understanding of
what passed in the mind of Margaret of Burgundy. None could resist the
frank, blue, unclouded eye of the prince; that voice and manner, replete
with simplicity and native honour. He replied to the duchess's questions
briefly or otherwise, as appeared most pertinent, but in a way that
vanquished the most sceptical person present. The warm-hearted duchess
had hardly contained herself from the moment she beheld this youthful
image of her dead brother. As the tones of a remembered melody awaken
from sweet and bitter association unbidden tears, so did his voice, his
gestures, the very waving of his glossy curls, strike the mute chords of
many a forgotten memory. As soon as she saw belief and satisfaction in
the countenances of those around her, she no longer restrained herself;
with tears she embraced him; with a broken voice she presented her
nephew to all around. Now to heap favours on him was her dear delight:
she loved not the name of the duke of York, because, his pretensions
admitted, he was something more; but he objected firmly to the empty
title of king, and reiterated his determination to assume that only at
Westminster. So she invented other names; the prince of England, and the
White Rose of England, were those he went by; she appointed him a guard
of thirty halberdiers in addition to that formed by his English
followers. Nor did she rest here; it was her ardent wish to place him on
the throne of his father. The glad welcome she gave to the Yorkists, as,
from far exile in distant lands, or obscure hiding in England, they
repaired to her nephew's court, her discourse of succour, armies, plots
quickly raised a spirit that spread to the near island; and the rumour
of this new White Rose became a watch-word of hope for York, of fear for
Lancaster.
The riches and magnificence of the now extinguished house of Burgundy,
almost equalled that of Paris; their cavaliers were as noble and as
gallant; their tournaments and feasts as gay and pompous. The prince
felt his situation much changed for the better. His aunt's warm
affection was more worth than Charles's politic and courteous
protection. There he was an honoured visitor, here one of the
family--his interests apparently bound up with theirs. His long-tried
friends exulted in his position; Plantagenet and Lady Brampton
congratulated each other. The English exiles, Sir George Neville and Sir
John Taylor, the one proud and discontented, the other extravagant and
poor, blessed the day which gave them dignity and station, as chief
attendants and counsellors of the noble York. One friend he missed: his
childhood's companion, his gentle nurse, his beloved Monina.
She had accompanied Lady Brampton to Paris, when intelligence came of
Trangmar's treachery, of the falsehood of his pretensions; and, at the
same time, letters were covertly conveyed to Lady Brampton from the
dowager queen, in which mention was made of this man as a trustworthy
agent: the Yorkists desired much to fathom this mystery, and to have
some explicit elucidation from the imprisoned Elizabeth. As they
canvassed the various modes by which this might be accomplished--the
disguises that might be assumed--Monina preferred an earnest prayer,
that she might be permitted to undertake the task; a thousand
circumstances rendered this desirable--she would be entirely
unsuspected, and she was fully acquainted with the circumstances of the
case. Three days before Richard landed in France from Ireland, Monina
crossed to England--she assumed a pilgrim's garb, and without danger or
much difficulty, arrived at London from the sea-coast.
The sudden apparition of Richard, first in Ireland, and afterwards in
Paris, was a stunning blow to Henry. No Trangmar arrived to explain the
riddle; and, in spite of his caution and his cruelty, he had been unable
to avert the event he dreaded--nothing could he do now better than to
scoff at his rival, and to oppose his statements with counter
declarations; spreading around his spies to stop at its very outset any
symptom of rebellion in England. He caused stricter watch than ever to
be set on the unfortunate Elizabeth Woodville, who had been for six
years the melancholy inmate of her convent prison. All necessity of
caution there was soon to be at an end; her health had long
declined--latterly she had wasted to a mere shadow, so that the
continuance of life in her attenuated frame appeared a miracle: a
feeling of suffocation prevented her from lying down; she sat propped by
pillows: her fleshless hands incapable of any office, her cheeks fallen
in; her eyes alone--last retreat of the spirit of life--gleamed
brightly amid the human ruin. So long had she been thus, that her death,
apparently so near, was hardly feared by those around. Henry almost
considered her danger as a new artifice, and absolutely refused her last
request, to be permitted to see her daughter and grand-children once
again. Her last hour approached; and none were near save the nuns of the
convent, who almost revered her as a saint.
There arrived at the monastery a pilgrim, with relics collected in Araby
and Spain. She was admitted into the parlour; and one simple sister
asked for some wonder-working relic that might give health to the dying.
The pilgrim heard of Elizabeth's hopeless state: she begged to be
admitted to her presence, that she might try the virtues of a precious
balsam given her by the monks of Alcala-la-Real in Spain. Elizabeth was
informed of her request: when last she had heard of her son, he was at
Alcala--all the strength that had prolonged her life now roused itself;
with earnestness she desired that the Spanish maiden might be admitted
to her presence. It was Henry's express command that none should see
her; but she was dying; his power, so soon to be at end, might well
slacken in its rigour at the very verge of its annihilation.
The pilgrim knelt beside the queen's couch--the nuns, commanded to
retreat, observed a miracle--the dying appeared again to live; the grim
spectre, who had planted his banner in the chamber, retreated for a
moment, as Elizabeth listened to Monina's whispered words, "Oh, for one
hour more," she cried, "I have so much to say. He comes then, my son
comes! Oh, rouse England with the tale--Sir William Stanley, you must
visit him--bid him not draw his sword against my Edward's son. Say to
the dean of St. Paul's--I feel faint," she continued, "my voice fails
me--I must leave all unsaid, save this--His sister must not doubt his
truth; Henry must not shed the blood of his wife's brother."
"Madam," said Monina, "let me bear some token to my lady the queen."
"A token--no words can these weak fingers trace. Yet stay; in the
missal there is a prayer which each day I addressed to heaven to
preserve my son. Bear the missal to my Elizabeth, bid her listen to you,
and believe."
With trembling hands the young girl took the small, but splendid volume.
The queen then dismissed her with a faintly spoken blessing and a
prayer. Before night all was over--the cause of her son moved her no
more--her sorrowing heart reposed from every strife--she died. The
vase replete with so much anguish was broken--the "silver cord," that
bound together a whole life of pain, loosened. Her existence had been
woe; her death was the dearest blessing she could receive from heaven.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE TOKEN
She was most beautiful to see,
Like a lady of a far countree.
COLERIDGE.
While in attendance on the king at his palace of Shene, the lord
chamberlain, Sir William Stanley, was informed that a young and foreign
lady requested an audience with him. Monina was ushered in--her
extraordinary beauty--her large soft eyes--the fascinating sweetness
of her manner, at once charmed the worthy gentleman. She spoke in good
but accentuated English, and informed Sir William that she came from the
death-bed of the queen of England.
"I know," said Stanley, "that her grace has long been ill, but ----"
"God take her to his mercy," interrupted Monina, "she died last night."
"Is his majesty informed of this event?" Sir William asked.
"It is not yet noon," replied the maiden; "by that hour the messengers
from the convent will arrive. I have reasons for greater speed. I bear
the royal lady's last words to her daughter, the queen Elizabeth; you,
my lord, will favour me by procuring an immediate interview with her
majesty."
Stanley knew the aversion the king had to any private intercourse
between Elizabeth and her mother. He informed his visitor that she must
first obtain the king's permission for this audience, which he did not
believe would be granted; but Monina, without hesitation, declared that
she would apply for it to the king, and requested the chamberlain to
introduce her. Stanley, good-natured but timid, hesitated--she would
not be denied--at last he hit upon an expedient. Henry had gone out
hawking in the park: if she would place herself at the gate on his
return, she might prefer her prayer--he would be near to insure her
being heard.
Noontide was approached. The sport was over, and the royal party on
their return. Henry rode foremost with Morton, while his retinue
followed at a slower pace, conversing gaily about the birds; now and
then hazarding a remark on the war, so oft delayed, at last declared.
They were interrupted by the arrival of Sir William Stanley, who
communicated to the king the tidings of the dowager queen's death. Six
long years had passed since the battle of Stoke, and the commencement of
Elizabeth Woodville's imprisonment. She was forgotten at court. Many
there had never seen her; few remembered her as the reigning queen of
England. Her history was almost like a romance of the olden time; yet,
forgotten during life, her death clouded the hilarity of those who heard
it. Among those most affected by these tidings, as was natural, was her
son, the marquess of Dorset; he hastily rode up to receive from
Stanley's own lips confirmation of the news. Feeling that of late he had
almost forgotten and wholly neglected his mother, a sudden visitation of
remorse was blended with the grief that choked his voice, and blinded
his eyes with tears. Henry, who was attached to him, viewed with pity
the bitter regret of his gay, unheeding kinsman, and bade him, ere ruder
tongues proclaimed it, bear the melancholy tidings to his royal sister.
Dorset, gladly escaping from the throng, rode swiftly forward. Meanwhile
the order of the ride was disturbed. The nobles conversed earnestly
together. After a few questions, Henry remained lost in thought: eager
perhaps to know whether her secret had died with her; and viewing in her
demise one master testimony the less in favour of his young competitor.
Stanley awaited with some inquietude for the moment when they should
encounter Monina. They passed the park gate. She was not there. Henry
pursued his way, and entered the palace. Still she did not appear.
Lord Dorset had ridden on with the speed of a man who seeks to escape
from himself. Death has more power in its mere sound, than the
enchanting touch of a wizard's rod. She was dead--how awful was that
word!--the unfailing friend, his mother! All his remissness towards her
took a monstrous form: he felt that if he had wearied Henry with
prayers, he might have extorted some mitigation of her suffering; and it
would have consoled her in her solitude, to have received the balmy
medicine of filial tenderness, which he had neglected to pay. At that
moment he would have given his marquisate to a beggar, to have purchased
the memory of one action done to soothe her woful end. The pomp of a
funeral--masses for her soul--these were small compensations, which
her arch enemy, even Henry himself, could, and probably would concede.
The voice of affection--the duteous affection of a child--he only
could have afforded; and he had withheld it.
Monina stood at the park gate, attended by her Spanish domestic, whose
singular costume alone must attract regard. "What do you here, maiden?"
cried Dorset; "the king and his court will speedily pass this way: this
is no fitting place for you."
"I am here," she replied, "to see and speak to your king. I come to
prefer a request in the name of one whom God take to his place; she can
disturb him no more."
"You are from Bermondsey--from----" The words choked Dorset. Monina
continued:--"I come from the death-bed of the Lady Elizabeth of
England."
"What demand would you make on his majesty?" said the marquess; "do you
seek a guerdon for your pains? Speak, then, to me--I am her son."
He was about to draw forth his purse; but her look, which grew animated,
prevented him, as she said, "I come on a holy errand. The dying lady
commanded me to convey her last words to her royal daughter. I seek
permission from your king to fulfil her wish."
Dorset was thoughtless and eager. He saw no objection that Henry could
have that his sister should have the last message from her now dead
parent; so without hesitation he told the maiden that by Henry's
permission he was now about to communicate the sad intelligence to the
queen, and that she might accompany him.
It is thus by small invisible threads that Fate weaves the intricate web
of our lives. All hung by the slenderest tissue: had Monina seen Henry,
most assuredly he would have prevented the interview she sought, and
have used his utmost craft to discover whether the fatal secret made a
part of the queen's message. Now his sagacity, his caution, his severity
were of no avail. Monina stood in the presence of his wife.
Six years had considerably altered Elizabeth; habitual fear had
engendered a moral timidity, which was not natural to her, for she was
the daughter of a proud race: her sweetness, her affectionate
disposition still remained; but her soul was sad, and she looked pale
and inanimate. The news of her mother's death moved her to tears. One
expression of bitter regret burst from her lips; it was mingled with
blame of her consort; and she checked herself, while she wept still more
abundantly. Dorset felt uneasy at the sight of female tears; he longed
to escape. Monina's request for a private interview came to liberate
him; he presented her to his sister, and hurried away.
Elizabeth eagerly asked many questions concerning her mother's dying
moments. The Spanish maiden, wondering at her own success, fearful of
interruption, presented the missal, and then hastened to declare the
motive for which it was sent. She opened the jewelled clasps, and showed
the queen the prayer written in her mother's hand on a blank leaf of the
brilliantly-illuminated pages. Rapidly the enthusiastic girl detailed
the escape, the exile of the duke of York, while Elizabeth, not daring
to believe her own senses, astounded, terrified, looked with largo open
eyes on the animated countenance of her lovely visitant. Before Monina
paused, or gave time for an answer, they were interrupted by the
entrance of Sir William Stanley. He started when he saw Monina, nor did
the confused look of his queen, as she hastily closed the fatal volume,
tend to reassure him. He came to announce a visit from Henry to
Elizabeth. Frightened at what he saw, he hardly permitted a slight
interchange of greeting, but hurried Monina away, through a door hid by
the tapestry, down a narrow staircase into a garden, and then by a small
gate that opened on a court. In this court was placed the entrance to
the apartments of the pages and esquires of the king. Stanley unlocked
the gate cautiously, hesitating before he permitted his fair companion
to pass on, in the fear that some mischievous boy or prying servitor
might be there to wonder at and question wherefore he led the maiden
from the queen's garden through a door, sacred, and never opened, into
the resort of wild and dissolute youth. As he unclosed the wicket, at
its very entrance, standing so that in spite of every caution a full
view of Monina was at once afforded, stood a young man, whose
countenance bespoke him to be ever on the alert for gamesome tricks or
worse mischief. His first aspect was that of recklessness; his second
spoke of baser habits; and athwart both broke gleams now of better
feelings, now of desperate passion. He had heard the rusty bolts move,
and perceived the slow opening of the door. Knowing how sacred was the
respect enforced towards this ingress to the queen's retirement, he
stood close to discover and shame any intruder. "In good season, my Lord
Chamberlain!" he at first exclaimed, vexed to find no cause for taunt,
till perceiving his fair companion, the expression of his countenance
changed to irony, as he cried, "Whither so fast and fearfully, my good
lord? Does her grace deal in contraband; and art thou the huckster?"
"As ill luck will have it, wild Robin Clifford!" cried Stanley, angrily.
"Nay, we are brothers in wildness now, fair sir," retorted the other;
"and I claim my part here."
Clifford approached Monina; but Stanley interposed. "Waste your ribaldry
on me, good knight, but spare this child. Let us pass in all speed, I
pray you."
Monina drew back; but Clifford still followed. "Child! In good hour she
is young; and but that burning suns have made her cheek tawny, I might
call her fair. She is well worth your pains, and I praise them. Sweet
mistress, I am beholden to my Lord Chamberlain for making us friends."
He was running on thus; but Monina, collecting her spirits, raised her
large eyes on him. His name had caught her ear; she remembered partly
having seen him on the night of their flight from Tournay; and frequent
mention had subsequently been made of him by the cousins. She
began--"Sir Robert Clifford, I know you will not harm me."
"Thanks for that knowledge, pretty one," cried the youth; "old
grey-beards only, with frozen hearts (pardon me, Sir William!), could
injure thee; thou art sure of good from tall fellows (though in troth
tall I am not) like me."
Sir William writhed with impatience; again and again he would have
interrupted the intruder. Monina replied:--"We have met before--when
you served him I now serve. I speak in his name: for the sake of Perkin
Warbeck, detain me no longer. Noble sir, I attend you. Sir Clifford
yields respect to the words I have spoken."
"They are strange indeed, maiden," he replied, "and I must hear more of
this. We have met before, I now believe; and we must meet again.
Meanwhile, I will keep off bird-catchers till you and his reverence get
clear of these limed twigs. Ah! I see a gallant; I will go draw William
d'Aubigny aside while you pass forth."
And now again Sir William proceeded on his expedition, and conducted his
gentle companion beyond the precincts of the palace. As they parted one
from the other, Monina, in a brief, energetic manner, delivered the
message of the departed queen to the good chamberlain: he was more
disconcerted than surprised, and the reflection that Clifford was a
party to the secret, added to his consternation. He felt how far he was
compromised by the introduction of Monina to the young queen; fear for a
while palsied his better feelings: he replied only by entreating her not
to remain longer in London, but to embark in all haste for France: he
then quitted her, yet again came back to ask where she sojourned in
town, and turned away a second time, as if to escape from his better
self, and from the interest he felt in King Edward's son, which impelled
him to ask a thousand questions.
He returned to the courtyard of the palace, and found Clifford pacing
its length in deep thought. Monina's words had awakened a thousand ideas
in his unquiet bosom. Since the event to which she referred, when he
delivered Richard from Frion's hands, he had run a headlong, ruinous
course. No character can be wholly evil; and Clifford's was not
destitute of good, though overgrown and choked up by weedy vices, so
that his better nature too often served but as a spur and incentive to
folly and crime. He was generous; but that led to rapacity; since,
unable to deny himself or others, if he despoiled himself one day, on
the next he engaged in the most desperate enterprises to refill the
void. He was bold--that made him fearless in doing wrong; and to drown
the gentle spirit of humanity, which, too often for his own peace,
sprung up in his heart, he hardened himself in selfishness; then, as his
sensitive, undisciplined nature received new impressions, he was
cowardly, cruel, and remorseless. He had never forgotten the princely
boy he had saved: he turned to that recollection as to one of the few
oases of virtue in the far extended desert of ill, over which, in hours
of satiety or despondency, his sickening memory wandered. Indeed, he was
yet too young to be decidedly vicious: for at one-and-twenty a thousand
mere human impulses, unrepressed by worldly wisdom, occasion sallies of
kindly sympathy. The worst was, that Clifford was a ruined man: his
fortunes were nought, his reputation shaken on its base; he veiled, by
an appearance of hilarity and recklessness, the real despair that gnawed
at his heart, when he considered all that he might have been--the worse
than nothing that he was. Hitherto he had, to a great degree, blinded
the world, and he longed for some adventure, some commotion, either
public or private, that should refill his emptied money-bags, and paint
him fair in men's eye's: all these considerations mingled incongruously
to make him wish to know more of the outcast duke. He awaited the return
of Stanley--he learned the name of the Spanish girl: as they spoke,
both became aware that the other possessed a secret each dreaded to
avow. Clifford first dashed through the flimsy barrier of useless
discretion, and related his adventure at Lisle; meantime Sir William
broke forth in lamentation, that young Richard should have been induced
to quit the security of private life, to enter on an unequal and bloody
contest, which could only end in destruction to himself and his
partizans, while England would again be made the tomb of the Irish (the
landing of Richard at Cork was all that was then known), whom he might
allure from their woods and bogs to ravage the more gifted sister isle.
A new light was let in on Clifford at these words. Was the game already
playing--the box shaken--the die about to fall? This required his
attention, and determined his half-formed purpose of visiting, that same
night, the daughter of de Faro.
CHAPTER XIX
CLIFFORD'S RESOLVE
His father was a right good lord,
His mother a lady of high degree;
But they, alas! were dead him frae,
And he loved keeping companie.
To spend the day with merry cheer,
To drink and revel every night;
To card and dice from eve to morn,
It was, I ween, his heart's delight.
THE HEIR OF LYNNE.
It had been Monina's design to return to the protection of Lady
Brampton, immediately on the fulfilment of her task in England. The
appearance of Clifford suggested other ideas. It was the duty of every
friend of York to declare his existence, and claim the allegiance of his
subjects. It might seem a hopeless enterprise for her, a young foreign
girl, to do this in the heart of the usurper's power; and yet she
fancied that she might attempt it with success. The most distant
prospect of serving her beloved friend was hailed by her with romantic
ardour; while the knowledge possessed by Stanley and Clifford promised
to render her undertaking less nugatory in its effects. Her purpose was
quickly formed. She resolved to postpone her departure, and to busy
herself in replanting, in Tudor's own city of London, the uprooted
rose-bush, parent of the spotless flower. None but a woman's fond
enthusiastic heart can tell the glow of joy, the thrilling gladness,
that diffused itself through her frame, as this plain spread itself,
clear as a map, beautiful as a champagne country viewed from some
overtopping mountain peak, to her keen mind's eye. She rode to London
occupied by these thoughts, and on her arrival, announced to the
merchant friend, at whose house she resided, her intention of remaining
in England: the vessel that was on the morrow to have conveyed her away
would bear instead a letter to Lady Brampton, explanatory of her hopes
and intentions: that very night, in the seclusion of her chamber, she
robbed some hours from sleep to write it; her enthusiasm animated her
expressions; her cheeks glowed as she wrote, for she spoke of services
she might render to him who was the idol of her thoughts; though with
his idea she consciously mingled no feeling save that of devoted
friendship and an intense desire to benefit. The weariness of spirit
that oppressed her in his absence, she did not attribute to him.
Thus intently occupied, she was unaware of a parley in the room beneath
growing into a loud contention, till steps upon the stairs recalled her
wandering thoughts; she looked up from her task; but her gaze of inquiry
was changed to an expression of heartfelt pleasure, when Sir Robert
Clifford entered the apartment. Here then her enterprise commenced.
There was something that did not quite please her in the manners of her
visitant, but this was secondary to the great good she might achieve
through him. Her eyes danced in their own joy, as she cried, "Welcome,
gallant gentleman! you are here to my wish: you come to learn how best
you may prove your allegiance to your rightful sovereign, your zeal in
his cause."
These words grated somewhat on the ear of a man who had hitherto worn
the Red Rose in his cap, and whose ancestors had died for Lancaster. He
did not, therefore, reply in the spirit of her wish when he said, "We
will not quarrel, pretty one, about names; sooth is it, that I came to
learn tidings of my princely gossip, and I am right glad that fortune
makes thee the tale-bearer. Prolong as thou wilt, I shall never cry hold
while my eyes serve to make true harmony to the sound of your sweet
voice."
Much more he said in the same strain of gallantry, as he placed himself
beside the maiden, with the air of one whose soft speeches ever found
ready hearing. Monina drew back, replying, gently, "I am the partizan,
the vowed conspirator for a cause, whose adherents walk as over the
thread-broad ridge spanning an unfathomable gulph, which I have heard
spoken of by the Moors in my own Granada; I beseech you, as you are a
gentleman, reserve your fair speeches for the fortunate ladies of your
native land. I will be a beacon-light to guide you, a clue for your use
through a maze, a landmark to point your way; meanwhile, forget me as I
am; let me be a voice only."
"As soon forget sunshine or moonshine, or the chance of play when the
dice-box rattles," thought Clifford, as she clasped her little fingers
in the fervour of her wish, and raised on him her soft, full eyes: but
though he gazed with unrepressed admiration, he said nothing as she told
the story of Duke Richard's Spanish adventures, and last of his attempt
in Ireland and the embassy sent to him by King Charles. How eloquently
and well she told his tale! speaking of him with unfeigned admiration,
nothing disguising her zealous devotion. "Sir Clifford," she continued,
"you are his friend. His cause will sanctify your sword; it will call
you from the paltry arts of peace to the nobler deeds of chivalry; it
will give you grace in the eyes of her you love, defending and asserting
your king."
She paused, breathless from her own agitation; she looked up into his
thoughtful face and placed her hands on his; the soft touch awoke him
from a reverie in which he had lost himself.
"Maiden," he replied, "you plead your cause even too well; you have cast
a spell upon me; so that at this moment I would readily swear to perform
your bidding, but that, when I do not see your witch's eyes, nor hear
your magic voice, another wind may blow me right to the other side. Do
not call this courtly gallantry, would by Saint Cupid that it were! for
I am not pleased to behold my sage self fined down into a woman's tool:
nor is it love;--Thor's hammer could not knock a splinter from my hard
heart, nor the Spanish sun thaw its seven-fold coat of ice. I never have
loved; I never shall: but there is some strange sorcery about you. When
I next see you, I will draw a circle round, knock my head three times on
the eastern floor, and call out 'aroint!' This twinkling light too, and
darkling hour--I must away:--sunshine shall, when next we meet,
protect me from your incantations. Will you trust yourself? At
to-morrow's noon a servitor of mine shall await you at the gate of St.
Paul's: dare you commit yourself to one in the devil's pay?"
All this incoherent talk was spoken at intervals; he rose, sat down,
stood over her as she patiently let him run his tether's length: his
last words were said in an insinuating, and, as well as he could
command, a soft voice, as he pressed her hand in his. She crossed
herself, as she replied, "Our Lady and my cause shall protect me, while
I adventure life fearlessly for its sake! Adieu till then, sir knight:
the saints guard you, and give you better thoughts."
The cavalier proceeded homewards, considering deeply the part he was to
act. He thought of what he might gain or lose by siding with the duke;
and he was angry to find that the image of Monina presented itself even
more vividly, than his ambitious dreams. "God assoil me," thought he. "I
will repeat a paternoster backwards, and so unsay her sorceries. She has
persuaded me, even as my own soul did before, that the best mode to mend
my broken fortunes, and better still to regild my faded escutcheon, is
to join Duke Richard. Yet, after all, this may be mere magic; for once I
will act a wise man's part, and seek old gray-beard, my Lord Fitzwater."
Lord Fitzwater endured impatiently the harsh countenance Henry bore to
him, ever since he had permitted his young rival to escape. Some
question of right and law, which implicated a large portion of his
possessions, had, as he believed, been unjustly decided against him
through the interposition of the king, who, on every occasion, sought to
mortify and injure the old man. He lived as the disgraced and
impoverished servants of a court are wont to live, neglected and
forgotten. He had no family. He loved Robert Clifford better than any
other in the world; and he, when suffering from disappointment or loss,
when his own pain reminded him of that of others, sought his ancient
friend--too seldom to please him with a show of reverence, often enough
to keep alive his affection.
If it were good for him to aid in the replanting of the White Rose, so
also were it well that Lord Fitzwater joined the same party. He talked
even to himself of asking his experienced friend's advice; he really
meant to endeavour to seduce him into a companionship in the projected
rebellion against Henry Tudor. In this spirit he paid his visit; nearly
three months had elapsed since his preceding one. The noble received him
coldly; so at once to break through the ceremony that fettered their
discourse, he cried, "I hear from soft Sir William Stanley, that his
majesty has again said that he will find a way to thank you for a
service you rendered him some six years ago."
"I have long had knowledge of his grace's good memory on that point,"
answered his lordship, angrily; "and yours, methinks, might remind you
of the part you played. By St. Thomas, Robin, I believe you saw further
in the game than I. But what makes the king harp on this out-worn tale?"
"Few know--we may guess. Have you not heard him tell of a new king of
kerns and gallow-glasses? a phantom duke, whose duchy lies without the
English pale in Ireland? a ghost whose very name makes the king's knees
knock together as he sits on the throne? This ruffler, who calls himself
son of Edward the Fourth, the Prince Richard of York, escaped from the
Tower, bears a strange resemblance to the hero of Lisle, Perkin
Warbeck."
"Would, by St. George, he were the same!" exclaimed the noble; "my
dagger should sever the entwined roses, our armed heels tread to dust
the cankered red blossom."
"You speak treason, my lord," said Clifford; "but you speak to a friend.
Let us talk more calmly. I, the playmate of the imprisoned prince, know
that he, Perkin Warbeck, and the Irish hero are the same--this I can
prove: so much for the justice of our cause; as to the expediency,--we,
my good lord, are styled Lancastrians, but our meed therefore is small.
Tudor is a niggard king; Plantagenet, a young and generous adventurer.
What shall we say? Shall Fitzwater and Clifford place the sacred diadem
on this boy's head, and become chiefs in the land where they now pine
obscurely?"
Lord Fitzwater fastened his keen eyes on his companion, while his hand
involuntary grasped his dagger's hilt. "I am not an old man," he cried;
"fifty-seven winters have shed no snows upon my head. I remember when,
at Tewkesbury, I smote an iron-capped yeoman who raised his battle-axe
against our young Edward, and clove the villain to the throat. I can
wield the same weapon--do the same deed now; and I am thrown like a
rusty sword among old armour--refused permission to lead my followers
to Calais. War in France!--it will never be: the word is grown obsolete
in England. Ambassadors thrive instead of valiant captains; crafty
penmanship in lieu of straightforward blows. Art sure, Robin, that this
youth is King Edward's son?"
This was the first step Clifford took; and the eagerness of Fitzwater
quickly impelled him to spread wider the narrow circle of conspirators.
The intelligence, meanwhile, that the king of France had received in
Paris with meet honour a Yorkist pretender to the crown burst at once
over England, spreading wonder and alarm. Some few despised the
pretensions of the youth; the greater number gave to them full and
zealous credence. Many, dreading Henry's sagacity and harshness,
recoiled from every thought rebellious to him; others hailed with joy
the appearance of a rival who would shake his throne, and hold forth
hope of disturbance and change. As yet this was talk merely; nay, there
was more thought, than spoken. Men expected that some other would make
the first move, which would put in play the menacing forces mustered on
either side. Monina saw with joy the work well begun. She remembered the
queen's injunction to seek the Dean of St. Paul's: in acquiring him,
many reverent and powerful partizans were secured. Her presence added to
the interest which the mere name of Richard of York excited. Many who
disbelieved his tale were eager to behold his lovely advocate: they
listened to her syren eloquence, and ranged themselves on her side.
Clifford watched jealously the influence she acquired. When he first saw
her, she had been an untaught girl in comparison with the graceful,
self-possessed being who now moved among them. One feeling in her heart
separated her indeed from the crowd--but this was veiled, even to
herself; and she appeared courteous, benign to all. Clifford often
flattered himself that when she spoke to him her expressions were more
significant, her voice sweeter. He did not love--no, no--his heart
could not entertain the effeminate devotion; but if she loved him, could
saints in heaven reap higher glory? Prompted by vanity, and by an
unavowed impulse, he watched, hung over her, fed upon her words, and
felt that in pleasing her he was for the present repaid for the zeal he
manifested for the duke her friend. Strange he never suspected that she
was animated towards the prince by a deeper feeling. They had lived like
near relations from their childhood; that were sufficient to raise the
flame that shed so bright a light over her soul: that he was a prince,
and she the daughter of a Spanish mariner, forbade their union; and he
paid the just tribute to innocent youth, in not judging of its upright
purity by the distorted reflection his depraved heart presented,
whenever he dared turn his eyes inward.
Foundation was thus laid in England for a momentous combination.
Intelligence from the continent was gathered with keen interest. Early
in December the army of Henry recrossed the Channel: they brought word
of the favour and esteem Richard enjoyed at the French court, of the
zeal of the exiled Yorkists, of their satisfied assurance of his truth.
Next was spread abroad the news of his reception by the dowager duchess
of Burgundy, and the brilliant figure he made at Brussels. What step
would be taken next to advance his cause?
This was a fearful question for the actual king of England. He redoubled
his artful policy, while he wore a mask of mere indifference. The
Yorkists, not yet considerable enough to act openly, or even covertly to
combine for any great attempt, felt fresh bonds thrown over, new and
vexatious tyrannies in exercise against them. This served to unite and
animate their chiefs; they each and all resolved that, when fit
opportunity armed their prince, their swords should at the same moment
leap from the scabbards, darkly to be dyed ere resheathed, or struck
useless from their lifeless hands. The days of St. Alban's and
Tewkesbury passed in all their grim conclusions before their eyes, but
the event was worth the risk: defeated, they lost nothing; victorious,
they exchanged a narrow-hearted, suspicious, exacting tyrant for a
chivalrous and munificent sovereign; Henry Tudor, the abhorred
Lancastrian, for the grandson of York, the lineal heir of Edward the
Third--the true representative of the kings of the glorious and long
line of the Plantaganets.
CHAPTER XX
THE CONSPIRACY
Like one lost in a thorny wood,
That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns,
Seeking a way, and straying from the way;
Not knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling desperately to find it out.
SHAKESPEARE.
In the days of our earlier history, our commerce led us to have more
intercourse with Flanders than with France. That which journeyed slowly
and doubtfully from Paris came in all the heat of a first impression
from the Low Countries. A train had been laid before, which now took
light and blazed through the kingdom. The duchess of Burgundy's
reception of the duke of York, the honours rendered him at her court,
the glad gathering together of the fugitive English, gave pledge of his
truth, and promise of glorious results. Sedition began to spring up in
England on every side; even as, after a mild rain in the birth of the
year, a black, ploughed field is suddenly verdant with the young blades
of wheat. All who had, since the battles of Bosworth and of Stoke, lived
in seclusion or fear; all who from whatever reason had taken sanctuary;
men of ruined fortunes, who desired to escape bondage; came singly or in
small companies to the coast, embarked for the continent, and hastened
to the court of the dowager of Burgundy. All discontented men, who felt
themselves looked coldly on by Tudor, to whom they had yielded the
throne of their native land; many, whom it grieved and vexed to see the
world stagnate in changeless peace, desirous of novelty and glad of any
pretence that called them into activity, dashed headlong into revolt;
nor were there few, chiefly indeed among the nobility, who had lamented
the fall of the House of York, and hailed gladly this promise of its
resuscitation. The common adventurers and soldiers of fortune acted on
their single separate resolves; the noble adherents of the White Rose
drew together, that there might be plan and strength in their schemes.
They were cautious, for their enemy was crafty and powerful; they were
resolute, for they hated him.
Out, far in the low flats bordering the river Lea, there stood, in a
marshy hollow, a straggling village, now effaced from the landscape. At
its extremity was a solid, but gloomy, square brick house, surrounded by
a moat, which the low watery soil easily filled, even to overflow; and
the superfluity was received in a deep stagnant pool at the back of the
mansion. The damp atmosphere had darkened the structure, and thrown a
mantle of green moss and speckled lichen over the bricks. Its
fantastically carved and heavy portal yawned like a black cavern's
mouth, and added to the singularly desolate appearance of the mansion.
The village was but half inhabited, and looked as struck by poverty and
discomfort. The house belonged to the Clifford family. It had been
built, it was said, in Henry the Fifth's time, when Sir Roger Clifford,
a stern old man, following his sovereign to the wars, shut up here his
beautiful young wife, so to insure her fidelity during his absence.
Among her peers and gentle companions, the Lady Clifford had doubtless
been true to the bond that linked her to her lord; but, alone in this
solitary mansion, surrounded by ill-natured peasants, pining for her
father's pleasant halls, and her girlish enjoyments, no wonder that she
found her state intolerable. Age and jealousy are ill mates for youth
and sprightliness, and suspicion easily begets that which it abhors even
to imagine. One who had loved her in her virgin days introduced himself
into her suite; the brief months of stolen happiness passed by, and the
green stagnant pool was, they said, the cold sepulchre of the betrayed
lovers. Since then, during the wars of York and Lancaster, this house
had been the resort of Clifford's followers: and, when the White Rose
became supreme, that alone of the family possessions had not been
forfeited to the crown: it was the last relic of Sir Robert's fortunes.
His few tenantry, hard pressed for rent to satisfy his necessities, had
deserted their abodes; the green acres had passed into other hands; a
band of poor cotters alone remained, and this old house haunted by the
ghosts of those who slept beneath the waveless pool, dilapidated,
disfurnished. Yet here the wild knight had held lawless carousals;
hither he sometimes fled to hide after some ruinous loss, or when he was
pursued by those who sought to avenge insults committed during drunken
brawls.
Now it would seem some orgie was meditated: liveried servants, one or
two only bearing Clifford's coat, the rest wearing different badges, as
belonging to different masters, had arrived during the previous day.
Some of the ruined huts were pulled down to supply firewood, and the old
chimnies sent out volumes of smoke; various carts, laden, some with
eatables, fat bucks, young calves, pheasants, hares, and partridges,
piles of bread, seven hooped casks of wine, were unladen in the
mildew-stained hall. Other carts followed the first, bearing bedding,
apparel, furniture, and, it was whispered by the idling villagers, arms.
Several apartments were strewed thick with rushes, and the blazing
fires, in spite of the tattered plaster and stained ceilings, imparted
cheerfulness to the rooms. There was need of internal warmth; a thick
snow-storm fell, sheeting the low fields, which, uninterspersed by
trees, now looked doubly wild and drear. The waters of the moat and pool
were frozen; a sharp north wind whistled round the house. For the first
time for many years its poor dependents were cheered during the severe
season by the crumbs, or rather large portions of superfluous food, from
the mansion of their landlord.
The first guest that arrived came in a close litter, attended by a
Moorish servant, and Clifford himself on horseback. Monina had forgotten
her Flemish home: bright Andalusia--its orange groves, myrtle and
geranium hedges, the evergreen forests which embowered Alcala, and the
fertile laughing Vega of Granada, formed her image of such portions of
fair earth, as, unencumbered by houses, afforded on its green and
various surface sustenance to his inhabitants. She shivered before the
northern blast, and gazed appalled on the white plain, where the
drifting snow shifted in whole showers as the wind passed over it. The
looks of the people, sallow, ill-clothed, and stupid, made her turn from
contemplating them, as she yet answered the contemptuous and plaintive
remarks of her Spanish attendant in a cheerful, deprecating voice.
For two successive days other guests continued to arrive. They were
chiefly men of note, yet came attended by few domestics. There was Lord
Fitzwater, dissatisfied at the part of rebel he was forced, he thought,
to play; and on that account he was louder than any against King Henry.
Sir Simon Mountford was a Yorkist of the days of Edward the Fourth; he
personally hated Richmond, and looked on Richard's as a sacred cause.
Sir Thomas Thwaites had been a friend of the earl of Rivers, and gladly
seized this occasion to avenge his death, attributable to the dastardly
policy of Henry. William Daubeny was attached to the earl of Warwick,
and entered warmly into projects whose success crowned his freedom. Sir
Robert Ratcliffe, cousin of Lord Fitzwater, had lived in poor disguise
since the battle of Stoke, and gladly threw off his peasant's attire to
act the soldier again in a new war of the Roses. Sir Richard Lessey had
been chaplain to the household of Edward the Fourth. Sir William
Worseley, dean of St. Paul's, was a rare instance of gratitude outliving
the period of receiving benefits; he had been a creature, and was a
sincere mourner, of the late queen. Many others, clergy and laity,
entered the plot; a thousand different motives impelled them to one line
of conduct, and brought them to Clifford's moated house, to conspire the
overthrow of Tudor, and the exaltation of the duke of York to the
throne. One only person invited to this assembly failed. Sir William
Stanley; each voice was loud against his tergiversation, and Clifford's
whispered sarcasm cut deeper than all.
The debates and consultations lasted three days. After infinite
confusion and uncertainty, the deliberations brought forth conclusions
that were resolved upon unanimously. First, the house they then
occupied, and the village, was to be a repository for arms, a rendezvous
for the recruits of the cause. The conspirators levied a tax on
themselves, and collected some thousand pounds to be remitted to the
prince. They regulated a system, whose object was to re-awaken
party-spirit in England, and to quicken into speedy growth the seeds of
discontent and sedition, which Henry's avarice and extortion had sown
throughout the land. Those who possessed estates and followers were to
organize troops. At last, they deputed two of their number to go over to
the duchess of Burgundy, and to carry their offers of service to her
royal nephew. The two selected for this purpose were, first, Sir Robert
Clifford, who had known the duke formerly, and who, it was supposed,
would be peculiarly welcome to him; and secondly, Master William Barley,
a man advanced in years; he had combated in nearly all the twelve
pitched and sanguinary battles that were fought between York and
Lancaster. He had been a boy-servitor to the old duke of York, a yeoman
of Edward's guard, a halberdier in Richard the Third's time. He had been
left for dead on the field of Bosworth, but came to life again to appear
at the battle of Stoke. He had risen in the world, and was a man of
substance and reputation: he was not noble; but he was rich, zealous,
and honest.
The meeting lasted three days, and then gradually dispersed. All had
gone well. An assembly, whose individuals were noble, wealthy, or
influential, united to acknowledge Richard as their liege. Foreign
potentates declared for him; and hope was high in every bosom at all
these forerunners of success. Monina's enthusiastic heart beat with
ecstasy. Young, the innocent child of unsophisticated impulse, her
gladness showed itself in wild spirits and unconstrained expressions of
exultation. She and Clifford returned to London together, for he
contrived tacitly and unsuspected by her, to install himself as her
habitual escort. Happy in expectation of her beloved friend's success,
she talked without reserve; and the genius, which was her soul's
essence, gave power and fascination to everything she said. She spoke of
Spain, of Richard's adventures there, of her father and his voyages. The
name of Columbus was mentioned; and the New World--source of wondrous
conjecture. They spoke of the desolate waste of waters that hems in the
stable earth--of the golden isles beyond: to all these subjects Monina
brought vivid imagery, and bright painting, creations of her own quick
fancy. Clifford had never before held such discourse. In hours of
sickness or distaste, at moments of wild exhilaration, when careering on
a high-mettled horse beneath the stars of night, fanned by a strong but
balmy wind, he had conceived ideas allied to the lofty aspirations of
our nature; but he cast them off as dreams, unworthy of a wise man's
attention. The melodious voice of Monina, attuned by the divine impulses
of her spirit, as the harp of the winds by celestial breezes, raised a
commotion in his mind, such as a prophetess of Delphi felt when the
oracular vapour rose up to fill her with sacred fury. A word, a single
word, was a potent northern blast to dash aside the mist, and to
re-apparel the world in its, to him, naked, barren truth. So fervently,
and so sweetly did she speak of Richard, that Clifford's burning heart
was in a moment alight with jealousy; and the love he despised, and
thought he mastered, became his tyrant, when it allied itself to his
evil passions. He looked angry, he spoke sharply--Monina was
astonished; but his libellous insinuations fell innocuous on her pure
mind: she only felt that she feared him, half-disliked him, and,
trembling and laughing as she spoke, said, "Well, well; I will not care
for your angry mood. You are going soon: ere you return, our prince
will, by his own bright example, have taught you better things. Learn
from him diligently, sir knight, for he is all courtesy and nobleness."
Clifford laughed bitterly, and a base resolve of lowering the
high-hearted York to his own degrading level arose in his breast: it was
all chaos there as yet; but the element, which so lately yielded to a
regular master-wind of ambition, was tossed in wild and hideous waves
by--we will not call the passion love--by jealousy, envy, and growing
hate. Short interval was allowed for the gathering of the storm; he was
soon called upon to fulfil his commission, and to accompany Master
William Barley on their important embassy to Brussels.
The scene here presented, operated a considerable change on these
personages; arriving from England, where the name of the White Rose was
whispered, and every act in his favour was hid in the darkness of
skulking conspiracy, to his court at Brussels, where noble followers
clustered round him, and the duchess, with a woman's tact and a woman's
zeal, studied how best to give importance and splendour to his person
and pretensions. The spirit of the Yorkist party, in spite of her
natural mildness, still glowed in the bosom of this daughter of Henry
the Sixth's unhappy rival,--the child of disaster, and bride of frantic
turbulence. Opposed to the remorseless Louis the Eleventh, struggling
with the contentious insolence of the free towns of Flanders, war
appeared to her the natural destiny of man, and she yielded to its
necessity, while her gentle heart sorrowed over the misery which it
occasioned.
She first received Clifford and Barley; and with the winning grace of a
sovereign, solicited for her nephew their affection and support: then
she presented them to him--this was the fair-haired, blue-eyed boy,
whom Clifford saved, the gentle, noble-looking being, whose simplicity
awed him; whose bright smile said, "I reign over every heart." The
knight shrunk into himself: how had he dyed his soul in a worldliness
which painted his countenance in far other colours.--He was not
deficient in grace: his dark-grey eyes, veiled by long lashes, were in
themselves exceedingly handsome: the variableness of his face, traced
with many unseasonable lines, yet gave him the power of assuming a
pleasing expression; and his person, though diminutive, was eminently
elegant, while his self-possession and easy address, covered a multitude
of faults. Now, his first resolve was to insinuate himself into
Richard's affections; to become a favourite; and consequently to lead
him blindly on the path he desired he should tread.
The prince's spirits were high; his soul exulted in the attachment of
others, in the gratitude that animated him. Until Clifford's arrival
(Edmund was for the time in England), Sir George Neville, among his new
friends, held the first place. He was proud and reserved; but his
aristocracy was so blended with honour, his reserve with perfect
attention and deference to the feeling of others, that it was impossible
not to esteem him, and find pleasure in his society. Clifford and
Neville made harsh discord together. Richard, inexperienced in the
world, sought to harmonize that which never could accord: Neville drew
back; and Clifford's good humour, and apparent forbearance, made him
appear to advantage.
At this period ambassadors from Henry arrived at Brussels: they had been
expected; and as a measure of precaution, Richard left that place before
their arrival, and took up his temporary abode at Audenarde, a town
which made part of the dowry of the Duchess Margaret. All the English,
save Lady Brampton, attended him to his retreat. The ambassadors, in
their audience with the archduke, demanded the expulsion of Richard from
the Low Countries, taunting the duchess with her support of the
notorious impostor, Lambert Simnel, and speaking of the duke of York as
a fresh puppet of her own making. They received the concise reply--that
the gentleman she recognized as her nephew, inhabited the territory of
her dowry, of which she was sovereign, and over which the archduke had
no jurisdiction: however, that no disturbance might occur in their
commercial relations, which would have roused all Flanders to rebellion,
Maximilian was obliged to temporize, and to promise to afford no aid to
the illustrious exile.
Their audience accomplished, the ambassadors had only to return. They
remained but one night at Brussels: on this night. Sir Edward Poynings
and Doctor Wattam, who fulfilled this mission, were seated over a cup of
spiced wine, in discourse concerning these strange events, the Lady
Margaret's majestic demeanour, and the strangeness of her supporting
this young man, if indeed he were an impostor; when a cavalier, whose
soiled dress and heated appearance bespoke fatigue and haste, entered
the room. It was Sir Robert Clifford: they received him as liege
subjects may receive a traitor, with darkened brows and serious looks.
Clifford addressed them in his usual careless style:--"Saint Thomas
shield me, my masters; can you not afford one benison to your gossip!
Good Sir Edward, we have ruffled together, when we wore both white and
red in our caps; and does the loss of a blood-stained rag degrade me
from your friendship?"
The bitter accusations of the knight, and the doctor's sarcasms, which
were urged in reply, awoke a haughty smile. "Oh, yes!" he cried, "ye are
true men, faithful liege subjects! I, an inheritance of the block,
already marked for quartering, because I am for the weak right, you for
the strong might. Right, I say--start not--the mother of God be my
witness! Duke Richard is Duke Richard--is lord of us all--true son of
the true king, Ned of the White Rose, whom you swore to protect,
cherish, and exalt; you, yes, even you, sir knight. Where is now your
oath? cast from heaven, to pave the hell where you will reap the meed of
your lying treachery!"
Clifford, always insolent, was doubly so now that he felt accused of
crimes of which he did not deem himself guilty; but which would (so an
obscure presentiment told him) hereafter stain his soul. Doctor Wattam
interposed before Poyning's rising indignation: "Wherefore come you
here, Sir Robert?" he asked. "Though we are envoys of the king you have
betrayed, we may claim respect: Sir Edward, as a gentleman and a
cavalier--I as an humble servitor of the Lord Jesus, in whose name I
command you not to provoke to a bloody deed the messengers of peace."
"Cease to taunt me with a traitor's name," replied Sir Robert, "and I
will chafe no further the kindling blood of my sometime friend. Let us
rather leave all idle recrimination. I came hither to learn how wagged
the world in London town, and, as a piece of secret intelligence, to
assure you that you wrongfully brand this stripling for an impostor. Be
he sovereign of our land or not--be it right or wrong to side with York
against Lancaster--York he is, the son of Edward and Elizabeth, so
never fail me my good sword or my ready wits!"
The best of us are inclined to curiosity. A little fearful of each
other, the ambassadors exchanged looks, to know whether either would
accuse the other of treachery if they heard further. "Good sir," said
the doctor, gravely, "methinks we do our liege service in listening to
this gentleman. We can the better report to his majesty on what grounds
the diabolic machination is founded."
So, over another goblet, Clifford sat telling them how Richard had long
lived as Perkin Warbeck in the neighbourhood of Tournay, under the
guardianship of Madeline de Faro; and he recounted the history of his
escape from the hands of Frion. Doctor Wattam carefully conned these
names; and then, in reply, he set forth how unworthy it was of a
Clifford to desert from Lancaster; how unlikely, even if it were true,
which, after all his tale hardly proved it was, that the outcast boy
could compete with success with the sage possessor of England's throne.
Poynings asked him how it pleased him to find himself at the same board
with a Neville and a Taylor, and hinted that an exile from his country
and a traitor to his sovereign, this was hardly the way to replenish his
purse, or to gain anew the broad lands he had lost. The service he might
do Henry by a return to his duty, gratitude and reward, were then urged
by the priest, while Clifford listened in dodged silence. His brow
became flushed; his lips worked with internal commotion. He felt, he
knew, that he hated the very man hose cause he espoused; but he was
pledged to so many, a whole array of noble and respected names came
before him.--Could he, in the eyes of these, become a false foul
traitor? He refilled, and quaffed again and again his cup; and at last
so wound himself up, as to begin, "My friends, you speak sooth, though I
may not listen; yet, if you name one so humble and distasteful, say to
my liege--"
A page in green and white--the colours of Lady Brampton--entered,
announcing her speedy arrival. Clifford's wits were already disturbed by
wine; instinct made him fear in such a state to come in contact with the
subtle lady; he drew his cap over his eyes, his cloak around his person,
and vanished from the hall, ere his friends were aware of his intention.
The interview between Lady Brampton and the gentlemen was of another
sort. Sir Edward had in her younger days worn her colours. She was
changed in person since then: but, when, after a short interval, he got
over the shock consequent on the first perception of the sad traces of
time on the cheek of beauty, he found that her eyes possessed the same
fire, her voice the same thrilling tone, her smile the same enchantment.
While the doctor, who had loved her as a daughter, and she regarded him
with filial reverence, rebuked her for what he termed her misdeeds; she
replied with vivacity, and such true and zealous love for him whose
cause she upheld, that they were both moved to listen with respect, if
not conviction, to her asseverations. She could not gain her point, nor
win them over to her side; but, when she departed, neither spoke of
young Richard's rights, unwilling to confess to one another that they
were converts to his truth. She went. The next day they departed from
Brussels, and it became subject of discussion, what step Henry would now
take, and whether, by any new measure, he could disturb the ripening
conspiracy against his throne.
CHAPTER XXI
TREASON
Oh, what excuse can my invention make?
I do arrest ye of high treason here!
SHAKSPEARE.
Henry's ambassadors had wrought little change on any except Clifford.
His words had been interrupted; they were nothing in themselves; but
their spirit, the spirit of treason, was in his heart. He made up his
mind to nothing; he looked forward to no certain project; but he felt
that hereafter he might betray his present associates to their
arch-enemy. As yet his conscience was not seared; the very anticipation
of guilt tortured him, and he longed to fly from thought. Another blind
impulse drove him on. He hated the prince, because he was his opposite;
because, while he was a cankered bloom, his heart a waste, his soul
crusted over by deceit, his very person sullied by evil deeds and
thoughts, Duke Richard stood in all the pride of innocence. Could he
degrade him to his own level, there would be a pang the less in his
bosom; could he injure him in the eyes of his friends, render him, as he
himself had ever been, an object of censure, he would satisfy the
ill-cravings of his nature, and do Henry a wondrous benefit by
tarnishing the high character his rival bore, causing him whom his
adherents set up as an idol, to become a reproach to them.
Clifford thought that it would be an easy task to entice a gay young
stripling into vice. Richard loved hawking, hunting, and jousting in the
lists, almost more, some of his elder friends thought, than befitted one
on the eve of a perilous enterprise. Governed by Edmund, attended by
Neville, watched by the noble duchess and vigilant Lady Brampton, it was
no great wonder that he had hitherto escaped error; but Clifford went
wilily to work, and hoped in some brief luckless hour to undo the work
of years. Richard was glad to find in him a defender of his inclination
for manly sports; an intimacy sprung up between them, which it would not
be the knight's fault, if it did not bring about the catastrophe he
desired.
What then perpetually opposed all his measures? What, when he thought
he had caused the tide of temptation to flow, suddenly made it ebb and
retreat back to its former banks? Clifford, an adept in every art,
moulded himself to every needful form, and at last won the secret from
the deep recess of Richard's heart; he loved--he loved Monina, that
living emblem of innocent affection; never, he had vowed, would he
disturb the sacred calm that reigned in her young heart, nor gift
ignorance with fatal knowledge. She knew not the nature of her own
feelings, and he would not withdraw the veil; but he was himself
conscious of being swayed by the tenderest love. He could not marry her;
his own misfortunes had arisen from the misalliance of his father; she
herself would have refused to injure thus his cause, and have disdained
him, if for her sake he had been inclined to abdicate his rights; he
would be her friend, her brother. With passion came sorrow; he fled
from sad reflection to the chase, to the exercise of arms. But other
temptation became blunted by this very sentiment; his love grew more
ardent by restraint; if he yielded in her absence to the contemplation
of her image, his soul was filled with a voluptuous languor, from which
he roused himself by attention to his duties or hardy pastimes; but to
every other form of pleasure he was cold. This was a strange,
incomprehensible picture to present to the world-worn Clifford; he
fancied that it must be a delusion, but he found all the resistance of
firm reality. To embitter his defeat came his own fierce passions, and
the knowledge that Monina loved his rival; they would see each other, be
happy in each other, and laugh him to scorn! He concealed his jealousy,
his disappointment; but double treble rage gnawed at his heart; hatred
awoke in her most viperous shape, fanged by a sense of inferiority,
envenomed by envy, sharpened by the torture of defeat. How little did
any know--above all, how not at all did his innocent victim
suspect--the storm that brooded in his heart! There was something in
the very slightness and grace of his figure that was at variance with
the idea of violence and crime; and his glossing tongue added to the
deceit. Lady Brampton feared him a little; Frion saw something in him,
that made him pay greater court to him than to any other--these were
the only indications. Sunshine and calm brooded over the earthquake's
birth.
Meanwhile, Henry was not sleeping at his post. He saw the full extent of
his danger, and exerted all his energy to provide against it. His
immediate attention was chiefly directed to two points. In the first
place it was desirable to forge some tale, to account for the
circumstances that spoke so loudly for the truth of York's story, and
thus to degrade him from the high esteem in which he was universally
held; secondly, it became necessary to certify to the public the death
of Edward the Fifth and his brother in the Tower. We may well wonder at
his ill success as to the first point;--there never was concocted so
ill-fangled, so incongruous, and so contradictory a fable, as that put
together by Henry, purporting to be the history of the pretender. He was
himself ashamed of it, and tried to call it in. History has in its
caprice given more credence to this composition, than its contemporaries
gave; it was ridiculed and despised at the time even by the partisans of
Lancaster.
He was equally unfortunate in his second effort. To explain his attempts
we must go back to the time of Richard the Third. On repeated reports
being made to him of his unhappy imprisoned nephew's illness, this
monarch had commissioned Sir James Tirrel to visit him. The young prince
had languished without any appearance of immediate danger, and then
suddenly drooped even to the grave. Tirrel arrived at the Tower late in
the evening, and the first intelligence he received was, that the Lord
Edward was dying. At the midnight hour he was admitted into his
sick-room; his two attendants followed him no further than the
ante-chamber. He entered. The glazed eye and death-pale cheek of the
victim spoke of instant dissolution; a few slight convulsions, and it
was over--Edward was no more! With wild, loud cries poor little York
threw himself on his brother's body. Tirrel's servants, affrighted,
entered; they found one of the princes, whose illness had been
represented as trivial, dead; the other was carried off, struggling and
screaming, by their master and an attendant priest, the only two persons
in the chamber. They departed two hours afterwards from the Tower.
Tirrel seemed disturbed, and was silent. They would perhaps have thought
less about it; but hearing subsequently of the disappearance and
supposed death of the young duke, wonder grew into suspicion, and in
thoughtless talk they laid the foundation of a dire tale out of these
fragments. Henry had heard it before; now he endeavoured to trace its
origin. Tirrel, who for some time had lived obscurely in the country,
came to London--he was immediately seized, and thrown into prison.
Emissaries were set to work to find the three others, the priest and Sir
James's two servants. Only one was to be found; and when Tirrel was
asked concerning this man, by name John Dighton, he told a tale of
ingratitude punished by him, which was soothing sweet to King Henry's
ear; he was speedily discovered and imprisoned. Both master and follower
underwent many examinations: and it was suggested to each, that reward
would follow their giving countenance to a tale of midnight murder.
Tirrel was indignant at the proposal; Dighton, on the contrary--a
needy, bad man--while he told the story so as to gloss his own conduct,
was very ready to inculpate his master; and it grew finely under his
fosterage. Henry saw that without Tirrel's connivance he could not
authenticate any account; but he gave all the weight he could to these
reports. Few persons believed them, yet it served to confuse and
complicate events; and, while people argued, some at least would take
his side of the question, and these would be interested to spread their
belief abroad;--Duke Richard must be the loser in every way.
The spies, the traitor-emissaries of the fear-struck monarch, were all
busy; there was a whole army of them dispersed in England and
Flanders--none could know the false man from the true. To obviate every
suspicion, he caused his own hirelings to be proclaimed traitors, and
cursed at St. Paul's cross.
The priests, ever his friends, were impiously permitted to violate the
sacrament of confession; and thus several unsuspecting men betrayed
their lives, while they fancied that they performed a religious duty. A
few names still escaped him--he tampered with Clifford and Frion for
them: the former was not yet quite a villain; the latter found that he
enjoyed more credit, honour, and power as the duke's secretary than he
could do as Henry's spy; besides, his vanity was hurt--he wished to
revenge himself on the master who had discarded him.
In nothing did Henry succeed better than in throwing an impenetrable
veil over his manuvres. Most people thought, so tranquil and
unconcerned he seemed, that he did not suspect the existence of an
actual conspiracy, fostered in England itself, containing many
influential persons among its numbers. All were sure that he was
entirely ignorant of their names and actual purposes. The many months
which intervened while he waited patiently, corroborated this belief,
and the conspirators slept in security. The winter passed, and they
continued to scheme, apparently unobserved; spring came--they prepared
for York's landing--for a general rising--for a sudden seizing on many
walled towns and fortresses--for the occupation of London itself. A few
brief weeks, and Henry's prosperity would be shaken to its centre--his
power uprooted--he and his children would wander exiles in a foreign
land; and another king, the gallant descendant of the true Plantagenets,
reign in his stead.
Thus occupied, thus prepared, were the Yorkists in England; at Brussels,
things were carried on more openly, and wore a more promising
appearance. The duchess, Lady Brampton, Plantagenet, triumphed. Sir
George Neville anticipated with proud joy a restoration of the fallen
race of Warwick, and regarded himself already as another king-maker of
that house. Every exile looked northward, and grew joyful with the
thought of home. Frion became more busy and important than ever; he had
lately gone disguised to England, in pursuance of some project. In
another week they expected Lord Barry to join them from Ireland:
Clifford was amazed, vacillating, terrified. He knew that Henry was far
from idle; he was aware that some of the loudest speakers in Richard's
favour in Brussels were his hirelings, whom he would not betray, because
he half felt himself one among them, though he could not quite prevail
on himself to join their ranks. He believed that the king was in eager
expectation of his decision in his favour; that nothing could be done
till he said the word; he proposed conditions; wished to conceal some
names; exempt others from punishment. Messengers passed continually
between him and bishop Morton, Henry's chief counsellor and friend, and
yet he could not determine to be altogether a traitor.
Thus stood affairs; a consummation all thought to be nigh at hand. It
was the spring of 1494, and the coming summer was to decide the fate of
York. A ball was given by the duchess, in honour of her nephew; it was
splendidly and gaily attended. Clifford had been conversing with the
prince, when suddenly he left the apartment: it was long ere he came
back, and slowly joined the principal group in the room, consisting of
the duchess, the prince. Lady Brampton, Neville, Plantagenet, Taylor,
and several others. Clifford's countenance was marked by horror and
surprise; so much so, that Lady Brampton looked at him a moment without
knowing him. Suddenly she started up and seized his arm--"Holy Virgin!"
she cried, "what had dressed your face, Sir Robert, in this pale livery?
what tale of death have you heard?"
The brow of Clifford became flushed, his lips grew whiter, as quivering
they refused to form the words he attempted to utter. Barley had before
this quitted the apartment: he rushed in now, crying aloud, "Treason!"
"Treason!" Neville repeated, laying his hand heavily on Clifford's
shoulder; "hear you that word, sir knight? Where is the traitor?"
Clifford in a moment recovered himself, answering, composedly, "Ay,
would I could point out the man--would that I could drag him forth, the
mark, the very target for the shafts of vengeance. We are lost; the
cause is lost; our friends; the good Lord Fitzwater. I would have hid
his name in the bowels of the earth!"
Already the festal hall was deserted; already the guests were dispersed,
to learn how wide the destruction had spread. By the prince's orders,
the messenger from England was introduced before himself and his
principal friends: it was Adam Floyer, Sir Simon Mountford's chaplain;
escaped himself, he was the bearer of a frightful tale. On one day,
almost at the same hour, the Yorkist conspirators were arrested. Lord
Fitzwater, Sir Simon Mountford, Sir Thomas Thwaites, Robert Ratcliffe,
William Daubeny, Thomas Cressenor, Thomas Astwood, two dominicans, by
name William Richford and Thomas Poyns, Doctor William Sutton, Worseley
the dean of Saint Paul's, Robert Langborne, and Sir William Lessey, were
all seized and cast into prison. Others had escaped: young Gilbert
Daubeny, brother of William, and Sir Edward Lisle, had arrived in
Flanders. Others made good speed and had fled to Ireland.
CHAPTER XXII
HERMAN DE FARO
Oh, Clifford! but bethink thee once again,
And in thy thought o'errun my former time,
And if thou canst for blushing, view this face!
SHAKSPEARE.
"Where is the traitor?" Neville's question resounded through Flanders,
and was re-echoed in groans from the English shores. Each man feared the
other, and saw the mark of Henry's malice on the brow of all. It was a
worse scene in England: executions followed imprisonment; the scaffolds
flowed with blood; and suspicion was still greedy of prey. Among the
papers seized by the king there was found a letter from Clifford to Lord
Fitzwater, containing these words: "I do protest, my lord, that the
proof of York's truth is most pertinent. You know this; and yet he who
cut the crooked rose-bush to the roots still doubts; forsooth, he is
still at his 'ifs'--'if he were sure that young man were King
Edward's son, he would never bear arms against him.' Pray deprive my
lord of his 'if;' for arms he must never bear: he is too principal to
any cause."
Henry tormented himself to find who this doubter might be: again he
sought to bribe Clifford, who was at first dogged that so much was done
without him, and then tried to barter his intelligence for Lord
Fitzwater's life. Such grace had he left, that he was ready to exert his
wits to save his former patron; this was granted. This noble alone of
the conspirators who were laymen was spared: he was sent prisoner to
Calais.
At the first word of discovery, Monina's friends had endeavoured to
insure her escape to Flanders; but her name was known to Henry, and
there was none whom he was more desirous to get into his power. She
remained concealed at a little distance from London. She grew mad in
inaction: the work of death and misery around wound up her tender spirit
to torture; and the execution of her former friends filled her with such
horror as made day hateful, night the parent of frightful visions. After
several weeks' seclusion, she all at once resolved to visit London, to
seek some one of her former friends--to learn whether the tragedy was
over, and what further mischiefs despair might have engendered. She
inhabited a solitary mansion, with one old woman, who opposed her going,
but vainly. Monina was too young to bear uncertainty with any degree of
patience. Some slight joy visited her as she found herself on her road
to London. Before she arrived a heavy rain fell; but she was not to be
discouraged. Sir Edward Lisle, she knew, had not been arrested: she was
unaware of his escape, and thought perhaps that he had not been
discovered; she might get intelligence from him. His house was deserted
and empty. Another hope remained--Sir William Stanley. She knew his
timidity, and resolved to be cautious as to the manner of her visit. Sir
William had ever been peculiarly kind to the gentle maiden; fearing to
see her openly, she had often come to him by water: his mansion, near
the palace at Westminster, had a garden upon the Thames. Without
exciting any remark, she could land here. It was already night, and this
favoured secrecy. With some difficulty, in the city, where she then was,
she contrived to find her way to an obscure wharf, and embarked in a
wherry. Fortunately it was high water, and she landed without difficulty
in the garden, and dismissed the men. Now she began, to be puzzled as to
how she should make her way, dripping with rain, unexpected, to Sir
William's presence. She had been accustomed to be admitted by a little
door opening on stairs which led her to her old friend's library: this
was shut now. Suddenly she thought she heard voices, and then perceived
a thread of light that streamed through the key-hole of the summer-house
in the garden. There was a noise on the water, too: and a boat was
paddled to the landing-place. Bewildered, yet believing that all this
secrecy was connected with the grand conspiracy, she moved towards the
summer-house: the door was opened, and the light falling full upon her,
she saw several figures within, and a female shriek burst upon her ear.
Quick steps were heard behind: to retreat or go forward equally
terrified her; when one of the persons in the summer-house, a man in an
uncouth foreign garb, cried, "Thou here, Monina! What miracle is this?
Come, come in; there is danger in all we do!"
Monina recognized the voice of Frion, and entered: there she saw one, a
lady richly attired, yet half disguised in a large black cloak. Fear was
painted on her cheek; her blue eyes were cast up to Heaven. A female
attendant with her seemed yet more terrified. About the room were
scattered globes and astrolabes, and all the gear of an astrologer. In
the lady, Monina recognized York's sister, Tudor's queen, the fair
Elizabeth of England. At once compassion and respect entered her heart:
she addressed the royal lady with reverence, and all that touching grace
that was her sweetest charm; she assured her of inviolable secrecy; she
reminded her of their former interview. Elizabeth grew calmer as she
recognized her visitor at Shene: she stretched out her hand to the
Spaniard, saying, "I do indeed believe and trust thee; thou shalt hear
again from me." Then folding her mantle round her, and leaning on her
attendant, she quitted the house, and with trembling haste embarked.
For many weeks after this scene, Monina continued concealed in Sir
William Stanley's mansion. When the arrest of the conspirators had taken
place, Frion, balked in an attempt to escape, for safety's sake had
assumed the habit and character of an astrologer, and so far worked upon
Stanley's fears, and won him by his flattery, that he permitted him to
take up his residence in his summer-house. Frion was a clever prophet,
and too restless not to become notorious. It was a good mode, he
averred, to put hope in the hearts of the Yorkists, by prognosticating
all manner of success to them. His fame spread. The queen questioned
Stanley about his new astrologer; and the confusion the poor chamberlain
evinced, served only to excite her curiosity. She sent one of her
attendants to see what manner of man he might be; and the subtle Frion
profited by this little artifice, which Sir William in his terror
divulged, to entice the queen herself to his cell. She came, and the
result of her visit was to bring Monina again before her.
Such were the agents still at work for York in London. Such the
materials Clifford strove to mould into a purpose of his own. There was
no reason, so many of the White Rose thought, to forego all their plans
because one had come to a fatal end. Still Richard might land in
England, and make head against Tudor. On a smaller scale, with lessened
hopes and diminished ardour, a scheme of this kind was canvassed.
Clifford appeared its chief abettor, and encouraged it by every means in
his power; none were averse. It was not an enterprise of such high
expectation as the discovered one; but, undertaken with speed, and
prosecuted with energy, it might turn out as well. England was by no
means tranquil; the metropolis itself was the scene of tumults: these
were raised to a ferment by the embargo Henry had found it necessary to
place on all communication with Holland--a measure fraught with ruin to
many of the richest merchants in London.
At this time, towards the end of the summer, the king came up from his
palace at Shene, and held a court at Westminster. One of the immediate
subjects that brought him up, was a tumult in the city, to which the
embargo had given rise. A vast number of apprentices and journeymen
belonging to the ruined merchants were out of employ, while the traders
from Hans, and other free German towns, who went among us by the name of
the Easterlings, got the commerce into their own hands, and grew rich
upon it. The sight of their prosperity was, to the starving Londoners,
as the pressed rowel of a spur in a horse's side; with the usual
barbarism of the untaught and rude, they visited on these men the fault
of their governors--the discontent augmented till it became loud,
furious, and armed. Multitudes of those deprived of their usual means,
met, and, in a moment of rage, proceeded from words to acts. They
endeavoured to force and rifle the warehouses of the Easterlings, who
repulsed them with difficulty; nor did they disperse, till the mayor
arrived with men and weapons, from whom they fled like a flock of sheep.
When tidings of this event were brought to Henry, he, who saw in all
things the multiplied image of the abhorred White Rose, believed the
Yorkists to be its secret cause. The day after his arrival he gave
audience to the mayor, who reported that, from every examination made,
none appeared to have a part in it, except servants and apprentices,
nearly a hundred of whom were imprisoned in the Tower.
In giving a detail of this circumstance, the mayor related that the
Easterlings declared, that at the first onset their richest
store-chambers must have become the prey of the rioters, but for the
interposition of one man. He was a sea-captain, and had arrived but the
day before with his caravel from Spain--they represented him as a
person of gigantic stature and superhuman strength. Entangled by the
mob in his progress through the city, he had no sooner discovered their
intent, than he contrived to make his way into the stilyard; and there
combining the forces of the defenders, more by his personal prowess than
any other means, he beat back the invaders, and succeeded in closing the
gates. At the representation of the mayor, Henry commanded that this man
should be brought before him, partly that he might thank him for his
services, and partly, for Henry was curious on such points, to learn
from him the news from Spain, and if more had been heard of the wild
visionary Columbus and his devoted crew, since they had deserted the
stable continent, to invade the hidden chambers of the secret western
ocean.
The king received the mariner in his closet. None were in attendance
save Urswick. There was something grand in the contrast between these
men. The courtier-priest--the sovereign, whose colourless face was
deep-lined with careful thought, whose eyes were skilled in reading the
thoughts of men, and whose soul was perpetually alive to everything that
was passing around him--and the ocean rock, the man of tempests and
hardships, whose complexion was darkened and puckered by exposure to sun
and wind, whose every muscle was hardened by labour, but whose unservile
mien bespoke no cringing to any power, save nature's own. He received
Henry's thanks with respect, and replied simply: he answered also
several questions put to him concerning his voyages; it appeared that he
had but lately arrived from Spain--that he came to seek a relative who
resided in England. During this interview a thought flashed on Henry's
mind. In his late transactions with Clifford, the base purpose had been
formed of enticing the duke and his principal adherents to England, and
of delivering them up to their enemy; there had been some discussion as
to providing, at least, one vessel in Henry's pay, to make part of the
little fleet which would bring the duke of York over. This was
difficult, as suspicion might attach itself to any English vessel; but
here was one, with a stranger captain, and a foreign crew, a man who
knew nothing of White or Red Rose, who would merely fulfil his
commission. Slow on all occasions to decide, the king appointed another
interview with the stranger.
It so happened, that the news of the appearance of the Spanish captain
had penetrated to the queen's apartments; and little Arthur, her gentle
and darling son, was desirous to see the countrymen of Columbus, whose
promised discoveries were the parent of such wonder and delight
throughout the world. The prince of Wales must not be denied this
pleasure, and the Spaniard was ushered into the queen's presence. An
enthusiast in his art, his energetic, though simple expressions
enchanted the intelligent prince, and even compelled the attention of
his little sturdy brother Henry. He spoke in words, borrowed from
Columbus's own lips, of translucent seas, of an atmosphere more softly
serene than ours, of shores of supernal beauty, of the happy natives, of
stores of treasure, and the bright hopes entertained concerning the
further quest to be made in these regions. Elizabeth forgot herself to
listen, and regretted the necessity of so soon dismissing him. She asked
a few questions relative to himself, his vessel; "She was a gallant
thing once," replied her commander, "when I took her from the Algerines,
and new-christened her the Adalid; because, like her owner, being of
Moorish origin she embraced the true faith. My own name, please your
grace, is Hernan de Faro, otherwise called the Captain of the Wreck, in
memory of a sad tedious adventure, many years old."
"De Faro--had he not a daughter?"
Anxiety and joy showed itself at once in the mariner's countenance.
Monina!--Where was she? How eagerly and vainly had he sought
her--faltering, the queen had only power to say, that Sir William
Stanley, the lord chamberlain, could inform him, and, terrified, put an
end to the interview.
Two days after--already had De Faro found and fondly embraced his
beloved child--Urswick, at the king's command, sent for the hero of the
stilyard, and, after some questioning, disclosed his commission to him;
it was such, that, had de Faro been in ignorance, would have led him to
suspect nothing--he was simply to sail for Ostend; where he would seek
Sir Robert Clifford, and deliver a letter: he was further told that he
was to remain at Sir Robert's command, to receive on board his vessel
whoever the knight should cause to embark in her, and to bring them
safely to England. To all this De Faro, aware of the dread nature of
these orders, assented; and, in Stanley's summer-house, with the lord
chamberlain, Monina, and Frion, it was discussed how this web of treason
could best be destroyed. There was little room for doubt; Monina
resolved to sail with her father, to denounce Clifford to the prince,
and so save him and his friends from the frightful snare. Frion still
remained in England, to try to fathom the whole extent of the mischief
intended; though now, fearful of discovery, he quitted his present
abode, and sought a new disguise. Stanley trembled at Clifford's name,
but he saw no suspicion in his sovereign's eye, and was reassured.
The Adalid sailed, bearing the king's letters to Clifford, and having
Monina on board, who was to unfold to the deceived prince and his
followers the dangers that menaced them.
Already, as the appointed time drew near, most of Richard's partizans
were assembled at Ostend; a fleet of three vessels was anchored in the
port to convey them to England to fated death; the prince himself, with
Clifford, sojourned in a castle at no great distance. Sir Robert
insinuated himself each day more and more into his royal friend's
confidence; each day his hatred grew, and he fed himself with it to keep
true to his base purpose; among the partizans of York sometimes he felt
remorse; beside the bright contrast of his own dark self, never.
Monina landed; and, the prince being absent, first she sought Lady
Brampton--she was at Brussels; then Plantagenet,--he was expected, but
not arrived from Paris; then she asked for Sir George Neville, as the
chief of the English exiles; to him she communicated her strange, her
horrid tidings, to him she showed Henry's still sealed letter to
Clifford. What visible Providence was here, laying its finger on the
headlong machinery that was bearing them to destruction! Neville was all
aghast: he, who did not like, had ceased to suspect Clifford, seeing
that he adhered to them at their worst. He lost no time in bringing
Monina to the castle, but ten miles distant, where York then was; he
introduced her privately, and, wishing that she should tell her tale
herself, went about to contrive that, without Clifford's knowledge or
suspicion, the prince should have an interview with her.
Monina did not wonder that her bosom throbbed wildly, as she remained in
expectation of seeing her childhood's playfellow, from whom she had been
so long absent. Nor did she check her emotion of intense pleasure when
she saw him, and heard him in her native Spanish utter expressions of
glad delight at so unexpectedly beholding her. Time had changed him very
little; his aspect was still boyish; and, if more thought was seated in
his eye, his smile was not the less frank and sweet; she was more
altered; her but little feminine form had acquired grace; the girl was
verging into the woman--blooming as the one, tender and impassioned as
the other; her full dark eyes, which none could behold and not feel the
very inner depths of their nature stirred, were the home of sensibility
and love. A few moments were given to an interchange of affectionate
greeting, and then York, recurring to the mysterious mode in which
Neville had expressed himself, asked if anything save a kind wish to
visit the brother of her childhood had brought her hither; she replied,
by relating to him the circumstances of her father's commission from
Henry, and delivering to him the letter for Sir Robert. The whole wide
world of misery contains no pang so great as the discovery of treachery
where we pictured truth; death is less in the comparison, for both
destroy the future, and one, with Gorgon countenance, transforms the
past. The world appeared to slide from beneath the prince, as he became
aware that Clifford's smiles were false; his seeming honesty, his
discourse of honour, the sympathy apparent between them, a lie, a
painted lie, alluring him by fair colours to embrace foulest deformity.
The exceeding openness and confidence of his own nature, rendered the
blow doubly unnatural and frightful; and Monina, who had half disliked,
and latterly had almost forgotten Clifford, was full of surprise and
pain to mark the affliction her friend's countenance expressed.
There was no time for regret. Neville interrupted them, and it became
necessary to act. Richard held in his hand the sealed proof of his
associate's falsehood; Sir George urged him to open it, so as to
discover the whole extent of the treason. The prince's eyes were at once
lighted up by the suggestion: no, no, because Clifford had been base, he
would violate no law of honour--there was no need for the sake of
others; his treachery discovered, was fangless; nor would he even
undertake the dark office of openly convicting and punishing: his
conscience and remorse should be judge and executioner.
Monina and Neville returned to Ostend. The prince sent a message to
Clifford with some trifling commission to execute in the same town; and
Sir Robert, who had heard of the arrival of a stranger caravel from
England, was glad of an opportunity, to ride over to learn its
character. His feet were in the stirrups, when a page brought him a
letter from the duke, which he was bid not to open till he had departed.
A sense of a mysterious meaning came over him. Was he discovered? At the
first dawn of this suspicion he clapped spurs to his horse, and was
already far away; then, impatient of uncertainty, as soon as half the
brief space to Ostend was measured, he took out the packet, eyed it
curiously, and, after many qualms and revolutions of feeling, suddenly
tore it open. King Henry's despatch, written in Urswick's well-known
hand, first met his eye. Worse in action than in thought, a cold dew
mantled on his brow; and, while his heart stood still in his labouring
breast, he cast his eyes over a few lines, written in Richard's fair
clear Spanish hand:--
"This paper, joined to the mode in which it fell into my hands, accuses
you of treason. If wrongfully, accord permission that the seal may be
broken, and your innocence proved.
"Even it the mystery which this letter contains cannot be divulged nor
exculpated, all is not lost. Perhaps you are rather weak than guilty;
erring, but not wicked. If so, return immediately on your steps; by a
frank confession merit my confidence. I were unworthy of the mediation
of the Blessed Saints, whom each night I solicit to intercede for me
before our Heavenly Father, were I not ready to pardon one who has
sinned, but who repents.
"If your crime be of a deeper dye, and you are allied in soul to my
enemy, depart. It is enough for me that I never see you more. If I
remain a fugitive for ever, you will lose nothing by deserting my ruined
fortunes; if I win the day, my first exercise of the dearest prerogative
of kings, will be to pardon you.
"RICHARD."
CHAPTER XXIII
THE TRAITOR UNMASKED
Shall I be the slave
Of--what? a word? which those of this false world
Employ against each other, not themselves,
As men wear daggers not for self offence.
But if I am mistaken, where shall I
Find the disguise to hide me from myself?
As now I skulk from every other eye.
SHELLEY.
One of the surest results of guilt is to deprive the criminal of belief
in the goodness of others. Clifford was discovered. Even, if Richard
continued true to his promise of pardon, his adherents and counsellors
might force him to another line of conduct. A dungeon and death floated
terribly before his confused vision. Flight, instant flight to England,
where, by a full confession of many things he had reserved, and the
disclosure of an important unsuspected name, he might still receive
welcome and reward from Henry, was the only course left him to pursue.
His thoughts were chaos. Shame and indignation raged in his heart. He
was a convicted traitor, a dishonoured man. "Oh, my envied father!" in
his wretchedness he exclaimed, "you died gloriously for Lancaster. I
live, steeped in obloquy, for the same cause. Abhorred Plantagenet! what
misery has been mine since first your name came to drug me with racking
poison! What have I not endured while I cringed to the fair-haired boy!
Thank the powers of hell, that time is past! Devil as I have stamped
myself, his arch crime, lying, is no more my attribute. To the winds and
men's thirsty ears I may cry aloud--I hate Plantagenet!"
It was some relief to this miserable man to array his thoughts in their
darkest garb, soothing his evil passions with words, which acted on them
as a nurse's fondling talk to a querulous child. His line of conduct was
fixed: he remembered Neville's sudden appearance and departure the night
before; he had brought the letter; he was waiting for him at Ostend to
seize on him, to turn to mockery the prince's promised pardon. Those
were days of violence and sudden bloodshed: the enemy a man could not
visit with legal punishment, he thought himself justified in destroying
with his own hand; the passions of the Yorkists, who found they had been
driven into shambles instead of a fold, must be fierce and dangerous.
Without delay, he resolved to embark in one of the vessels then in the
roads; he hurried to the beach; the wind seemed fair; there was a poor
kind of hostelry, the common resort of sailors near, from whence a
signal could be given for a boat to be sent off for him. While waiting
for it, he quitted the noisy vulgarity of the inn, and walked towards a
kind of ruined tower, that once perhaps had served as a lighthouse. In
all the panic of guilt, a roof, however desolate, appeared a shelter,
and he sought it: it was dilapidated and dark; there were some rude,
narrow stairs leading to the upper story,--these he ascended, and
entered what had been a kind of guard-room, and started at the vision he
beheld: leaning against the aperture that had served for a casement,
looking on the wide green sea, was Monina. Her lustrous eyes turned on
him--eyes before whose full softness his violence, his insolence
quailed; till shame, despair, and rage, and the deep-seated arrogance of
his nature, conquered his better feelings. She knew his crime, witnessed
his disgrace; there was no more to lose in the world. What more could he
win? His presence occasioned her much emotion. She had just quitted
Neville, who somewhat angrily remarked upon the prince's ill-timed
lenity, and spoke bitterly of all the ill Clifford, thus let loose,
might do in England. And here he was, about to embark for that very
island, where one at least, Sir William Stanley, was at his mercy.
Gladly Monina seized on this opportunity to dive into his projects, and
to inspire by her energetic words the traitor's bosom with some sense of
right. She, alas! inspired passion only, and jealousy, that now at last
his rival would see her love-lighted eyes turned affectionately on him;
while all the reproach of which they were capable was his meed. What
such men as Clifford feel is not love: he had no real friendship for the
innocent girl; each feeling that expresses the sympathy of our
intellectual nature was never associated to him with the name of woman.
As she spoke therefore of his duties to God and man, violated, but not
irretrievably, and with soft persuasion entreated him to spare those
whose lives hung upon his word, he recovered his obduracy, and replied
in a tone whose hollow vaunting was at discord with the music that fell
from her lips--"My pretty maiden, I thank thee for thy good intentions,
and if thou wilt wholly undertake my instruction, will prove an apt
scholar. Honesty and I are too poor to be messmates; but if thou wilt
join us--by God, Monina, I mean what I say--the priest shall say grace
for us, and we will partake life's feast or fast together. I will sail
with thee to thy Spain, to the Indies of the West. England shall be a
forgotten name; the White or Red Rose, neither worse nor better in our
eyes than any blooms that smell as sweet: if thou refusest this, here
ends the last chance for honesty; and be the victim who it may, I care
not so my fortunes thrive."
"Unworthy man!" cried Monina; "farewell! I go to England also: I to
save, you to destroy. Bounteous Heaven will look on our several
intentions, and shape our course accordingly. Henry will visit with poor
thanks your blighted purpose, barren now of its ill fruit. Mine will be
the harvest; yours the unlamented loss."
She would have passed him, but he seized her slender wrist. "We will run
no race," he cried; "if we go to England, it will be together: listen to
the splash of oars, it is my boat among the breakers. We enter it
together; it is vain for you to resist; you are my prisoner."
Monina trembled in every joint: she felt that in very truth she was in
Clifford's power. There rode her father's caravel; but he could not
guess her pressing danger: he would behold her depart, ignorant of the
violence she was suffering, ignorant that she was there. No help!--no
form of words was there, that might persuade the ill-minded knight to
free her: her proud spirit disdained to bend; her cheek was flushed; she
strove to withdraw her hand. "Pardon me," said Clifford; "if my fingers
press too roughly; the slight pain you endure will hardly counterbalance
the fierce torture your words inflicted. Be patient, my fellows are
already here. Let us not act a silly mime before them; do not oblige me
to demonstrate too unkindly, that you are wholly in my power."
Hardly had he spoken the words when with a scream she sprang from him.
He turned; but before even he could see the gigantic form of De Faro, a
blow was struck which made him reel against the wall. It would have been
instantly followed by another, but that Monina had flung herself on her
father's breast, and he, supporting her, forgot his enemy, who recovered
himself, and drew his sword. He met the fierce glare of the injured
parent's eye, and shook. "We meet again, recreant!" were the only words
spoken by De Faro; and, as an elephant might snatch a youngling antelope
from the pursuit of a tiger, he took his daughter in his arms, descended
the steps with her, and, as Clifford stood gazing on the sea, in such
bitter mood as is the fruit of baffled malice, he saw the mariner lift
his daughter into the boat. It pushed from the shore; and, with long,
measured strokes, it swept the waves towards the caravel, whose sails
were again unfurled, while everything bespoke the readiness and anxiety
of the crew to depart.
Ere the Adalid had reached the open sea, Clifford in his vessel was but
little astern. It was a race they ran. The caravel at first had the
best. Night concealed them from each other's view; and, in the morning,
already on the tranquil bosom of the Thames Sir Robert's vessel was
sailing alone towards London. By one of those strange turns of fortune
by which our purposes swim or are wrecked, De Faro, without a pilot,
unacquainted with the coast, missed the channel; he grounded on a
sand-bank at the river's mouth; and the tide which carried Clifford so
swiftly towards London had several hours to run before it reached a
height sufficient to float the other's vessel; the situation was not
without peril, and no boat even could be lowered to carry the anxious
Monina to shore.
The very day (it was now the month of January) that Henry heard of
Clifford's arrival in London, he removed his court from Westminster to
the Tower. Already he divined that his Lord Chamberlain was to be
criminated by Sir Robert; and, as Stanley possessed considerable
influence in the state, he wished to make his arrest as unexpected as
possible. Another motive worked upon the avaricious sovereign; seized
thus, without preparation or forethought, his jewels, his rich plate,
his valuable moveables, which might otherwise be secreted, now fell the
indiscriminate prey of confiscation; the Tower, at once a palace and a
prison, favoured this purpose. Here he received Clifford; Urswick had
already conversed with the traitor knight, and represented to him the
necessity of ample confession. There was something in the priest's
manner that, like iron, entered Clifford's soul; he felt himself, too
truly, to be the abject slave, the despised tool of power; there was but
little need to use cajoleries or bribes with him now; he was there, to
be executed as a felon or pardoned as a spy, according as his
disclosures satisfied or not the callous-hearted king.
For his greater punishment, there clung to this unfortunate man a sense
of what he ought to and might have been, and a burning consciousness of
what he was. Hitherto he had fancied that he loved honour, and had been
withheld, as by a hair, from overstepping the demarcation between the
merely reprehensible and the disgraceful. The good had blamed him; the
reckless wondered at his proficiency in their own bad lessons; but
hitherto he had lifted his head haughtily among them, and challenged any
man to accuse him of worse than greater daring in a career all travelled
at a slower and more timid pace.
But that time was gone by. He was now tainted by leprous treachery; his
hands were stained by the blood of his deceived confederates; honour
disowned him for her son; men looked askance on him as belonging to a
pariah race. He felt this; and even Monina, who had last conversed with
him in the summer-house of the inn at Ostend, would hardly have
recognized him. He was then a bold-faced villain; his step was haughty;
his manner insolent. Now his gait was shuffling, his appearance mean,
his speech hesitating and confused. Urswick had known him a gay ruffler;
he started back: was this Sir Robert Clifford? He was obliged to use
with him the usual style of speech adopted towards men in his situation;
to speak of his duty towards his liege; the propriety of delivering up
the guilty to condign punishment: hackneyed phrases, which sounded cold
to the unhappy man.
There was no resource. At Henry's feet, kneeling before a king who used
him as a tool, but who hated him as the abettor of his rival, and
despised him as the betrayer of his friend, Clifford spoke the fatal
word which doomed the confiding Stanley to instant death, himself to the
horrors of conscious guilt, or, what as yet was more bitter to the
worldling, relentless outlawry from the society and speech of all,
however depraved, who yet termed themselves men of honour.
Henry heard him with feigned amazement; and with grating words of
insulting unbelief, demanded evidence of his chamberlain's treason:
these were easily furnished, yet such as they were, they comprised such
irrefragable proof of the identity of the outcast duke, that Henry
found, that while they confirmed him more than ever in his resolve that
Stanley should suffer the severest penalty of his crime, it made it
difficult to bring forward the testimonials of his guilt. This was for
after consideration: Clifford was dismissed with cold thanks, with
promise of pardon and reward, and a haughty command neither to obtrude
himself again into the royal presence, nor to depart from London without
especial leave.
Henry's first act was to command Stanley not to quit his chamber in the
Tower. The next day before the hour of noon, the Bishop of Durham, Lord
Oxford, Lord Surrey, Urswick, and Lord Dawbeny, met in the fallen
chamberlain's apartment, for the purpose of examining him. A thousand
opposing feelings operated upon Stanley: accustomed to pay deference to
the king, even now he said nothing to displease him; and his expressions
rather spoke of compassion for him who very possibly was duke of York,
than any falling off from his allegiance to the then king of England.
This monarch was tormented by no doubts,--to be actuated by no pity.
Stanley's acknowledgment of the truth of the Burgundian pretender roused
his bitterest feelings. In addition, he was rich booty--which weighed
heavily against him; so that, when Bishop Fox remarked on the villany
and extent of his treason, Henry, off his guard, exclaimed--"I am glad
of it; the worse the better: none can speak of mercy now, and
confiscation is assured;"--nor did he in the interval before his trial,
nor after it, express one regret that the man was about to forfeit his
head, who had encircled his own with the regal diadem.
Tried, condemned; but a few days remained before on the fatal block the
rich, noble, prudent, royally-connected Sir William Stanley would
expiate his guilt to Henry. All wondered; many pitied; few thought of
soliciting for or aiding the fallen man; yet one or two there were, whom
this last blow against York filled with bitter regret. In a secluded
part of London Lord Barry, who had just arrived, Frion, and Monina met.
Barry came with intelligence that there had appeared in Ireland a
gentleman from Scotland, commissioned by its young monarch to inquire
into the truth of Richard's story; and, if indubitably he were the man
he pretended, to counsel him to visit Scotland, where he would find
friendship and aid. The Earl of Desmond also had just arrived in London,
and Lord Barry was in his company. This downfall of Stanley called their
minds from every other consideration. Monina was peculiarly agitated and
thoughtful. One evening she joined them late: she was full of some
project. "I can, I do believe, save our friend," she said: "the
assistance I need is small--you, Master Stephen, will hasten on board
the Adalid, and bid my father have all in readiness, for sailing, and to
drop down the river as far as Greenwich: you, my dear lord, must also
take a part in my scheme--keep watch on the river, right opposite the
Tower, during the coming night and the following: if you see a light
upon the shore beneath its dark walls, come towards it with a boat; the
blessed Virgin aiding my design, it shall be freighted with
disappointment to the Tudor, joy to us."
Lord Barry and Frion promised obedience, though they would have
dissuaded her from the risk; but she was devoted, enthusiastic, firm:
she left them, nor did they delay to execute her commission, and both
went down the river to De Faro's caravel. Here a new surprise awaited
them. The duke of York and his friends had not been idle in the interim.
Each design, as it failed, gave place to another. They were diminished
in numbers, but now no traitors were among them. Their hopes were few;
but, unless the present time were seized, there would be none. The false
expectations Clifford had held out to them of coalition and succour in
England were lost, but attachment to York was alive in many an English
bosom: the preparations of arms they had made still existed; it was
resolved therefore in early spring to descend on the English shores.
The duke of York, deeply grieved by the ruin that visited his friends,
stung to the heart by Clifford's treachery, resolved meanwhile to seek
relief in action. Could not his presence do much? Unknown in England, he
might visit the Yorkists, rouse their affection, and form such a union,
as, assisted afterwards by his friends and their little fleet, would
contribute to insure success. His friends did not approve of the hazard
to which he exposed himself; but everything they alleged on this score,
only confirmed his purpose. "All endanger themselves--all die for me,"
he cried; "shall I alone be ingloriously safe?" The first sight
therefore that presented itself to Lord Barry and Frion on the deck of
the Adalid, was Prince Richard and Edmund Plantagenet.
The duke's presence did not change the purpose of Frion's visit. De Faro
got his vessel in readiness for the voyage; and Lord Barry, as evening
closed in, prepared to take his stand--not singly: Richard insisted on
sharing his watch; docile as he usually was, remonstrance had now no
effect; hitherto he had given himself up to guarded safety, now he
seemed in love with peril, resolved to court her at every opportunity.
The risk to which Monina exposed herself, made him obstinate. He would
have thought himself untrue to the laws of chivalry, a recreant knight,
had he not hastened to protect her; and, more than this--for the inborn
impulses of the heart are more peremptory than men's most sacred
laws--he loved; and a mother draws not more instinctively her
first-born to her bosom, than does the true and passionate lover feel
impelled to hazard even life for the sake of her he loves, to shield her
from every danger, or to share them gladly with her.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TOWER
I do not like the Tower of any place.
SHAKSPEARE.
At nine o'clock in the evening, York and Lord Barry took their station
on the Thames, at the appointed place. The boat was tethered to the
shore; and the rising tide brought them nearer to the banks. All was
dark during the cold night of early February; to the right and left,
nothing was apparent save the glimmering water, and the only sound was
the rushing and rippling of the Thames, as it sped downward in its
course.
"My mother greets me with a cold kiss," said the prince; "in truth she
has wedded mine enemy, and cast me out from my inheritance."
A brief pause ensued--a few minutes, which were freighted with the
cares and sorrows of years. Back, back, young Richard threw his eye over
the skeleton shapes of the dead years; and again he sought to penetrate
the future. Dark as the starless sky, not one gleam of comfort presented
itself to the outcast's hope. But such state of mind was unnatural to
the ardent boy, and he sprang from it;
"Like to a lark at break of day, uprising
From sullen earth, to sing at heaven's gate,"
he soared from grovelling despondency into recollections of the labour
and love that had been expended on him. His harvest might never be the
crown at which he aimed; but, better still, the ambrosial food of
affection and devoted attachment, that filled him even to sweet satiety.
"A light! our beacon!" cried Lord Barry.
A small gleam appeared on the opposite bank. It moved; then returned to
its former place, and was stationary. They watched it, till they became
satisfied that it was the guide for which they were waiting. The early
matin service rung from several convents, and came pealing faintly
across the water. It was the dead of night, and the gentlemen gladly
exchanged their inert watch for the labour of contending with the tide
and floating ice, which impeded their way as they rowed across the
Thames to where the light was now fixed.
The drear bank of the Tower-moat rose abruptly from the water-side, and
the waves lay murky dark beneath the arch of the Traitor's Gate. The
tide, which was setting in, carried them above the point were the light
was, to this spot. Their beacon indeed had disappeared; and, as they
waited its return, they floated idly on the river, merely giving now and
then a few strokes, to keep the wherry stationary. They did not perceive
that, while they thus curbed the tide, they had drifted into an eddy
which carried them fast down, till jamming them between the wall of the
Tower and a near pile, their boat lurched, partly filled with water, and
resisted every attempt they made to extricate it. The clouds were
getting thinner before the pale waning moon; but their fancied
beacon-light had vanished.
Their situation was sufficiently dreary. The cold was piercing. They had
difficulty in keeping themselves out of the water that lay at the bottom
of the boat. Lord Barry was a soldier, accustomed to hair-breadth
escapes and dangerous attempts; Richard a bold youth, who thought that
his best safety depended on his own exertions. They were neither of them
inclined to linger tamely in their present situation.
"Before our limbs get numbed with this biting breeze, we must use them
to our own benefit. Your highness can swim?"
"So say the streams of the Vega," replied Richard: "but the very
remembrance of those sweet brooks makes me shudder at the chilly bath
this ice-nourished river affords. I will reconnoitre the land before I
attempt the freezing wave." With lithe, sinuous limbs he coiled about
the pile, and continued to raise himself to where a beam rested on the
upright post, and again was fixed in the turret, which spans and guards
the entrance to the Tower by water. He had hardly gained this place, and
he felt little cold as with nervous fingers he kept fast in the position
he had attained, when a ray of light fell upon the water, streaming from
out a window of the turret. It was but for a moment, and it disappeared;
but Richard's eyes had glanced keenly on the illuminated spot. The
transverse beam he had attained was but little below the window; it had
been grated, but two of the stancheons were broken. This, to our
adventurer, suspended between the unattainable sky and the icy wave,
seemed a place of refuge. Carefully and slowly, he with clinging knees
and hands contrived to get along the beam, to raise himself on his feet
on it, and then to clutch the broken iron bar, and hoist himself into a
chamber of the Tower of London.
The immediate physical dangers that beset our adventurers were so great
(the least horrific of which was spending the night exposed to freezing
blasts, which Barry already felt chilling his very heart's blood), that
they both forgot the dangerous nature of the asylum they were seeking.
The Irish noble had, as well as darkness permitted, followed the
movements of his young companion; the same ray which guided Richard to
temporary safety, had showed to Barry the mode of following him. He made
the attempt; but, though stronger, he was not so agile as his friend;
besides, the minutes which had elapsed during Richard's exertions, had
enfeebled by numbing the other's powers; he got nearly to the top of the
pile--he felt his fingers slip, and that he could hold on no longer.
One desperate struggle he made to cling closer; his grasp seemed rather
to relax, than tighten, in the attempt; and Richard, after a second,
heard with horror his heavy fall into the water. But Barry was more at
his ease in the yielding wave; and the very intensity of the cold,
burning his skin, set his blood in motion; the tide also had arrived at
its height during this interval, and had turned: without great
difficulty the noble cleared, after a few strokes, the abrupt banks that
fence the Tower, and landed on a quay below.
Richard heard the waters splash from under his strokes. The silence was
so entire, that he thought he could distinguish the change of sound when
the swimmer emerged, and plainly heard Lord Barry's shout, in his own
native Irish, of thanksgiving and good cheer. For a moment, like
lightning, it flashed into his mind, the thought of the ominous refuge
he had found; and he was tempted to leap into the water, and to rejoin
his friend. But by this time the alarm of some one having plunged into
the river had been spread by the sentinels. The court became thronged;
some hastened to the wall, others loosened the boats tethered beneath
the gate, and issued in them from under the dark arch, over which Duke
Richard had found refuge. By the glare of many torches, they discovered
the wherry wedged in, as has been described. The splash attested that
some one had fallen into the water: that some one should escape from the
fortress, was more readily present to their imaginations than that any
should enter. They called to each other, communicating their surmises
and intentions: then one boat remained in guard close at the gate, while
the other rowed down the stream. Their exertions must end in nothing,
for Lord Barry had had full time to insure his escape.
Richard attended to all their motions: several of the men in pursuit had
issued from the lower chambers of the turret in which he was: it was not
thus cooped up that he chose to be found; all seemed still; the only
sounds came from the men in the boat; he descended the stairs; he came
out upon the court of the Tower; the dark fortress frowned above,
casting, in spite of the dull moon, a shadow dark enough to hide him.
Steps were heard approaching; he turned under a dim archway; he ascended
a narrow, steep staircase; the steps still followed; hurriedly he opened
a door, and entered a chamber; the men, whoever they might be, were
unaware of his presence; they passed the door, turned down another
gallery; the very echo of their steps died away.
Did he recognize the spot where he then stood? Well!--far too
well!--with a sickening feeling, an irresistible impulse to penetrate
into the very heart of the horror that made his pulses faint, he gazed
on the walls around. Was he then alone changed? Had he sprung up into
manhood, thought, experienced, suffered; and had the material universe
stood still the while? He saw before him a small chamber, enlightened by
one deep-set window, half blocked up by projecting buttresses outside:
there was the pallet-bed, the prie-Dieu, the little crucifix; his infant
limbs had reposed there; on that couch his brother had died.
This was the Tower! Ten years before he had escaped from its gloomy
walls; and had he done this only to return again, when maturer years
gave him a bitterer feeling of the ills he must endure? He had visited
England, guided by the traitor-spirit of Clifford, it seemed; for he had
returned but to render himself a prisoner; yet at first these thoughts
were hardly so painful as the memory of his childhood. The superstitious
fears of the Tower, which haunted poor Edward, had made it an abode of
terror for both: how often had they lain in that bed, curdling each
other's young blood with frightful tales! His brother had pined, and
died. Now, true to the pious usages of the times, he knelt to say a
paternoster for his soul; he said another for his own perilous state;
and then, having, with entire faith committed himself to the protection
of his Father in Heaven, he rose with a cheered heart and sustained
courage.
What was he to do? He was in the Tower; a fortress so well guarded, that
of the unhappy beings confined there for life, none had ever made their
escape; high walls, numerous courts, and grated windows, opposed his
egress. The clock chimed one. It were as well to remain where he was, as
to go on. But it were better still to turn back; quiet would soon be
restored; he might attain the same room, the same window, and leap
thence into the waters below. He remembered wherefore he had come; the
hazardous enterprise of Monina, and the imprisonment of Stanley. Now
that he had attained this chamber, the whole Tower presented itself, as
in a map, to his memory: he knew where the rooms allotted to state
prisoners were situated: confident in his knowledge, his feelings
underwent an entire change; instead of considering himself a prisoner in
the Tower, he felt lord of its labyrinths. Darkness was his wand of
office; the ignorance of all that he was there, was his guard; and his
knowledge of the place, better than the jailor's key, might aid him to
liberate the victims of his enemy.
In this temper of mind he rejoiced that he had been unable to follow his
first impulse in leaping from the window; and he resolved on making his
way immediately to the part of the fortress inhabited by the state
prisoners. Blindfold, setting out from the point where he was, he could
have found his way; yet several images of barred and locked doors
presented themselves to his recollection, as intervening between the
spot where he then was, and that which he desired to visit. He descended
again into the court--he skirted the edifice, keeping close to the
shadowy wall--he saw the door but a few paces distant, which led to the
prison-chambers. At dead of night it must be locked and barred, guarded
by a sentinel, quite inaccessible to him. He paused--he saw no soldier
near--he walked on a few steps quickly; the door was wide open--this
looked like success--he sprang up the steps; a man below cried, "Who
goes there?" adding, "Is it you, sir? My light is puffed out; I will
bring one anon." Above he heard another voice--there was no
retreat--he went on, relying on some chance that might afford him a
refuge under cover of murky night from the twofold danger that beset
him. A man stood at the doorway of the nearest chamber: it was not
possible to pass him--as he hesitated he heard the words, "Good rest
visit your lordship--I grieve to have disturbed you." Richard retired a
few steps--the man closed, locked the door--"A light, ho!" he
exclaimed, and the prince feared to see the servitor ascend the stairs.
The moon, just beginning to show its clouded rays, threw a brief ray
upon the landing where Richard stood, and he moved out of the partial
radiance; the slight movement he made attracted notice, which was
announced by a challenge of "Who goes there? is it you, Fitzwilliam? How
is this? the word, sir!"
The duke knew that, among the numerous and various inhabitants of the
Tower, many were personally unknown to each other; and that any stranger
visitor was not intrusted with the word--so he replied immediately, as
his best safeguard: "I was roused by the calling of the guard. I knew
not that such, reveilles were usual; good night, sir."
Those pay little attention to the impression of their senses, who are
not aware that family resemblance develops itself in nothing so much as
the voice; and that it is difficult in the dark to distinguish
relatives. In confirmation of this I heard a sagacious observer remark,
and have proved the observation true, that the formation of the jaw, and
setting of the teeth is peculiar, and the same in families. But this is
foreign--enough that, caught by the voice, hardly able to distinguish
the obscure outline of the speaker in the almost blackness of
night--the man replied, "I crave pardon, my good lord, you forget
yourself; this way is your chamber. What, ho! a light!"
"It needs not," said the prince; "the glare would offend mine eyes--I
shall find the door."
"Permit me," said the other, going forward, "I will wait on your
lordship so far. I wonder not you were roused; there was an alarm at the
river postern, and the whole guard roused. Sir John thought it might
concern poor Sir William; and I was fain to see all right with him. It
irked me truly to break in on his repose; the last he may ever have."
They approached a door; the man's hand was on the lock--Richard's heart
beat so loud and fast, that it seemed to him that alone must be
perceived and excite suspicion--if the door were fastened on the inside
he were lost; but the man was in no hurry to try--he talked on:--
"The lieutenant was the more suspicious, because he gave credit and easy
entrance to his pretended stripling son, who craved for it even with
tears: yet when they met, we all thought that the Lord Chamberlain did
not greet him as a parent would a child at such a time; the truth,
indeed, we saw with half an eye, be she his daughter, or his light of
love; yet not the last, methinks, for she seemed right glad to be
accommodated for the night in a separate chamber--she is a mere girl
beside, and in spite of her unmeet garb, modest withal."
"When goes she? With the dawn?" Richard hazarded these questions, for
his silence might be more suspected than his speech; and the information
he sought, imported to him.
"Nay, she will stay to the end for me," said the man: "Sir William was a
kind gentleman, as I can testify, in his prosperity; and it is little to
let him have the comfort of this poor child's company for a day longer:
he dies on the morrow."
"Could I see this fair one?"
"By my troth, fair she is not, though lovely to look on, but somewhat
burnt, as if her mother had been a dweller in the south. If you visit
and take leave of Sir Stanley to-morrow, you may chance to behold her:
but I detain you, my Lord; a good night, rather, a good morning to your
lordship."
He unclosed the door; all was dark within, save that the chamber opened
into another at the further end, in which evidently a lamp was burning.
Kind thanks and a benison passed; Richard stepped within the apartment,
and the door shut on him.
What could this mean? Glad, confused, yet still fearful, the prince was
almost deprived of the power of motion. Recovering himself with a strong
effort, he passed on to the inner chamber: it was a bedroom, tapestried,
strewed thick with rushes, a silver lamp suspended by a silver chain to
the grim claws of a gilt eagle, which was fixed in the ceiling, gave
token of rank, as well as the rich damask of the bed-furniture and the
curious carving of the couch and seats; the articles of dress also
strewed about belonged to the noble-born: strange, as yet Richard had
not conjectured for whom he had been mistaken! He drew near the bed, and
gazed fixedly on its occupier. The short, clustering, auburn curls were
tinged with grey, yet the sleeper was young, though made untimely old by
suffering; his cheeks were wasted and fallen in; the blue veins on his
brow were conspicuous, lifting the clear skin which clung almost to the
bones; he was as pale as marble, and the heavy eyelids were partly
raised even in sleep by the large blue ball that showed itself beneath;
one hand lay on the coverlid, thin to emaciation. What manner of victim
was this to Henry's tyranny? nay, the enigma was easily solved: it must
be the earl of Warwick. "And such, but for my cousin Lincoln, would have
been my fate," thought Richard. He remembered his childhood's
imprisonment; he thought of the long days and nights of confinement, the
utter hopelessness, the freezing despair, blighting the budding hopes of
youth, the throes of intolerable, struggling agony, which had reduced
poor Warwick to this shadow of humanity; he felt a choking sensation in
his throat as he bent over him; large drops gathered in his eyes; they
fell, ere he was aware, on the sleeper's wan check.
Warwick turned uneasily, opened his eyes, and half-started up: "Whom
have we here?" he cried: "why am I disturbed?"
"Your pardon, fair gentleman," Richard began----
"My pardon!" repeated Warwick, bitterly; "were that needed, you were not
here. What means this intrusion--tell me, and be gone?"
"I am not what you take me for, cousin Edward," said the prince.
Now, indeed, did Warwick start; shading his eyes from the lamp, he gazed
earnestly on the speaker, murmuring, "That voice, that name--it cannot
be! In the name of sweet charity speak again; tell me what this means,
and if you are--why this visit, why that garb?"
"My dear lord of Warwick," said the prince, "dismiss this inquietude,
and if you will listen with patience to the story of an unhappy kinsman,
you shall know all. I am Richard of York; those whose blood is akin to
yours as well as mine, have ycleped me the White Rose of England."
The earl of Warwick had heard of the Pretender set up by his aunt, the
duchess of Burgundy; he had often pondered over the likelihood of his
really being his cousin, and the alteration it would occasion in his
fortunes, if he were to succeed. Shut out from the world, as he had been
so long, the victim of mere despair, he could not even imagine that good
could betide to any one, save to the oppressor of his race; to see
Perkin, for so he had been taught to call him, within the walls of the
ill-fated Tower, appeared to disclose at once his defeat. Even when the
duke rapidly and briefly narrated the accidents that had brought him
thither, and his strange position. Prince Edward believed only that he
had been decoyed into the trap, which had closed on him for ever.
Still Richard talked on; his ardour, his confidence in his own measures,
his vivacious anxiety already to put them into practice, his utter
fearlessness, were not lost upon one who had been dead to outward
impressions, not from want of sensibility, but from the annihilation of
hope. Some of his cousin's spirit overflowed into Warwick's heart; and,
in conclusion, he assented to all he said, promising to do whatever was
required of him, though after ten years of lone imprisonment he almost
shrunk from emerging from his listless state.
CHAPTER XXV
THE RESCUE
Let all the dukes and all the devils roar,
He is at liberty! I've ventured for him;
And out I've brought him to a little wood
A mile hence.
TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.
Morning, cold and wintry, dawned upon the gloomy chambers of the Tower.
York became eager to put in execution some plan of escape in which
Warwick should share; but Warwick was full of timidity and fear. His
prison was a frightful den; yet all without was a wide, pathless,
tiger-infested jungle. He besought his cousin to regard his own safety
only. Richard refused; yet the more he meditated, the more did obstacles
crowd upon him. After the lapse of an hour, Warwick was called upon to
attend early mass, as usual, in the chapel of the fortress. Here he saw
Stanley and the disguised shrinking Monina; and, the service ended,
attended them to the prison-chamber of the chamberlain, relating as he
went, in quick low whispers, the history of the preceding night. Both
his hearers grew pale: one feared for her friend, the other for himself;
though on that score all cause of dread was well nigh at an end. All
three entered Stanley's cell, and found there Prince Richard himself,
whose active mind had led him to watch his opportunity to pass hither
unseen from Warwick's apartment.
The young earl of March, arming for the battle of Northampton, looked
not so young, so blooming, and so frankly erect, as his uncrowned son.
Stanley saw at once who was before him, and, never forgetting the
courtier, addressed his prince with a subject's respect. York was struck
by the placid, though somewhat worldly physiognomy of the man, devoted
to die, at the age when human beings are most apt to cling to life;
when, having weathered the storms and passions of youth, they desire to
repose awhile on the sun-enlightened earth, before they enter the gloomy
gates of the tomb.
The prince spoke eagerly of escape--of safety--of life: Warwick, even
timid Warwick, urged an attempt at flight; while Monina kissed her aged
friend's hand, and turned her sweet eyes on him, saying: "You will
listen to him, though you were deaf to me."
Stanley alone was unmoved--"A thousand heartfelt, useless thanks, my
dear and honoured Lord, your poor servant renders; and even when prayer
for himself is most needed, earnestly he prays that harm to you arise
not from your unexampled generosity. I cannot fly; I do believe that I
would not, if I could: and I will spare myself the disgrace of further
endangering you, and of being seized myself in the coward's act. Ask me
not, with your beseeching eyes, my gentle, venturous child, for it must
not be. I die to-morrow; and this fate you would have me avoid. Whither
would you drag me from the block? To poverty? to an unhonoured old age?
a traitor's reputation, and miserable dependence? I am a sinful man; but
I trust in God's mercy, and he holds out better hopes after the brief
spasm of death, than you after the torture of difficult escape."
More he would have said; but they were interrupted. They had not been
aware of any one's approach; and suddenly Sir John Digby, lieutenant of
the Tower, entered. He was aghast to see one more than he expected--one
whose demeanour spoke nobility. Silence followed his entrance; nor did
words readily present themselves to the blunt soldier. At length,
addressing the cause of this wonder, he, in an ironical tone of voice,
asked, "May I, lieutenant of this fortress, delegated by his majesty to
its keeping, be permitted to ask, fair sir, the name, station, and
designs of my unbidden guest?"
"My answer to your two first questions," replied York, "would little
satisfy you. My design was to facilitate the escape of this virtuous and
unhappy gentleman."
"The king is infinitely your debtor; and I shall prove unmannered in
marring your intent."
"You do not mar it. Sir John," said the prince. "My Lord Chamberlain is
a true man, and would rather lay his head on the block, at his liege's
bidding, than carry it in security at the prayer of any other. Sir
William has refused to fly; and, my mission ended, I was about to take
my leave."
"Do so, young man; take leave--an eternal one--of Sir William, and
follow me. My lord of Warwick, this is an unmeet scene for you to be
present at. This holy man comes to bestow the last words of pious
comfort my noble prisoner can receive in this world: please your
lordship to leave them together uninterrupted. I am sorry," continued
the lieutenant, addressing Monina, "to retract the permission I gave you
yesterday; but this strange incident must be my excuse. Say a last
farewell to him you have named your father."
Monina dreaded too much the fate that might befall her friend to entreat
for any change in this decree. Soon poor Sir William found himself
separated from the busy scene of life, shut up with the chaplain. He was
bid to remember and repent, and to prepare to die. A dark veil fell
before the vista of coming years, which was apparent to the eyes of his
late companions. He saw in the present hour--one only, almost
superfluous, added to the closing account. They beheld in it the arbiter
of their undivined destinies.
It is an awful emotion when we feel that the "very shoal of time" on
which we stand is freighted with the good and ill of futurity--that the
instant birth of the hour inherits our entire fortunes. Yet Richard was
proof against this rough testimony of our powerless mortality. The ill
had not yet arrived with which he did not believe he could cope; and
more--now he was bent upon endeavouring to save Stanley; for his own
fate, though about to expose it to the most unquestioned shape of peril,
he had no fears.
Sir John Digby, followed by his new prisoners, paced back to his own
chamber, and then addressed his uninvited guest. "Fair gentleman," he
said, "again I crave to be informed of your name and degree, that his
majesty may be duly made acquainted on whom to bestow his thanks. Your
speech and appearance are English?"
"Whoever I may be," replied York, "I will reveal nothing except to your
king. If he is willing to listen to disclosures nearly touching his
throne and safety, I will rouse him by a tale to shake sleep from one
who has steeped his eyes in poppy-juice. To no other will I vouchsafe a
word."
Monina listened in terror. She would have given her life to beseech her
friend to retract that foolish word: but it was too late; while his
questioner, startled by his unforeseen reply, said, "You make a bold
demand. Think you that his grace is of such common use, that it is an
easy matter to attain his presence?"
"I have said it, Sir John," answered York. "Your liege may hereafter
visit with poor thanks the denial you give me."
The lieutenant fixed his eyes on him: his youth and dignity impressed
him favourably; but he hesitated, confused by doubts of who and what he
might be. At last he said, "His majesty is at present at his palace of
Shene, ten miles hence.
"The less reason, Sir Lieutenant," replied Richard, "that you should
dally in the execution of your duty. The life of your prisoner, the
fortunes of your king, depend upon this interview."
This was a riddle difficult for Sir John to solve; and he was about to
order his enigmatical visitant to the guard-room, while he should
consult upon the fitting conduct to pursue; when a beating at the gates,
the letting down of the drawbridge, and the clatter of hoofs announced
fresh arrivals at the fortress.
The attention of every one was suspended, till, the usher announcing the
excellent prince, the earl of Desmond, that noble, attended by
followers, almost with regal pomp, entered. He cast his penetrating
glance around, and then unbonneting to the duke, he said respectfully,
"Your highness will believe that as soon as I heard of the position into
which, pardon me, your generous rashness has betrayed you, I hastened
hither to vouch for you, and deliver you from it."
To such a speech, so unexpected, so portentous, what answer? Richard
felt inclined to laugh, as he heard himself spoken to, in terms which
seemed to say that the discovery of who he really was, would occasion
his release; but he quickly discerned a hidden meaning beneath this
incomprehensible language, and he contented himself with graciously
thanking the earl for his interference, while this noble turned to
address the wondering Sir John.
"Sir Lieutenant," said he, "I have a strange story to tell, fitter for
his majesty's ears than those of a subject; but his grace is absent, and
it were not well that this noble gentleman should be kept in durance
while messengers go to and fro. Rather dismiss your followers, and I
will confide a weighty secret to you, and bring such arguments as will
induce you to intrust the high-born youth to my care and escort."
Digby was not much of a statesman; he had a simple heart, and
considerable veneration for rank. He knew that the earl of Desmond had
been well received at court, and complied with his desire. The noble
then began a long explanation of parties and tumults in Scotland; of the
frightful death of James the Third; the accession of James the Fourth;
the discontent of several chief nobles, who wished to set up the younger
brother of the new king in opposition to him. "Your highness," continued
Desmond, addressing Richard, "will pardon me for thus introducing your
name--this, Sir Lieutenant, is the duke of Rosse, who has come, and not
vainly, to seek the assistance of our liege."
Sir John bowed low and looked puzzled, while Desmond continued to speak
of disguise and secrecy, of friendship for Stanley, and of the rash
design of Lord Barry of Buttevant and the young duke to liberate him,
chiefly under the idea that thus they should best serve King Henry, who
must in his heart be loth to have his zealous friend put to death
through the falsehood of faction. "And now, gentle sir," he continued,
"be guided by me; the king loves peace; he loves state privacy; the very
presence of the duke in this country is a mystery; you will do agreeable
service by hushing up this youthful frolic. Permit his highness to
accompany me; I will make fitting report to his majesty, who will be
grateful withal."
There was a kind of confused tallying in the story; for Richard's
mysterious words were at no discord with Desmond's explanations; and his
excessively youthful and perfectly noble appearance were further
corroboration. Digby liked not the responsibility of keeping him: he
spoke of sending for the bishop of Durham. Desmond exclaimed, "A soldier
have recourse to a priest--this England is a strange country! Do as you
will; only until the thumber of missals arrive, this is no place of
entertainment fur the prince. We will receive you and your clericus at
Walbrook; and I will entertain the royal gentleman till you come."
Digby still looked blank and uncertain. Richard, who had remained
silent, now spoke: "Farewell, good sir: in truth, I need your excuse for
my impertinent visit; but here it ends. When I travel to Scotland, I
will report the favour I met at your hands."
This sufficed. Sir John sullenly yielded: with a mixture of fear and
deference, he attended his visitors to the court; they crossed the
drawbridge; and ere the Tower-gates closed behind them, they heard the
lieutenant order out a guard and his own horse, that without loss of
time he might communicate with the bishop.
The duke and his preserver rode gently enough down Tower Hill: scarce
had they reached the foot, before the earl gave a sudden command to his
followers, who turned one way, as he, York, and Monina, who had left the
Tower at the same time, and was mounted on one of Desmond's attendant's
horses, went another. "Au galoppe, dear my lord!" cried the earl, "we
have but a short hour's grace--this way--still the river to our left."
They galloped along with loosened reins. Arriving at the Vale of
Holborn, they followed the upward course of the Fleet, so as to reach
the open country; and many a wild field they crossed, and briary lane
they threaded--the country was flat, marshy, wild; skirted in various
directions by brown wintry woods, rarely interspersed by hamlets. The
river was their only guide; they followed its course for several miles,
till they reached the shelter of Caen Wood. "Thank St. Patrick for this
cover!" cried the Irish chieftain; "may my cousin Barry find no let nor
hindrance--yon troubled stream will guide him well. We have done a
daring deed: for me, I have not ridden so far, since my father, God sain
him! died--I am well nigh hors de combat."
The prince assisted both his companions to dismount. Lord Desmond's tale
was soon told, of how Lord Barry had sought him and suggested this mode
of effecting York's escape. "With the help of your Moorish friend," said
the earl, "no ill wind betide me--I shall be in Munster before the
riddle be half told; that is, if ever we reach the vessel. By my faith!
I would rather be knee-deep in a bog in Thomond, than dry-shod where I
am!"
As day advanced, the situation of the fugitives became still more
disquieting. All was tranquil in the leafless wood; but, in spite of the
sun, it was very cold. Besides, they were in an unknown spot, without
guide; their sole hope being, that each passing minute would bring Lord
Barry to their assistance. Earl Maurice was thoroughly disabled; he
grumbled at first, and at last, wearied out, lay on the cold ground, and
fell into a slumber. Monina, serious, timid, and yet, in spite of
herself, happy in her friend's safety, and in her own being near him,
was silent; while Richard, to escape from his own thoughts, talked to
her. When, for a moment, his conversation languished, his eyes were
fondly fixed upon her downcast face, and a strife of sentiment, of
ardent, long-restrained love, and a tortuous, but severe resolve to
protect her, even from himself, battled in his heart; so that, in
all-engrossing love, every sense of danger was lost.
Desmond at last roused himself: "The shadows grow long; herbage there is
little for our horses, pasture for ourselves there is none--if we stay,
we starve; if we stir, we----"
He was interrupted; strange voices came upon the wind; then the cracking
of boughs, and the sound of steps. Through the vista of bare trees the
intruders at length appeared, in strange array. There was a band of
ill-attired, ruffian-looking men, followed by women and children; their
swart visages, their picturesque, but scant and ragged garb, their black
hair, and dark flashing eyes, were not English. Some were on foot, some
on asses, some in a cart drawn by two rough ill-assorted colts--their
very language was foreign. Richard and Monina recognized a horde of
Gitani, Bohemians, or Gipsies; while Desmond looked in wonder on
something almost wilder than the Irish kern.
The savage wanderers were surprised to perceive the previous guests the
barren woods had received--they paused and looked round in some fear;
for the noble appearance of the gentlemen made them imagine that they
must be accompanied by numerous attendants. York's quick wit suggested
to him in a moment of what good use such humble friends might be. He
addressed them; told them that they were travellers who had lost their
way, "And so we have encroached on your rightful domain; but, like
courteous hosts, I beseech you, gentlemen, welcome us to your green-wood
palace, and make happy as you will grateful guests of us."
Thus invited, the whole horde gathered round--the women, fancying all
three of an opposite sex, were forward with their prophetic art.
"My fortune," cries Desmond, "shall not be told before supper; it is an
ill one, by the rood! at this hour. I have fasted since yesternight."
Preparations were speedily made for a repast, while Richard, alive to
his situation, looked around for the most fitting object to address;
whose charity and aid he could hope to solicit with the greatest
success. One laughing-eyed girl glanced at him with peculiar favour; but
near her stood and scowled a tall handsome countryman of her own. York
turned to another, fairer, who sat retired apart; she looked more gentle
and even refined than the rest. He addressed her in courtly phrase, and
her reply, though ready, was modest. The acquaintance was a little in
progress, when one of the oldest among the sibyls, with white hair, and
a face of wrinkled parchment, hobbled up, muttering, "Ay, ay, the
fairest flower is aye the dearest to pluck; any of those gaudy weeds
might serve his turn; but no, my young master must needs handle the
daintiest bloom of the garden." Notwithstanding this interruption,
Richard still stood his ground, bandying pretty speeches with one not
the less pleased, because, strictly guarded by her duenna, she was
unaccustomed to the language of flattery.
"Hast never a word for me, fair sir," said the crone, at last; "no
comparison of star and gems for one, who in her day has flaunted with
silk-clad dames--whose lips have been pressed even by a king?"
His father's reputation for gallantry, thus alluded to, brought the
blood into York's cheeks; forgetful of what import his words bore, he
replied lastly, "Sleep King Edward's faults with him, mother; it is
neither wise nor well to speak irreverently of those gone to their
doom--may God assoilzie him!"
"What voice is that?" cried the old woman; "if I boast, Heaven forgive
me, of his grace's slight favour, your mother may take shame----"
"Your words are naught," cried York, interrupting her, "my mother's is a
sacred name--yet, tell me in very truth, and give me some sign that,
indeed, you knew my father."
The word passed his lips before he was aware, but being spoken, he felt
that it were best not to recede. Seizing the old woman's shrivelled
hand, he said, "Look--use thy art--read my palm: read rather my
features, and learn indeed who I am: I am in danger; you may betray, or
you may save me: choose which you will--I am the duke of York."
An exclamation checked, a look of boundless surprise changed into a
cautious glance around, attested the gipsy's wish to serve the venturous
youth. "Rash boy," she answered, in a low voice, "what idle, or what
mortal words are these! How art thou here? With what hope--what aid?"
"Frankly, none but what I derive from your bounty. I have escaped worse
peril, so do not fear but that God will protect me, and even turn to
profit my parent's sin, if his kiss purchase his son's life."
"Young sir," said the gipsy, with great seriousness, "the flower of love
is gay--its fruit too often bitter. So does she know on whose account I
wickedly and shamelessly did the foul fiend's bidding, and ruined a
sinless soul to gratify the pleasure-loving king. But thou hast paid the
penalty: thou and thine, who have been called by the ill-word, thrust
from thy place by thy crook-back uncle; and now art nearer a dungeon
than a throne through thy father's fault. I will serve and save thee;
tell me quickly, who are thy companions--whither thou wouldst go--that
I may judge the best to be done."
It is to be observed, that at the very beginning of this colloquy, the
young girl, whom York had first addressed, had stolen away. Now he
replied by mentioning the lameness of his elder friend, and his resolve
not to be divided from the other. He spoke of the Adalid, and of his
further wish to be awhile concealed in England. The old woman continued
silent, wrapped in thought. At length she raised her head--"It can be
done, and it shall," she said, half to herself. "Come now, they are
serving our homely fare. You, who are young, and ill-apt for penance,
must eat before you go."
The savoury steams of the well-filled and rustic marmite, gave force to
her words, and to Richard's appetite. The repast was plentiful and gay,
and even too long. Evening was far advanced, the fire grew light in the
dusk, and threw its fitful rays upon the strange and incongruous
feasters. Monina had cowered close to Richard; the cup went round;
scarcely did she put it to her lips; a rude companion of the crew made
some rough jest on her sobriety. Richard's face lighted up with anger:
his watchful old friend stepped forward, in her own jargon she made some
communication to her associates, which caused a universal pause, and
then a stir: it was evident some movement was intended. She meanwhile
drew the three fugitives aside:
"In a few minutes," she said, "we shall all be on our way hence; listen
how I would provide for your safeties." She then proposed that Desmond
should assume the disguise of one of the horde, and so be conveyed in
safety to the banks of the Thames, and on board the Adalid. She promised
herself to conduct the prince and his young friend to a secure refuge.
The earl, accustomed to find fidelity and rags near mates, readily
acceded to this proposal. In the solitary unknown spot to which, chance
had directed them, environed by every danger, no step was more perilous
than the remaining where they were. York and Monina were familiar with
the reports of the gipsy character--its savage honour and untractable
constancy. The season was such, though the day had been unusually sunny
and warm, as to make a night in the open air no agreeable anticipation;
and Richard had a thousand fears on his lovely friend's account. They
all readily acceded to the old woman's plan. Desmond was quickly
disguised, his visage stained deep brown, his whole person transformed;
he was placed in the caravan, and the horde was speedily in movement;
the sound of their departing steps died away. They had left a rude cart,
to which York's horse, a strong hack, was harnessed. The sibyl undertook
to guide it. Richard and Monina ascended the jumbling fabric. Soon they
were on their journey, none but their conductress knew in what
direction; but they submitted to her, and through copse and over field
they wound their darkling way.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE EARL OF SURREY
So love did vanish with my state,
Which now my soul repents too late;
Then, maids and wives, in time amend,
For love and beauty will have end.
BALLAD OF JANE SHORE.
Oh, it grieves my soul
That I must draw this metal from my side
To be a widow maker!
SHAKSPEARE.
Seated in the rude gipsy-cart, guided, protected, by the uncouth being
into whose hands he had so strangely fallen, Richard, for the first
time, felt the degradation and low fortune to which his aspirations, at
variance with his means, made him liable. With a strong effort he
dismissed these painful ideas, and fixed his contemplation on mightier
objects, which gilded his mean estate, or were rather the "gold
o'erdusted" by such extraneous poverty. To rise from this lowliness to a
throne were an emprise worthy his ambition. Was he not a few hours ago a
prisoner in the terror-striking tower? And now he was free--free in his
England; which, when the battle-day was come and past, would claim him
for her own. A few words from Monina interrupted the silence: she sat at
his feet, and they conversed in whispers in Spanish. Night had gathered
round them; Monina, in all the innocence of her pure heart was supremely
happy: to be near her friend in his disasters, united to him in his
peril, was a more rapturous destiny to her than the world's best pomp,
and he absent. No busy conscience, no untoward thought disturbed in her
soul the calm of perfect bliss. She grew weary at last; her head sank on
Richard's knee, and, overworn with watching, she fell into a deep sleep.
Richard heard her regular breathing; once or twice his fingers played
among her dishevelled ringlets, while his heart whispered to him what a
wondrous creation woman was--weak, frail, complaining when she suffers
for herself; heroic fortitude and untired self-devotion are hers, when
she sacrifices herself for him she loves.
The cart moved on, Richard saw not whither; they almost stuck in some
flat, low fields, and at last arrived at a solitary, miserable hut.
Monina awoke, when they stopped, and the gipsy told them that this
wretched dwelling was to be their asylum: the apartment they entered was
poor beyond meanness--a bed of straw piled in one corner, a rude bench,
formed the furniture; the walls were ragged and weather-stained, and the
outer crumbling rafters were visible through the broken ceiling: there
appeared to be neither food nor fire. The inhabitant of the hovel alone
was there,--a white-looking, emaciated female; yet with a look of such
sweetness and patience, that she seemed the very enshrinement of
Christian resignation, the type of sorrow and suffering, married to meek
obedience to the supreme will. She had roused herself from slumber at
the voice of the gipsy, and gathered her scant garments around
her--scant and poor they were; her coarse woollen dress was tied by a
girdle of rope round her slender waist; her head was wrapped in a
kerchief; her feet were bare.
"Jane," said the old woman, "you will not refuse the shelter of your
roof to these poor wanderers?"
Such an address seemed strange, for the rich attire of her guests
ill-accorded with her poverty-stricken home; but she turned with a
smile--she spoke--and then a throb of agony seemed to convulse her
frame--her head swam; Richard rushed forward to prevent her falling,
but she shrunk from him, and leaned on the old woman, who said with a
look of triumph, "I knew how it would be; it is vain to hide a bright
light behind a veil of gauze! Yes, Jane, this is his son; and you may
save him from danger and death."
Jane Shore, the once lovely mistress of King Edward, now the miserable
outcast of the world's scorn, heard these words, as if they had been
spoken to her in a dream. After the death of her royal lover, she had
obeyed the impulse that made her cling to the soft luxuries of life, and
yielded to solicitations which tended to guard her from the sharp
visitation of the world. She had become the mistress of the marquess of
Dorset; but sorrow and penury were destined to pursue her in their worst
shape--and wherefore? She had been good and humane; and in spite of her
error, even the sternest moralist might have pitied her. But she was all
woman,--fearful of repulse, dreading insult; more willing to lie down
and die, than, fallen and miserable, to solicit uncertain relief:
squalid poverty, famine, and lonely suffering, were hers; yet in all she
preserved an unalterable sweetness of disposition, which painted her wan
face with, its own soft colouring.
The old woman went forth to seek for food, and the two friends were left
for several hours alone with Jane. She gazed affectionately on the
youthful duke; she looked more timidly on Monina, whose sex could not be
said to be disguised by her page's dress: the fallen woman fears women,
their self-sufficient virtues and cold reprobation; yet the sensibility
of Monina's countenance, and the soft expression of her eyes, so
all-powerful in their sweetness, could not be mistaken; and her first
shrinking from censure was exchanged for even a more painful feeling.
They were a lovely pair, these lone guests of poverty; innocence sat on
the brow of each, yet love beamed in their aspect:--love! the two-edged
sword, the flower-strewn poison, the dread cause of every misery! More
than famine and sickness Jane feared love; for with it in her mind were
linked shame and guilt, and the world's unkindness, hard to bear to one,
whose heart was "open as day to melting charity;" and she feared that
she saw in this sweet girl a bright reflex of her early days. Oh, might
the blotted mirror ne'er pourtray a change like hers! "I am a living
lesson of the woes of love," thought poor Jane; "may this chance-visit
to my hut, which saves young Richard's life, insure her innocence!" Thus
impelled, she spoke: she spoke of the danger of their solitary
companionship; she adjured York to fly the delusive charm--for love's
own sake he ought to fly; for if he made her his victim, affection would
be married to hate--joy to woe--her he prized to a skeleton, more grim
than death. Richard strove to interrupt her, but she misunderstood his
meaning; while Monina, somewhat bewildered, fancied that she only
alluded to the dangers she incurred in his cause, and with her own
beaming look cried, "Oh, mother, is it not better to suffer for one so
noble, than to live in the cold security of prosperity?"
"No, no," said Jane, "Oh, does my miserable fate cry aloud, no! Edward,
his father, was bright as he. Libertine he was called--I know not if
truly; but sincere was the affection he bore to me. He never changed or
faltered in the faith he promised, when he led me from the dull abode of
connubial strife to the bright home of love. Riches and the world's
pleasures were the least of his gifts, for he gave me himself and
happiness. Behold me now: twelve long years have passed, and I waste and
decay; the wedded wife of shame; famine, sorrow, and remorse, my sole
companions."
This language was too plain. The blood rushed into Monina's face. "Oh,
love him not," continued the hapless penitent; "fly his love, because he
is beautiful, good, noble, worthy--fly from him, and thus preserve him
yours for ever."
Monina quickly recovered herself; she interrupted her imprudent
monitress, and calmly assured her that her admonition, though
unnecessary, should not prove vain; and then both she and York exerted
themselves to engage Jane's attention on topics relative to his cause,
his hopes, his partizans, thus exciting her curiosity and interest.
Richard passed the whole of the following day in this abode of penury
and desolation. That day, indeed, was big with dire event. The morning
rose upon Stanley's death. In Jane's hut the hollow bell was heard that
tolled the fatal hour. The ear is sometimes the parent of a livelier
sense than any other of the soul's apprehensive portals. In Italy, for
three days in Passion week, the sound of every bell and of every clock
is suspended. On the noon of the day when the mystery of the
Resurrection is solemnized, they all burst forth in one glad peel. Every
Catholic kneels in prayer, and even the unimaginative Protestant feels
the influence of a religion which speaks so audibly. And, in this more
sombre land, the sad bell that tolls for death strikes more melancholy
to the heart than the plumed hearse or any other pageantry of woe. In
silence and fear the fugitives heard the funereal knell sweep across the
desolate fields, telling them that at that moment Stanley died.
Women nurse grief--dwell with it. Like poor Constance, they dress their
past joys in mourning raiment, and so abide with them. But the masculine
spirit struggles with suffering. How gladly, that very evening, did the
duke hail Frion's arrival, who, in the garb of a saintly pardoner, came
to lead him from Jane's dim abode. In spite of his remonstrances, Monina
refused to accompany him: she should endanger him, she said; besides
that, his occupation would be to rouse a martial spirit among the
Yorkists--hers to seek the Adalid and her dear father's protection.
Frion procured a safe asylum for the prince: and here, no longer pressed
by the sense of immediate danger, his head was rife with projects, his
spirit burning to show himself first to the Yorkists, in a manner worthy
of his pretensions. The choice was hazardous and difficult: but it so
happened that it was notified that in a few weeks Lord Surrey's eldest
sister was to marry the Lord de Walden, and the ceremony was to be
graced with much feasting and a solemn tournament.
There was magic in all the associations with this family for Richard. In
his early infancy, Thomas Mowbray, the last of the dukes of Norfolk of
that name, died. It almost was beyond his recollection that he had been
married to the little Lady Anne, the duke's only child and heiress. She
died soon after; and the representative of the female branch of the
Mowbrays, John Howard was created duke of Norfolk by Richard the Third.
He fell at Bosworth; and his son, the earl of Surrey, though attaching
himself to Henry the Seventh, and pardoned and taken into favour, was
not permitted to assume his father's attainted title.
At this marriage-feast the mother of his Anne, the dowager duchess of
Norfolk, daughter of Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, so famous in the French
wars, would be present; and others of the Howard and Berkeley families,
all Yorkists once. The prince could not resist the temptation of
appearing on the lists that day, where, if success crowned him, as
surely it would, he could with prouder hopes call on Surrey to maintain
his claims. Frion got gallant armour for him, and contrived to have him,
under another name, inserted in the list of combatants.
York's bosom swelled with pride and exultation when he saw himself among
his countrymen--his subjects--with lance in rest and bright shield
upon his arm, about to tilt with England's noblest cavaliers. It seemed
to him as if he had never asked more of fortune--and the herald's
voice, the clarion's sound, the neigh of steeds, the gallant bearing of
the knights, and charmed circle of joyous beauty around, were like a
voice from beyond life, speaking of a Paradise he had left,--his own
native home. But one emotion of disquiet crossed him: as about to pass
the barrier, Frion put his hand on his rein, and whispered, "Beware of
Clifford!" The duke threw his eyes round the vizored throng. With what
gladness would he have singled him out, and met him in fierce, mortal
combat! A second thought told him that the dishonoured man could not
find place in this gallant company.
We will not dwell on the tilt, the thrust, and the parry, the
overthrowing of horses, and defeat of knights. Richard gloried in the
recollection of his Spanish combats, and the love he bore for martial
exercises, which made him, so boyish in figure, emulate the strong acts
of men. Fortune had varied: but, when at noon the pastime of that day
ended, the prince remained victor in the field. From the hand of the
queen of the feast he was receiving his reward, when Surrey, who had led
him to her throne, was suddenly called away. The assembly broke up; and
Richard was half occupied by polite attention to the countess, and half
by recollecting his peculiar situation, when the marshal of the lists
whispered him to follow--he led him to a gallery, where Surrey alone
was pacing backwards and forwards in great agitation. He stopped when
the prince entered--motioned the marshal to leave them, and then, in a
voice of suppressed passion, said, "I will not ask thee why with a false
appellation thou hast insulted the feast of nobles?--but well may I
ask, what fiend possessed thee to do a deed that affixes the taint of
disloyalty to King Henry's liege subject?"
"My good sword, my lord," said Richard, colouring, "were eloquent to
answer your questioning, but that you are much deceived; I am not indeed
that which I called myself; but honour, not disgrace, attaches itself to
my presence. I came to tell you this, to rouse the old fidelity of the
Howards; to bid Lord Surrey arm for the last of the true Plantagenets."
"Saint Thomas speed me! Clifford then spoke true--thou art Perkin
Warbeck?"
"I would fain," said the duke haughtily, "ask a revered lady, who claims
kindred with thee, what name she would give to her sainted daughter's
affianced husband?"
The language of truth is too clear, too complete, for the blots and
flaws of incredulity; the very anger Lord Surrey had manifested, now
turned to his confusion; the insult he had offered demanded reparation;
he could not refuse his visitant's earnest demand to be led to the widow
of Mowbray, duke of Norfolk.
Elizabeth, daughter of the gallant Talbot, was proud of her ancestry,
and disappointed in the diminution of her house. When her Anne was
affianced to the little duke of York, and the nobility of Norfolk was
merged in the royal style of England, she had gloried; since then,
attainder and defeat had eclipsed the ducal honours of her race; nor
could she forgive the allegiance of its heirs to Lancaster. Often had
she pondered on the reports concerning Margaret of Burgundy's White
Rose; it was with agitation therefore that she heard that he was to be
brought for her to decide on his truth.
The duke had doffed his helm: his golden hair clustered on the almost
infantine candour of his brow, and shaded to softer meaning the frank
aspect of his clear blue eyes. The aged duchess fixed her dimmed but
steady gaze upon him, and at once became aware that this was no ignoble
pretender who stood before her. His dignity inspired Surrey with
respect: he hesitated as he introduced the subject of his identity with
Edward the Fourth's youngest son. The duke, with a half-smile, began to
speak of his boyish recollections, and his little pretty playfellow, and
of one Mistress Margery, her governante; he spoke of a quarrel with his
infant bride on the very wedding-day, and how nothing would bribe him to
the ceremony, save the gift of a pretty foal, White Surrey, which
afterwards bore his uncle Gloucester in the battle of Bosworth. As he
spoke, he saw a smile mantle over the aged lady's countenance; and then
he alluded to his poor wife's death, and reminded the duchess, that when
clad in black, an infant widower, he had visited her in condolence; and
how the sad lady had taken a jewel-encircled portrait of her lost child,
garnished with the blended arms of Plantagenet and Mowbray, from his
neck, promising to restore it on an after-day, which day had never come.
Tears now rushed, into the duchess's eyes; she drew the miniature from
her bosom, and neither she nor Lord Surrey could longer doubt, that the
affianced husband of the noble Anne stood before them.
Much confusion painted the earl's countenance. The duke of York's first
involuntary act had been to stretch out his hand; but the noble
hesitated ere he could bestow on it the kiss of allegiance. Richard
marked his reluctance, and spoke with gallant frankness: "I am an
outcast," he said, "the victim of lukewarm faith and ill-nurtured
treason: I am weak, my adversary strong. My lord, I will ask nothing of
you; I will not fancy that you would revive the ancient bond of union
between York and Norfolk; and yet, were it not a worthy act to pull down
a base-minded usurper, and seat upon his father's throne an injured
prince?"
The duchess answered for him. "Oh, surely, my noble cousin will be no
recreant in this cause, the cause of our own so exalted lineage."
But Lord Surrey had different thoughts: it cost him much to express
them; for he had loved the House of York, and honoured and pitied its
apparent offspring. At length he overcame his feelings, and said, "And,
if I do not this, if I do not assist to replant a standard whose staff
was broken on the graves of our slaughtered fathers, will your highness
yet bear with me, while I say a few words in my defence?"
"It needs not, gallant Surrey," interrupted York.
"Under favour, it does need," replied the earl; "and withal touches mine
honour nearly, that it stand clear in this question. My lord, the Roses
contended in a long and sanguinary war, and many thousand of our
countrymen fell in the sad conflict. The executioner's axe accomplished
what the murderous sword spared, and poor England became a wide, wide
grave. The green-wood glade, the cultivated fields, noble castles, and
smiling villages were changed to churchyard and tomb: want, famine, and
hate ravaged the fated land. My lord, I love not Tudor, but I love my
country: and now that I see plenty and peace reign over this fair isle,
even though Lancaster be their unworthy viceregent, shall I cast forth
these friends of man, to bring back the deadly horrors of unholy civil
war? By the God that made me, I cannot? I have a dear wife and lovely
children, sisters, friends, and all the sacred ties of humanity, that
cling round my heart, and feed it with delight; these I might sacrifice
at the call of honour, but the misery I must then endure I will not
inflict on others; I will not people my country with widows and orphans;
nor spread the plague of death from the eastern to the western sea."
Surrey spoke eloquently well; for his heart was upon his lips. Prince
Richard heard with burning emotion. "By my fay!" he cried, "thou wouldst
teach me to turn spinster, my lord: but oh, cousin Howard! did you know
what it is to be an exiled man, dependent on the bounty of others;
though your patrimony were but a shepherd's hut on a wild nameless
common, you would think it well done to waste life to dispossess the
usurper of your right."
CHAPTER XXVII
THE LANDING AT HYTHE
Farewell, kind lord, fight valiantly to-day.
And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,
For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour.
SHAKSPEARE.
The duke of York was not of a temperament to sink supinely before the
first obstacles. Lord Surrey's deep-felt abjuration of war influenced
him to sadness, but the usual habit of his mind returned. He had been
educated to believe that his honour called on him to maintain his
claims. Honour, always a magic word with the good and brave, was then a
part of the religion of every pious heart. He had been nursed in
war--the javelin and the sword were as familiar to his hand as the
distaff and spindle to the old Tuscan crone. In addition, the present
occasion called for activity. The fleet, armed for invasion, prepared by
his noble aunt--manned by his exiled zealous friends--would soon
appear on the English coast, giving form and force to, while it
necessitated his purposed attempt.
He possessed in his secretary Frion, a counsellor, friend, and servant,
admirably calculated to prevent all wavering. This man's vanity,
lion-strong, was alive to insure his new master's success, and to
overthrow him by whom he had been discarded. He was an adept in
intrigue; an oily flatterer; a man of unwearied activity, both of mind
and body. It was his care to prevent York from suffering any of the
humiliations incident to his position. He obtained supplies of money for
him--he suffered none to approach who were not already full of
zeal--when he met with any failure, he proved logically that it was a
success, and magnified an escape into a victory--he worked day and
night to insure that nothing came near the prince, except through his
medium, which was one sugared and drugged to please. When he saw
Richard's clear spirit clouded by Lord Surrey, he demonstrated that
England could not suffer through him; for that in the battle it was a
struggle between partizans ready to lay down their lives in their
respective causes, so that, for their own sakes and pleasure, he ought
to call on them to make the sacrifice. As to the ruin and misery of the
land--he bade him mark the exactions of Henry; the penury of the
peasant, drained to his last stiver--this was real wretchedness;
devastating the country, and leaving it barren, as if sown with salt.
Fertility and plenty would speedily efface the light wound he must
inflict--nay, England would be restored to youth, and laugh through all
her shores and plains, when grasping Tudor was exchanged for the
munificent Plantagenet.
In one circumstance Frion had been peculiarly fortunate. The part he had
played of astrologer during the foregoing summer had brought him
acquainted with a young nobleman zealous in the cause of York, and well
able to afford it assistance. Lord Audley was of the west country, but
his maternal relations were Kentish, and he possessed a mansion and a
small estate not far from Hythe in Kent. Lord Audley was of a class of
men common all over the world. He had inherited his title and fortune
early in life, and was still a very young man. He loved action, and
desired distinction, and was disposed to enter readily into all the
turmoil and risk of conspiracy and revolt. His aim was to become a
leader: he was vain, but generous; zealous, but deficient in judgment.
He was a Yorkist by birth and a soldier by profession--all combined to
render him, heart and soul, the friend of the wandering Plantagenet.
Frion led York to the mansion of this noble, and it became the focus of
the spirit of sedition and discontent to the country round. The
immediate presence of the duke was concealed; but the activity of his
friends was not the less great to collect a band of partizans, to which,
when prepared and disciplined, they might present their royal leader.
Their chief purpose was to collect such a body of men as might give one
impetus to the comity, when the invading fleet should arrive on these
coasts from Burgundy. Time was wanting for the complete organization of
their plan; for each day they expected the vessels, and their operations
in consequence were a little abrupt. Still they were in hopes that they
should be enabled to assemble an armed force sufficient to facilitate
the landing and to insure the success of the expected troops. Day and
night these men were occupied in gathering together followers. It was
not long, however, before the wily secretary discovered that some one
was at work to counteract their schemes. Those he had left transported
with zeal for the cause yesterday, to-day he found lukewarm or icy cold.
Their enemy, whoever it might be, observed great mystery in his
proceedings; yet he appeared to have intuitive knowledge of theirs.
Frion exerted himself to discover the secret cause of all the
mischief--he was liberal of promises and bribes. One day he had
appointed a rendezvous for a party of recruits, about a hundred men, who
had been exercised for the last fortnight, and promised well--none
arrived at the appointed spot. Frion rode sorrowfully through the dusk
of the evening towards Lord Audley's dwelling. He was overtaken by a
horseman, with a slouched hat, and otherwise muffled up: he rode at his
side for a little way, quite mute to all Frion's courteous salutations;
and then he suddenly put spurs to his horse, and was out of sight in a
moment. Night grew darker; and at the mirk-embowered entrance of a shady
lane, Frion was startled by the tramp of a horse--it was the same
man:--"Matre Frion!" he cried.
"Sir Robert Clifford!"
"The same--I knew not that my voice was so treacherous," Clifford
began: he went on abruptly to declare that he was the counterminer; he,
the secret marplot of the sagacious Frenchman's schemes. He displayed in
all that he said a perfect knowledge of every transaction, and of the
prince's present residence. By'r Lady's grace, he might have brought
King Henry's archers to Lord Audley's very door! Wherefore he had not
done this seemed strange; his own account perplexed. In truth, this
wretched man, at war with guilt and with himself, loathed the dishonour
he had acquired. Like all evil-disposed persons, he had no idea of
purging himself from the foul stain by frank confession and reformation:
his project was to begin a new career in a new country: to go where his
own tarnished reputation was unknown, where the cankerous name of York
would poison no more his native language by its perpetual recurrence.
His violent passions led him also to other conclusions; he hated
Richard, and loved Monina; his desire to satisfy both these sentiments
suggested a project on which he now acted, and which dictated his
discourse with Frion. He showed how from that very spot he might ride to
London, and make disclosures to the king; his knowledge of every detail
of the Yorkist plans was startling--ruinous;--his offer was simply
this:--That the duchess of Burgundy should pay him a thousand golden
crowns; that the Spanish maiden, Monina, should consent to wed him; and
that they should seek together the golden isles of the western ocean,
leaving the old world for York to ruffle in.
Frion desired time: it was necessary to consult Richard, and also
Monina; where should they meet again? Clifford would appoint neither
time nor place:--"I shall find you," he said: "I may draw your curtain
at dead of night; come on you with an armed band of men, whom you think
all your own. I will choose my own hour, my own audience-chamber. You
have but to get the damsel's consent, and to tell her, an' you list,
that she were better as Robin Clifford's wife, than as the light-of-love
of the son of Jane Shore's gallant." With these words the knight rode
off; and being much better mounted than the secretary, put all pursuit
to defiance.
Frion was full of thought. He said nothing to the duke or Lord Audley;
but the following day hastened to visit Monina at Canterbury, where she
had resided latterly, in the character of a pilgrim to St. Thomas 
Becket's shrine. Frion had flattered himself that he could easily
persuade the young, inexperienced girl, whose ardour for York he had
often admired. Yet he felt uncomfortable when he saw her. Monina looked
a little pale, and her dark religious garb gave no adornment to her
beauty; but there was in the innocence and tenderness of her full dark
eye, in the soft moulding of the cheek which harmonized with the
beautiful lids, and in her
"sweet lips, like roses,
With their own fragrance pale, which Spring but half uncloses."
--there was in all this a purity and soft appeal which even the
politician felt, who looked on mankind as mere agents in the drama he
caused to be acted. With some hesitation he brought out his story, but
of course grew bolder as he proceeded. Monina looked pained, but
said--"Double the number of crowns, and Sir Robert will content him. My
father will make my ransom good."
Clifford's speech and manner had convinced Frion that this would not be
the case; he tried to persuade Monina, and even repeated the knight's
insolent message. Her large eyes grew larger, dilating with surprise and
indignation. He little knows woman, who thinks to govern the timid thing
by threats. "Answer that bad man," she said, "thus: Monina will wed
death, rather than crime and treason. Good Master Frion, you have done
wrong by so insulting mine ears; it were enough to drive a poor girl to
eternal vows and a convent, to dream that such words are spoken of her;
and if I do not take that refuge, it is because I will not desert my
dear, fond, bereaved father--as soon I shall prove; meanwhile we must
not delay to secure our prince from his enemy's machinations. You know
Astley, the poor scrivener in this town? I defy Clifford to win him.
Bring his highness there, I will prepare him. We must show a boldness to
Clifford matching his own; let us be fearless for ourselves; and for the
White Rose we need not fear. Stay; Clifford watches you; I will provide
for the duke's safety."
That very night, by secret, unknown means (it might be through her gipsy
friend), Monina had communicated with York, and induced him to take
refuge with the man she named. Astley's father had been a soldier in the
cause of York, and had died on Bosworth Field, leaving an unprovided
widow and five children, one only among them being a son. From his youth
upward, the boy had struggled, not with privation on his own account, to
that he submitted without a murmur, but for the sake of his mother and
sisters, whom he loved with an ardour peculiar to his sensitive and
affectionate disposition. Weak in health and strength, he had betaken
himself to the occupation of a scrivener, so meagrely to support them.
It is probable that, in the frame of all, there was a delicacy of
organization that unfitted them for penury. One by one they died. That
spring had left Astley comparatively rich, because he could well support
himself, but miserable beyond words, for he idolized all and every one
of his lost relatives. Frion had, with unwearied care, made an accurate
enumeration of all in Canterbury who had ever favoured the White Rose.
Astley was on this fist; he saw him, and passed him over as useless.
Chance brought him and Monina together, who instantly detected his
latent, unpractised talents, his integrity and enthusiasm; now his
habitation occurred as an unsuspected and faithful asylum for her
persecuted friend.
Frion was still at work; Clifford came on him suddenly, and heard with
unrepressed rage his rejection by Monina; his threats were unmeasured;
but the moment for putting them into execution to their full extent had
gone by. On the very day that York arrived in safety at Canterbury, his
fleet was seen off Hythe. In the morning the vessels hove in sight;
towards evening they bore down upon land, and anchored in the offing.
The land-breeze rising at evening-tide secured them from the dangers of
a lee shore.
Hythe is situated at the water's edge. The cliffs, which at Dover beetle
so fearfully over the tremendous deep, have by degrees receded from
their apparent task of paling in the ocean, and as they retire inland,
lose their barren, precipitous aspect, and become green, wooded hills,
overlooking a grassy plain, which extends from their feet to the sands,
a distance of about half a mile. In the neighbourhood of Hythe a ravine,
the bed of a stream, divides these acclivities, which on one side are
abrupt, on the other softly rounded as they gradually disappear. Arcadia
seems to breathe from the fertile landscape; the sunny uplands, the
fringed banks of the rivulet, the darker shadows of the wooded hills,
are contrasted with the verdant meadows, on which cattle and sheep
graze. But the sea, the dark, dangerous sea, with barking waves and vast
encircling barrenness, suddenly checks the beauty of the earth, adding
magnificence to the pastoral prospect.
A few days before, some gipsies had pitched their tents near the stream:
some of the wanderers had strolled down to Hythe; but they were looked
on for the most part with suspicion and fear. Now, while at the close of
day most of the inhabitants of the little town were collected on the
beach, gazing on the anchored vessels, two stout-looking gipsy-men, with
one old woman of their tribe, were lying on the sands, occupied, in
their lazy way, by the same object, the vessels in sight. The people of
Hythe, fishers, or such poor traders as supplied the fishermen with a
few coarse necessaries, were roused from the usual monotony of their
lives by the aspect of this fleet. Added to these, there were three or
four mendicant friars; an old soldier or two, disabled in the wars of
the two Roses, and a few dependents on neighbouring nobles or Franklins;
while women and children of various ages filled up the group. They all
spoke of the fleet: it consisted of five armed vessels; two of these
were weather-beaten caravels, two were low-decked Flemish smacks, but
the fifth was one of prouder build, and it bore a flag of pretension on
its mizen. The French king and the Spaniard were spoken of first; some
thought it was a fleet which had sought the unknown, golden lands,
driven back upon the old world by the continuous west winds of the last
month; some said, they belonged to the duchy of Burgundy; there was a
spell in that word; no one knew who first whispered the name; none could
guess whence or wherefore the conjecture arose, but the crowd broke into
smaller groups; their talk declined into whispers as "York," "Duke
Perkin," "The White Rose," "The duchess of Burgundy," were mentioned;
and the fleet grew as they spoke into a mighty armada, freighted with
invasion, ready to disembark an army, to ravage and conquer the island.
As soon as the appearance and nature of these vessels became confirmed,
the gipsies arose from their indolent posture and retreated to their
encampment. A few minutes afterwards, a wild-looking youth on a shaggy
horse, without a saddle, trotted off at a quick pace through the ravine
to the inland country. Lord Audley and Frion heard from him of the
arrival of their friends, who they had expected would have been delayed
for another month. Frion instantly set off for Canterbury to apprise the
prince; and the noble lost no time in collecting his retainers and
hastening to Hythe. Clifford's spies brought him word also of the
arrival of the fleet. Ill luck attended his guiles. King Henry was in
the north: there was no time to apprise him, and Clifford's underhand
proceedings might turn out bitterly to his disadvantage. He had nothing
for it but to endeavour to be the first to convey the already-blown news
to Sir John Peachy, sheriff for Kent: his pains were rewarded by his
being detained prisoner as a suspected person, while Sir John mustered
his yeomanry, and, together with the neighbouring gentry and their
retainers, marched towards Hythe. The wavering people, awed by this show
of legal and military power, grew cool towards the White Rose, whose
name, linked to change and a diminution of taxation, had for a moment
excited their enthusiasm. Some had assumed the snowy badge, and
collected in groups; but they tore it off when the magistrate appeared;
he thanked them for arming for their king, and they, in much fear and
some wonder, joined his standard.
Sir John advanced with his increasing troop towards the village in
question. He was informed that a band of the prince's friends was there
before him, consisting of a few Yorkist gentlemen and their retainers.
His first idea was to disperse them; his second, "No; this will serve as
a decoy; every coast may not be prepared; driven too speedily hence, the
armament may make good their landing elsewhere: if we appear unguarded,
they will disembark, and fall into our hands." This policy had good
effect; the two smaller Dutch vessels and one of the caravels ran as
close in shore as their soundings permitted, and hastily landed a part
of the troops. The commanders of the expedition on board the fleet had
been in considerable anxiety; they had hoped to find the country raised
to receive them; they saw but a handful of men; still signs were made
to them to disembark; and, eager to insure the safety of their prince,
they in part obeyed, landing about two hundred and fifty men, with
Mountford, Corbet, and some other distinguished exiles, at their head.
York and Frion had not yet had time to arrive from Canterbury; Lord
Audley and his friends received the troops, and held consultation with
their chiefs. It was resolved to go forward, and penetrate into the
country, to raise it if possible; and, as they had not yet heard of Sir
John Peachy's advance, to forestall resistance by their speed.
They marched forward in good order for nearly ten miles, when they
halted; their scouts here brought intelligence of a regular force of at
least two thousand men who were near at hand, advancing against them.
Audley advised a deviation from their line of march, so as to enter the
county in a different direction; Mountford proposed to fortify
themselves in Hythe; Corbet to re-embark with all speed on board their
vessels. While they deliberated, it was reported that another troop of
the king's men were posted in their rear, while a herald from the
sheriff called on them to lay down their arms and to submit. Already a
panic ran through this knot of men; already their coward hands dropped
their weapons, ready to be held out for servile cords, signs of terror
increased by the near tramp of Peachy's soldiers and the sound of
martial music.
At this moment of irresolution, four persons were seen at the top of a
neighbouring eminence; one was a knight in complete armour, the others
were more peacefully attired; they paused a moment gazing on the scene
below; then the three pursued their way over the hills towards the sea;
the cavalier came riding down at a furious pace; Lord Audley advanced
towards him. "All is lost!" he cried.
"Or won!" exclaimed the prince; "surely Neville and my good cousin will
send us reinforcements. How strong are ye on board, Mountford?"
"About six hundred; two of which are German well-trained auxiliaries;
but we hoped to find an ally army."
"Treason, Sir John, is stronger to break, than truth to bind. Ye are
mad; better not have landed at all than thus."
A few scattered shot from Peachy's advanced guard broke in upon these
regrets; Richard in a moment recollected that this was a time for
action, not for words. He issued a few commands as to the position of
his troops, and riding to their front addressed them: "My merry men, and
very good friends," he cried, "let us recollect that we are soldiers;
our lives depend upon our swords; draw them for the right, and be strong
in it. Our enemies are chiefly raw recruits; cold friends of a
tyrant-usurper; but they are many, and death is before us; behind our
vessels, the wide ocean, safety and freedom; we must retreat, not as
cowardly fugitives, but as men who, while they see, fear not their
danger."
The order of the march was speedily established. While the rear
retrograded, Richard, with a hundred chosen men, made a stand, receiving
so well the first onset of their assailants, that they were staggered
and driven back.
"In good hour, spare neither whip nor spur," cried York; and turning his
horse's head, he galloped towards his retreating friends. Peachy, who
believed that he had them in his toils, followed slowly and in good
order. For the first five miles all went well; but when the hills
approached and grew more abrupt, forming by degrees a narrow ravine,
they found this post guarded by the enemy. "Betrayed!" cried Audley; "we
ought to have traversed the hills; now we are between two fires."
"Silence!" said Richard, sternly; "we must give courage to these poor
fellows, not deprive them of it--fear you for your life, baron? By my
fay, I had rather mine were spilt, than that of the meanest of our men!"
Combat like this York had shared in the ravines of Andalusia: he
remembered that warfare, and founded his present operations upon it. His
onset was impetuous; the enemy recoiled, but formed again. The horsemen
dismounted, and presented a frightful bulwark of iron-headed lances to
the horses of the little troop; while, from the intervals in the ranks,
the archers and men armed with matchlocks kept up a rain of arrows and
bullets, that spread consternation among his troop. It was necessary to
break through this formidable defence; thrice the prince charged in
vain; the third time his standard-bearer fell; he wore a white scarf; he
fixed it to his lance, and drawing his sword, he waved this emblem of
his cause as again he dashed forwards, and with greater success; yet, as
he drove the enemy before him, the whiz of bullets and arrows from
behind showed that their previous resistance had given Sir John Peachy
time to come up. York grasped Audley's hand: "Farewell," he cried,
"forgive my hasty speech, my valiant friend; may we meet in paradise,
where surely, through God's grace, we shall sup this night."
With the words he charged again, and overcame the last faint resistance.
Followed by all his troop, pursuing the flying, Richard dashed through
the defile: soon the open plain was before them, and he saw the wide,
calm, free ocean, with his vessels riding at anchor. The decks were
crowded with men, and the water covered with boats, hovering near shore,
as they waited to receive tidings of their friends.
Before in the van, Richard now hung back to secure the retreat of those
behind. Audley urged him to embark; but he moved slowly towards the
beach, now calling his men to form and gather round him, now marking the
motions of those behind, ready to ride back to their aid. At length
Peachy's troops poured through the defile; the plain was covered by
flying Yorkists: it only remained for him to assemble as many as he
could, to protect and insure the embarkation of all.
"One word," cried Audley; "whither do you propose to sail?"
"It is doubtful; if Barry still be true, and my voice be heard, not to
Burgundy and dependence, but rather to Ireland, to Cork and Desmond."
"Meanwhile, dear your highness," said the noble, "I will not believe
that all is lost in England. I shall make good speed to the West, and
gather my friends together; we shall not be distant neighbours; and if I
succeed to my wish, Audley will call you from your Irish fastnesses to
your own native England. Our Lady preserve you meanwhile--farewell!"
Audley, swift in all his proceedings, put spurs to his horse, and was
away. A few minutes brought Richard to the sands; he guarded the
embarkation of his diminished numbers; nor, till Peachy's troop was
within bowshot, and the last straggler that arrived was in the last
boat, did he throw himself from his horse and leap in; he was rowed to
the chief vessel. He cast an anxious glance at the Adalid, just under
weigh; a green and white flag was hoisted; Monina was on board. Further
to reassure him of his friends' safety, Frion received him as he mounted
on his own deck. Evening was at hand--the late balmy summer evening; a
land breeze sprung up; the vessels had already weighed their anchors,
and swiftly, with swelling sails, they gained the offing. How tranquil
and sweet seemed the wide-spread waters; how welcome these arks of
refuge, sailing placidly over them, after the strife, the blood, the
shouts, the groans of battle. "Farewell, England," said the royal exile;
"I have no country, save these decks trodden by my friends--where they
are, there is my kingdom and my home!"
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE PARTING
Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot:
And then the power of Scotland and of York
To join----
In faith it is exceedingly well aimed!
SHAKSPEARE.
The duke of York found Lord Barry, Sir George Neville, Plantagenet, and
several other distinguished friends, on board his vessel. In
consultation with them, it was agreed to sail immediately for Cork. The
loss of many brave friends, killed or prisoners, on the Kentish coast,
saddened them: while the diminution of their numbers forbade the idea of
a second descent upon England. Towards Ireland they sailed, with such
alternation of calm and contrary winds as made them linger for several
weeks upon their way. Here, for the first time, Richard heard from Frion
of Clifford's machinations, and of his message and insolent threat to
Monina. Every drop of blood in his veins was alive with indignation:
before, he had despised Sir Robert as a traitor; and, while he looked on
him as the cause of all his disasters, and of the death of so many of
his noble and gallant adherents, his abhorrence was mingled with
contemptuous pity. The unchivalrous wrong offered to a woman, that woman
his sweet sister-friend, animated him with other feelings: to avenge
her, and chastise the arrogant braggart, was his knightly duty, his
fervent, impatient wish. He saw her not meanwhile; she was in one of
those dark hulls, among which love alone taught him to discern the
lighter build and more sea-worn frame of the Adalid.
Ireland was at this time very differently situated from when the prince
first landed on her shores. After Lambert Simnel's success there, still
the king of England had neglected its internal policy. A more terrible
name awakened his caution; and he sent Sir Edward Poynings, as the
deputy of his infant son Henry, whom he had nominally appointed to the
government. Poynings was resolute and successful. He defeated the
natives, quelled the earl of Kildare, and forced the earl of Desmond to
renew his oaths of allegiance. A free pardon was afterwards granted to
all, with the exception of Lord Barry.
York was received at Cork most cordially by his old friend O'Water, and
immediately, at the earl of Desmond's invitation, repaired to Ardfinnin.
The earl had found no great difficulty in escaping from England, and
returning to his native island. The timely assistance he had afforded
Henry's enemy in the Tower was an impenetrable mystery, though the
consciousness of it had made him more yielding than he would otherwise
have been in his concessions to Poynings. He received York with the
hospitality of an Irish chieftain, and the kindness of a friend. But he
held out no inducement for him to remain: on the contrary, he was the
first to counsel him to turn his eyes, where a new and brighter prospect
presented itself. Sir Patrick Hamilton had left Munster a few months
before, with a firm belief in Richard's truth; he had assured the earl
of the favourable reception his adventurous friend would obtain from his
royal master, and had declared his intention of proceeding to Brussels
to see the prince, and personally to enforce his invitation. York was
absent; but the duchess gave a cordial reception to the renowned
Scottish cavalier. He had been present at the sailing of the fleet; and
his last words were wishes for their success, and an offer of secure and
honourable refuge in Edinburgh, in case of failure. It had been agreed,
that on his own return thither, he should be accompanied by messengers
from the duchess, to thank the king of Scotland for the interest he
manifested towards her beloved nephew. Sir Edward Brampton was chosen as
the chief of these, accompanied, of course, by his lady, York's
long-tried and zealous friend.
All these circumstances were decisive of the course it became the exile
to pursue. He was at that moment in a condition to appear under
advantageous circumstances at the Scottish court. He had lost several
valued friends during the late attempt; but many remained of noble birth
and good renown. Above a hundred knights graced his train. The treasure
his aunt had bestowed for his English struggle remained, besides a
considerable sum of money, services of valuable plate and valuable
jewels, the munificent gift of the dowager duchess of Norfolk. In fine,
not a dissentient voice was raised; and the attention of every one was
turned towards preparations for the voyage. York continued to be the
earl of Desmond's guest: in his princely halls he received all the
honour due to his rank and pretensions. The countess, a lady of the
noble family of Roche, distinguished him by her kindness, and conceived
a peculiar friendship for the Spanish maiden, Monina.
The moment arrived for York's embarkation. He had visited his vessels,
and seen that all was in readiness; but his surprise was excited by
perceiving that no preparations were made for sailing on board the
Adalid. This was explained on his return, by the countess telling him
that a friend of his desired to take leave of him before he sailed, and
that she had been besought by her to explain in some measure the reasons
of their separation. De Faro's whole soul was set upon becoming one of
those immortal pioneers who opened new paths across the unexplored west.
He could be of no use to Richard in Scotland; but he could not prevail
on himself to leave his lovely, unprotected girl behind. She had at last
consented to accompany him in his far and dangerous voyage.
Many had been this poor child's struggles, sad her reflections, ere she
wrought herself to this purpose. "Alas!" such were her reveries, "that
innocence should be no safeguard in this ill world! If indeed I loved
him sinfully, or he sought me wrongfully, I should simply obey the laws
of God in flying him; but he is noble, and I know my own heart. Spotless
Mother of God, thou knowest it!--there is no single feeling in my
woman's soul that I dare not avouch to thy all-blessed gentleness! I ask
only to live in the same land, to breathe the same air, to serve him at
his need, to associate with his friends; so that when I see him not, I
may feed upon discourse of him. This is all I ask--all!--and this must
not be! I cannot bear a tainted name; I cannot endure that, linked with
any slightest stain of calumny, my image should haunt his dreams; nor
that he or any human being should suffer through me, which may so easily
happen: for if words like those Frion reported should reach my father's
ears, he would clothe his tempest-shaken limbs in arms, and expose his
breast to the sharp sword's point, to vindicate my honour. No!--no
tragedy shall be associated with poor Monina's name; nor agony nor woe
shall visit those I love, through me: they shall not even commiserate my
sufferings; these shall be garnered up in my own heart, watched with a
miser's care. I will not enrich the tell-tale air by one sigh; nor
through my broken heart shall the gloom of my despair appear. I will
paint my face with joy's own hue; put sunshine in my eyes: my hapless
love shall be no tale of pity for any, save my own desolate thoughts.
Nor let me forget every lesson of resignation, nor the dear belief I
cherish in the protection and goodness of my sainted guardianess. Let me
rejoice at much that exalts my destiny in my own eyes. The prince's
friendship, affection, gratitude, and esteem are mine: I have been able
to serve him I love--am I not sufficiently fortunate? He needs me no
more; but I am no alien upon earth. I shall give delight to my dear
father by accompanying him over the untrod watery deserts: through
me--for, if I went not, he would remain behind--the name of De Faro
will be added to the list of those who bestow a new creation of supernal
beauty on our out-worn world. He will call me the partner of his glory;
and, though that be a vain word, his dark eyes will flash with joy. My
dear, dear father! Should the prince succeed and ascend his rightful
throne, more impassable than that wide sea would be the gulph which
ceremony would place between us; and if he fall--ah! mine is no
summer's day voyage; the tornados of that wild region may wreck me; the
cold sea receive me in her bosom; and I shall never hear of Richard's
overthrow, nor endure the intolerable pang of knowing that he dies."
Fortified in some degree by such thoughts, anxious to conceal her
sorrows from one who might compassionate, yet not wholly share them,
Monina met Richard with an air of gaiety: glad, in spite of his
involuntary mortification, that she should be spared any pain, he copied
her manner; and a spectator would have thought, that either they parted
for a few hours, or were indifferent to each other. He could not help
betraying some anxiety however, when Lady Desmond, who was present,
solicited him to make his friend change her purpose, and drew a
frightful picture of the hazardous voyage, the storms, the likelihood
that they might be driven far, far away, where no land was, where they
would perish of famine on the barren, desolate ocean. Monina
laughed--she endeavoured thus to put aside her friend's serious
entreaties; and, when she found that she failed, she spoke of the
Providence that could protect her even on the wastes of innavigable
ocean; and proudly reminded him, that she would trust her father, whose
reputation as a mariner stood foremost among those in the king of
Portugal's employ. Richard looked perplexed--sorrow and pain spoke in
his own countenance; while she, true to herself to the last, said, "I
have now told you my purpose--but this is no farewell; to-morrow we
meet again; and another to-morrow will come also, when I bring treasure
from my Indian isle to dazzle the monarch of fair, happy England."
On that morrow Richard sought in vain among the countess of Desmond's
companions for his sweet Spaniard; he imaged her as he last saw her,
light, laughing, her soft-beaming eyes hardly daring to glance towards
him, while he fancied that a shower of precious drops was shaken from
their fringed lids. He had meant to say, "Ah! weep, Monina, weep for
Andalusia--for our happy childhood--for the hopes that leaves us: thy
tears will seem to me more glad than thy untrue smile." But she was not
there. Could he have seen her from the deck of his vessel, marking its
progress from the watch-tower of Youghall, he had been satisfied. The
anguish of bitter tears, the heart's agonizing gaspings, were hers, to
be succeeded by the dull starless night of despair, when his sail
vanished on the glittering plains of the sunny sea.
Farewell to her who mourned; to her who saw neither day nor joy, whose
heart lived with him, while she prepared for her melancholy separation
from the very world which he inhabited.
The scene shifts to Scotland; and hither, to a new country, a new
people, almost to a new language, our royal adventurer is transported.
Dark, tumultuous, stained with blood, and rendered foul by treason, are
the pages of early Scottish history. A wild and warlike people inhabited
its mountainous districts, whose occupation was strife, whose religion
was power and revenge. The Lowlanders, a wealthier race, were hardly
more cultivated or less savage. One course of rebellion against the
sovereign, and discord among themselves, flows, a sanguinary stream from
the hidden sources of things, threading a long track of years, or
overflowing it with its pernicious waves. Discord, hate, and murder were
the animating spirits of the scene.
James the Third was a weak, unhappy man. A prophecy had induced him to
distrust all the princes of his house--he extended this distrust to his
son, who was brought up consequently in a kind of honourable and obscure
imprisonment. He fostered unworthy favourites; and many bold and
sanguinary revolts had been the consequence. On one occasion, while
encamped during a foray into England, his nobles had seized on all his
personal friends and adherents, and hanged them over London Bridge. The
last rebellion cost him his life. The insurgents seized on, and placed
at their head, his eldest son, then only sixteen years of age--they met
their sovereign in the field--he fled before them; and his death was as
miserable and dastardly as his life.
James the Fourth succeeded to the throne. The mean jealousy of his
father had caused him to be untutored; but he was one of those beings,
who by nature inherit magnanimity refinement, and generosity. His faults
were those that belong to such a character. His imagination was active,
his impulses warm but capricious. He was benignant to every other,
severe only in his judgment of himself. His father's death, to which he
had been an unwilling accessary, weighed like parricide on his
conscience. To expiate it, in the spirit of those times, he wore
perpetually an iron girdle, augmenting the weight each year, as habit or
increasing strength lightened the former one. He devoted much of his
life to penance and prayer. Here ended, however, all of the ascetic in
his disposition. He was a gallant knight and an accomplished gentleman.
He encouraged tourneys and passages of arms, raising the reputation of
the Scottish cavaliers all over Europe, so that many noble foreigners
repaired to Edinburgh, to gain new trophies in contests with the heroes
of the north. He passed edicts to enforce the schooling of the children
of the nobles and lairds. His general love of justice, a little impaired
it is true by feudal prejudices, often led him to wander in disguise
over his kingdom; seeking hospitality from the poor, and listening with
a candid and generous mind to every remark upon himself and his
government.
He was singularly handsome, graceful, prepossessing, and yet dignified
in his manners. He loved pleasure, and was the slave of the sex, which
gives to pleasure all its elegance and refinement; he partook his
family's love for the arts, and was himself a poet and a musician; nay
more, to emulate the divine patron of these accomplishments, he was
well-skilled in surgery, and the science of healing. He was ambitious,
active, energetic. He ruminated many a project of future glory;
meanwhile his chief aim was to reconcile the minds of the alienated
nobles--his murdered father's friends--to himself; and, succeeding in
this, to abolish the feuds that raged among the peers of Scotland, and
civilize their barbarous propensities. He succeeded to a miracle. His
personal advantages attracted the affection of his subjects; they were
proud of him, and felt exalted by his virtues. His excellent government
and amiable disposition, both united to make his reign peaceful in its
internal policy, and beneficial to the kingdom. The court of Holyrood
vied with those of Paris, London, and Brussels; to which capitals many
of his high-born subjects, no longer engaged in the struggles of party,
travelled; bringing back with them the refinements of gallantry, the
poetry, learning, and science of the south of Europe. The feuds, last
flickerings of the dying torch of discord, which lately spread a fatal
glare through the land, ceased; if every noble did not love, they all
obeyed their sovereign--thus a new golden age might be said to have
dawned upon this eyrie of Boreas, this tempestuous Thule of the world.
We must remember that this was the age of chivalry; the spirit of
Edward the Third and the princely dukes of Burgundy yet survived. Louis
the Eleventh, in France, had done much to quench it; it burnt bright
again under the auspices of his son. Henry the Seventh was its bitter
enemy; but we are still at the beginning of his reign, while war and
arms were unextinguished by his cold avaricious policy. James of
Scotland laboured, and successfully, to pacify his subjects, children of
one common parent; but he, as well as they, disdained the ignoble arts
of peace. England formed the lists where they desired to display their
courage; war with England was a word to animate every heart to dreadful
joy: in the end, it caused the destruction of him and all his chivalry
in Flodden Field; now it made him zealous to upraise a disinherited
prince; so that under the idea of restoring the rightful sovereign to
the English throne, he might have fair pretext for invading the
neighbour kingdom. At the hope, the soldiers of Scotland--in other
words, its whole population--awakened, as an unhooded hawk, ready to
soar at its accustomed quarry.
Sir Patrick Hamilton, the most accomplished and renowned of the Scottish
cavaliers, and kinsman of the royal house, had returned laden with every
testimony of the White Rose's truth, and a thousand proofs of his
nobleness and virtue. Sir Edward Brampton delivered the duchess's
message of thanks; and his lady had already awakened the zeal of many a
gentleman, and the curiosity and interest of many a lady, for the pride
of York, the noble, valiant Plantagenet. Woman's sway was great at
Holyrood; as the bachelor king, notwithstanding his iron girdle, and his
strict attention to his religious duties, was a devout votary at the
shrine of feminine beauty.
There was a hawking party assembled in the neighbourhood of Stirling,
which he graced by his presence. All was, apparently, light-heartedness
and joy, till a dispute arose between two damsels upon the merits of
their respective falcons. One of these was fair Mary Boyd, daughter of
the laird of Bonshaw. Mary Boyd was the first-love of the young
sovereign, and the report went, that he was no unsuccessful suitor; it
spoke of offspring carefully concealed in a village of Fife, whom James
often visited. When, afterwards, this young lady's example was imitated
by others nobly born, this became no secret, and of her children, one
became archbishop of St. Andrew's--the other, a daughter, married the
earl of Morton.
But these were days of youthful bashfulness and reserve; the mind of
Mary Boyd balanced between pride in her lover, and shame for her fault;
a state of feeling that ill brooked the loss of what gilded her too
apparent frailty--the exclusive attention of the king. Mary was older
than the king; the dignity which had captivated the boy's imagination,
lost its charm when the tyranny of assumed right took the place of that
of tenderness. He grew cold, then absent, and at last, ventured to fix a
regard of admiration on another, sliding easily from the restraint to
which he at first submitted, into all of devotion, and soft, gallant
courtesy, by which kings win ladies' love, and in which none grew to be
a greater adept than James. The new object that attracted him was, the
young, gay, and lovely Lady Jane Kennedy, daughter of the earl of
Cassils. Her sparkling eyes, her "bonny brent brow," her dark,
clustering hair, contrasted with the transparency of her
complexion--her perfect good-humour, her vivacity, and her wit--made
her a chief beauty in the Scottish court, and in all this she was the
reverse of the fair, light-haired, sleepy-eyed Mary. Lady Jane saw and
gloried in her triumph over the king. Innocent then, she only desired
the reputation of such a conquest, fully resolved not to tread in the
steps of her rival. It is something of fool's play to strive to enchain
fire by links of straw, to throw silken fetters on abounding torrent, to
sport with the strong lion, Love, as he were a playful whelp: some,
secure in innocence and principle, may at last discover their mistake
and remain uninjured; but not the vain, heedless, self-willed, Lady
Jane. The courtiers were divided in their attentions; some for shame
would not forsake Mary Boyd; some thought that still she would regain
her power; one or two imagined that Lady Jane's resistance would restore
the king to her rival; but the greater number caught the light spirit of
the hour, and gathered round the laughing, happy girl.
The contention between these ladies made many smile. The king betted a
diamond against a Scotch pebble on Lady Jane's bird. Mary had thwarted
him, and forced him to her side during the first part of the day--now
he took his revenge. A heron rose from the river banks. The birds were
unhooded, and up soared Lady Jane's in one equal flight through the blue
air, cleaving the atmosphere with noiseless wing. Mary's followed
slower; but, when Lady Jane's pounced on the quarry, and brought it
screaming and flapping to the ground, the rival bird darted on the
conqueror, and a sharp struggle ensued. It was unequal; for the Lady
Jane's hawk would not quit its prey. "Let them fight it out," said Mary,
"and the survivor is surely the victor."
But the spectators cried shame--while Lady Jane, with a scream,
hastened to save her favourite. The other, fiery as a borderer, attacked
even her; and, in spite of her gloves, drops of blood from her fair
hand, stained her silken robe. James came to her rescue, and with one
blow put an end to the offender's life. Jane caressed her "tassel
gentle," while Mary looted on her "false carrion's" extinction with
unrepressed indignation. They returned to Stirling: immediately on their
arrival, they received tidings that the duke of York's fleet had been
descried, and was expected to enter the Frith on the following day. None
heard the words without emotion; the general sentiment was joy; for
Richard's landing was to be the signal of invasion. King Henry had one
or two friends among the Scottish nobles, and these alone smiled
contemptuously.
"We must have feasts and tourneys, fair mistress," said the king, "to
honour our royal visitor. Will your servant intrude unseemingly if,
while his arms extol your beauty, he wears your colours?"
Lady Jane smiled a reply, as she followed her father towards his
mansion. She smiled, while feminine triumph beamed in her eye, and
girlish bashfulness blushed in her cheek. "Has she not a bonny ee?"
cried James, to him who rode near him. It was Sir Patrick Hamilton, his
dear cousin and friend, to whom James often deferred, and respected,
while he loved. His serious look recalled the king. "This is not the
time, good sooth!" he continued, "for such sweet gauds--but for lance,
and broadsword:--the coming of this prince of Roses will bring our arms
into play, all rusty as they are. I wonder what presence our guest may
have!"
The friends then conversed concerning the projected war, which both
agreed would be well-timed. It would at once give vent to the fiery
impulses of the Scotch lords, otherwise apt to prey upon each other. But
lately a band of the Drummonds had burnt the kirk of Moulward, in which
were six-score Murrays, with their wives and children, all of whom were
victims. But foray in England--war with the land of their hate--the
defiance would be echoed in glad shouts from Tweed to Tay, from the
Lothians to the Carse of Gowrie; while it should be repeated in groans
from the Northumberland wilds.
CHAPTER XXIX
WELCOME TO SCOTLAND
Cousin of York, thus once more we embrace thee;
Welcome to James of Scotland! For thy safety,
Know, such as love thee not shall never wrong thee.
Come, we will taste awhile our court delights,
Dream hence afflictions past, and then proceed
To high attempts of honour.
FORD.
The duke of York arrived off Leith. While the messengers were going to
and fro, and preparation was made to disembark, he and his principal
friends were assembled on the deck of their vessel, regarding; this
strange northern coast with curiosity, wonder, and some contempt.
"I see horses," cried Lord Barry; "by'r Lord's grace, grass grows
hitherward--that is much!"
"I see kye," exclaimed Frion, "so we may hope for buttered sowans at
least, if not beef, at the palace of feasts."
"Ay," cried Sir Edward Brampton, who had come on board, "you may hope
for choice cheer. I promise ye shall live well, ye that are
noble--these unclad rocks and desert moors are the home of many an earl
and belted knight, whose gorgeousness may vie with the cavaliers of
France or Burgundy. In this it differs from England, ye will not find
stout franklins or fat burgesses; there are no men of Ghent, nor London
aldermen: the half-naked kern tills the stony soil. Next to the palace
is the hearthless hovel. Wealth and penury, if not mates, are joint
masters of the land."
"I have heard," said York, "that there is much paternal love and filial
duty between the rich and poor in this country."
"Among the northern mountains thus it is," said Brampton; "a strange and
savage race, which, my good Lord Barry, some name Irish, dwell on the
barren heights, along the impassable defiles, beside their vast stormy
lakes; but the Lowlander looks askance on the Highland clanship. List
ye, gentlemen; all bears a different aspect here from the gentle
southern kingdoms; but they are men, proud, valiant, warlike men, as
such they claim our respect. His majesty and a few others are moreover
right gallant cavaliers."
"Mark these words," said York, earnestly, "and remember, dear friends,
that we, the world's wanderers, seek refuge here of our own will, which
if we find, we must not disdain our hosts. Remember, too, the easy rage
of the fiery Scot; and that we boast gentler customs: suffer no brawling
to mar our concord; let not Richard of York, who of all his wide realm
possesses your hearts only, find his dominions narrowed, or violently
disturbed by your petulance and pride."
The duke's associates listened with respect. Hitherto the spirited boy
had been led by a Barry, a Clifford, a Neville, or a Plantagenet. They
had counselled, spoken for him; his sword only had been as active as
theirs. A new light seemed to have broken in upon his soul; it assumed a
seriousness and power that exalted him in their eyes, while it took
nothing from the candour and single-hearted reliance on their loves,
which was his dearest charm.
On landing, the duke of York was escorted to Edinburgh by the earl of
Errol, Sir Patrick Hamilton, and others. The attire, arms, and horses,
with their caparisons, of these gentlemen, were little inferior to those
displayed at Paris. King James awaited him at the castle of Edinburgh.
The monarch received his guest in state on his throne. The prince was
struck at once by his elegance, his majesty, and sweet animated aspect:
his black bonnet, looped up by a large ruby, sat lightly on his brow,
his glossy black curly hair escaping in ringlets from underneath; his
embroidered shirt-collar, thrown back, displayed his throat, and the
noble expression of his head; his dark grey eyes, his manly sun-burnt
complexion, the look of thought, combined with goodness, mingled with
dignity, gave an air of distinction to his whole person. Various were
the physiognomies, various the guises, of those around him. The swart,
gaunt Highlander, in his singular costume; the blue-eyed, red-haired
sous of the Lowlands were there; and in each and all were remarkable a
martial, sometimes a ferocious, expression.
The prince of England entered, surrounded by his (to the Scotch)
foreign-looking knights.
James descended from his throne to embrace his visitant, and then
re-assumed it, while all eyes were turned upon the royal adventurer,
whose voice and mien won every heart, before his eloquence had time to
move them. "High and mighty king," said Richard, "your grace, and these
your nobles present, be pleased to hear the tragedy of one, who, born a
prince, comes even as a beggar to your court. My lords, sorrow and I
were not twins: I am the elder, and for nine years I beheld not the
ill-visage of that latest birth of my poor but royal mother's fortunes.
It were a long tale to tell, what rumour has made familiar to every ear:
my uncle Gloucester's usurpation; my brother's death; and the sorrows of
our race. I lost my kingdom ere I possessed it; and while yet my young
hands were too feeble to grasp the sceptre of my ancestors, and, with
it, the sword needful to defend the same, capricious fate bestowed it on
Henry of Richmond; a base-born descendant of ill-nurtured Bolingbroke; a
scion of that Red Rose that so long and so rightfully had been uprooted
in the land, which they had bought with its children's dearest blood.
"Good, my lords, I might move you to pity did I relate how, in my tender
years, that usurer king sought my life, buying the blood of the
orphan at the hands of traitors. How, when these cruelties failed him,
he used subtler arts; giving me nicknames; meeting my gallant array of
partizans, not with an army of their peers, but with a base rout of
deceits, treasons, spies, and blood-stained decoyers. It would suit me
better to excite your admirations by speaking of the nobleness and
fidelity of my friends; the generosity of the sovereigns who have shed
invaluable dews upon the fading White Rose, so to refresh and restore
it.
"But not to waste my tediousness on you, let this be the sum. I am here,
the friend of France, the kinsman of Burgundy; the acknowledged lord of
Ireland; pursued by my powerful foe, I am here, king of Scotland, to
claim your friendship and your aid. Here lies the accomplishment of my
destiny! The universal justice to be rendered me, which I dreamed of in
my childhood, the eagle hopes of my youth, my better fortunes, and
future greatness, have fled me. But here they have found a home; here
they are garnered up; render them back to me, my lord; unlock with the
iron key of fatal battle the entrance to those treasures, all mine own,
whose absence renders me so poor. Arm for me Scotland; arm for the
right! Never for a juster cause could you buckle breast-plate, or poize
your lance. Be my captain, and these your peers, my fellow-soldiers.
Fear not, but that we vanquish; that I gain a kingdom; you eternal glory
from your regal gift. Alas! I am as a helmless vessel drifting towards
the murderous rock; but you, as the strong north-wind, may fill the
flapping sails, and carry me on my way with victory and gladness."
A murmur filled the presence-chamber: dark Douglas grasped his sword;
Hamilton's eyes glanced lightnings; not one there but felt his heart
beat with desire to enforce the illustrious exile's right. The tide of
rising enthusiasm paused as James arose; and deep attention held them
all. He descended from his throne. "My royal brother," he said, "were I
a mere errant knight, so good and high I esteem your cause, without more
ado I would don my armour, and betake me to the field. The same power
which enables me to afford you far better succour than the strength of
one arm, obliges me to pause and take council, ere I speak what it is in
my heart to promise. But your highness has made good your interests
among my counsellors; and I read in their gestures the desire of war and
adventure for your sake. Deem yourself an exile no more. Fancy that you
have come from merry England to feast with your brother in the north,
and we will escort you back to your capital in triumphant procession,
showing the gaping world how slighter than silky cobwebs are the
obstacles that oppose the united strength of Plantagenet and Stuart.
Welcome--thrice welcome to the Scottish land--kinsmen, nobles, valiant
gentlemen, bid dear welcome to my brother England!"
CHAPTER XXX
THE COURT OF SCOTLAND
A lady, the wonder of her kind,
Whose form was upborne by a lovely mind;
Which dilating had moulded her mien and motion,
Like a sea-flower unfolded beneath the ocean.
SHELLEY.
A few days made it apparent that York acquired a stronger power over the
generous and amiable king of Scotland, than could be given by motives of
state policy. He became his friend; no empty name with James, whose
ardent soul poured itself headlong into this new channel, and revelled
in a kind of ecstasy in the virtues and accomplishments of his favoured
guest. Both these princes were magnanimous and honourable, full of
grandeur of purpose, and gentleness of manner; united by these main
qualities, the diversities of their dispositions served rather to draw
them closer. Though Richard's adventures and disasters had been so many,
his countenance, his very mind was less careworn than that of James. The
White Rose, even in adversity, was the nursling of love; the Scottish
prince, in his palace-fostered childhood, had been the object of his
father's hatred and suspicion: cabal, violence, and duplicity had waited
on him. James governed those around him by demonstrating to them, that
it was their interest to obey a watchful, loving, generous monarch:
Richard's power was addressed to the most exalted emotions of the human
heart, to the fidelity, self-devotion, and chivalric attachment of his
adherents. James drew towards himself the confidence of men; Richard
bestowed his own upon them. James was winning from his courtesy, Richard
from his ingenuousness. Remorse had printed a fadeless stamp of thought
and pain on the king's countenance; an internal self-communion and
self-rebuke were seated in the deep shadows of his thoughtful eyes.
Richard's sorrow for the disasters he might be said to have occasioned
his friends, his disdain of his own vagabond position, his sadness when
his winged thoughts flew after the Adalid, to hover over his sweet
Monina; all these emotions were tinged by respect for the virtues of
those around him, conscious rectitude, pious resignation to Providence,
gratitude to his friends, and a tender admiration of the virgin virtues
of her he loved: so that there arose thence only a softer expression for
his features, a sweetness in the candour of his smile, a gentle
fascination in his frank address, that gave at once the stamp of
elevated feeling and goodness to his mien. He looked innocent, while
James's aspect gave token, that in his heart good and ill had waged war:
the better side had conquered, yet had not come off scathless from the
fight.
In the first enthusiasm of his new attachment, James was eager to lavish
on his friend every mark of his favour and interest; he was obliged to
check his impatience, and to submit to the necessity of consulting with
and deferring to others. His promises, though large, continued therefore
to be vague; and York knew that he had several enemies at the
council-board. The intimacy between him and the king prevented him from
entertaining any doubts as to the result; but he had a difficult task in
communicating this spirit of patient forbearance to his friends.
Sometimes they took sudden fright, lest they should all at once meet a
denial to their desires; sometimes they were indignant at the delays
that were interposed. None was more open in his expressions of
discontent than Master Secretary Frion. He who had been the soul of
every enterprise until now, who had fancied that his talents for
negotiation would be of infinite avail in the Scottish court, found that
the friendship between the princes, and Richard's disdain of artfully
enticing to his side his host's noble subjects, destroyed at once his
diplomatic weaving. He craftily increased the discontent of the proud
Neville, the disquietude of the zealous Lady Brampton, and the turbulent
intolerance of repose of Lord Barry; while Richard, on the other hand,
exerted himself to tranquillize and reduce them to reason: he was
sanguine in his expectations, and above all, confident in his friend's
sincere intention to do more than merely assist him by force of arms. He
saw a thousand projects at work in James's generous heart, every one
tending to exalt him in the eyes of the world, and to rescue him for
ever from the nameless, fugitive position he occupied. Nor was his
constant intercourse with the king of small influence over his
happiness; the genius, the versatile talents, the grace and
accomplishments of this sovereign, the equality and sympathy that
reigned between them, was an exhaustless source of more than amusement,
of interest and delight. The friends of James became his friends: Sir
Patrick Hamilton was chief among these, and warmly attached to the
English prince: another, whom at first ceremony had placed at a greater
distance from him, grew into an object of intense interest and continual
excitation.
"This evening," said the king to him, soon after his arrival, "you will
see the flower of our Scottish damsels, the flower of the world well may
I call her; for assuredly, when you see the Lady Katherine Gordon, you
will allow that she is matchless among women."
Richard was surprised: did James's devotion to Lady Jane Kennedy, nay,
his conscious look whenever he mentioned her, mean nothing? Besides, on
this appeal to his own judgment, he pictured his soft-eyed Spaniard,
with all her vivacity and all her tenderness, and he revolted from the
idea of being the slave of any other beauty. "Speak to our guest, Sir
Patrick," continued the king, "and describe the fair earthly angel who
makes a heaven of our bleak wilds; or rather, for his highness might
suspect you, let me, not her lover, but her cousin, her admirer, her
friend, tell half the charms, half the virtues of the daughter of
Huntley. Is it not strange that I, who have seen her each day since
childhood, and who still gaze with wonder on her beauty, should yet find
that words fail me when I would paint it? I am apt to see, and ready to
praise, the delicate arch of this lady's brow, the fire of another's
eyes, another's pouting lip and fair complexion, the gay animation of
one, the chiselled symmetry of a second. Often, when our dear Lady Kate
has sat, as is often her wont, retired from sight, conversing with some
travelled greybeard, or paying the homage of attention to some ancient
dame (of late I have remarked her often in discourse with Lady
Brampton), I have studied her face and person to discover where the
overpowering charm exists, which, like a strain of impassioned music,
electrifies the senses, and touches the hearts of all near her. Is it in
her eyes? A poet might dream of dark blue orbs like hers, and that he
had kissed eyelids soft as those, when he came unawares on the repose of
young Aurora, and go mad for ever after, because it was only a dream:
yet I have seen brighter; nor are they languishing. Her lips, yes, the
soul of beauty is there, and so is it in her dimpled chin. In the
delicate rounding of her cheeks, and the swanlike loveliness of her
throat, in the soft ringlets of her glossy hair, down to the very tips
of her roseate-tinged fingers, there is proportion, expression, and
grace. You will hardly see all this: at first you will be struck;
extreme beauty must strike; but your second thought will be, to wonder
what struck you, and then you will look around, and see twenty prettier
and more attractive; and then, why, at the first words she speaks, you
will fancy it an easy thing to die upon the mere thought of her: her
voice alone will take you out of yourself, and carry you into another
state of being. She is simple as a child, straightforward, direct:
falsehood--pah! Katherine is Truth. This simplicity, which knows
neither colouring nor deviation, might almost make you fear, while you
adore her, but that her goodness brings you back to love. She is good,
almost beyond the consciousness of being so: she is good because she
gives herself entirely up to sympathy; and, beyond every other, she
dives into the sources of your pleasures and pains, and takes a part in
them. The better part of yourself will, when she speaks, appear to leap
out, as if, for the first time, it found its other half; while the worse
is mute, like a stricken dog, before her. She is gay, more eager to
create pleasure than to please; for to please, we must think of
ourselves, and be ourselves the hero of the story, and Katherine is ever
forgetful of self: she is guileless and gall-less; all love her; her
proud father, and fiery, contentious Highland brothers, defer to her;
yet, to look at her, it is as if the youngest and most innocent of the
graces read a page of wisdom's book, scarce understanding what it meant,
but feeling that it was right."
It was dangerous to provoke the spirit of criticism by excessive praise;
Richard felt half inclined to assert that there was something in the
style of the king's painting that showed he should not like this lauded
lady; but she was his cousin, he was proud of her, and so he was silent.
There was a ball at court that night; and he would see many he had never
seen before; James made it a point that he should discover which was his
cousin. He could not mistake. "She is loveliness itself!" burst from his
lips; and from that moment he felt what James had said, that there was a
"music breathing from her face," an unearthly, spirit-stirring beauty,
that inspired awe, had not her perfect want of pretension, her quite,
unassuming simplicity, at once led him back to every thought associated
with the charms and virtues of woman. Lady Brampton was already a link
between them; and, in a few minutes, he found himself conversing with
more unreserve and pleasure than he had ever done. There are two
pleasures in our intercourse in society, one is to listen, another to
speak. We may frequently meet agreeable, entertaining people, and even
sometimes individuals, whose conversation, either by its wit, its
profundity, or its variety, commands our whole rapt attention: but very
seldom during the course of our lives do we meet those who thaw every
lingering particle of ice, who set the warm life-springs flowing, and
entice us, with our hearts upon our lips, to give utterance to its most
secret mysteries; to disentangle every knot and fold of thought, and,
like sea-weed in the wave, to spread the disregarded herbage, as a
tracery matchlessly fair before another's eyes. Such pleasure Richard
felt with Katherine; and, ever and anon, her melodious voice interposed
with some remark, some explanation of his own feelings, at once
brilliant and true.
Richard knew that Sir Patrick Hamilton loved the Lady Katherine Gordon;
he also was related to the royal family. Hamilton, in the eyes of all,
fair ladies and sage counsellors, was acknowledged to be the most
perfect knight of Scotland; what obstacle could there be to their union?
Probably it was already projected, and acceded to. Richard did not
derogate from the faith that he told himself he owed to Monina, by
cultivating a friendship for the promised bride of another, and moreover
one whom, after the interval of a few short months, he would never see
again. Satisfied with this reasoning, York lost no opportunity of
devoting himself to the Lady Katherine.
His interests were the continual subject of discussion in the royal
counsel-chamber. There were a few who did not speak in his favour. The
principal of these was the earl of Moray, the king's uncle: the least in
consideration, for he was not of the council, though he influenced it:
but the bitterest in feeling, was Sir John Ramsey, laird of Balmayne,
who styled himself Lord Bothwell. He had been a favourite of James the
Third. His dark, fierce temper was exasperated by his master's death,
and he brooded perpetually for revenge. He had once, with several other
nobles, entered into a conspiracy to deliver up the present king to
Henry the Seventh; and the traitorous intent was defeated, not from want
of will, but want of power in his abettors. Since then, Lord Bothwell,
though nominally banished and attainted, was suffered to live in
Edinburgh, nay, to have access to the royal person. James, whose
conscience suffered so dearly by the death of his father, had no desire
to display severity towards his ancient faithful servant; besides, one
who was really so insignificant as Sir John Ramsey. This man was
turbulent, dissatisfied: he was sold to Henry of England, and had long
acted as a spy; the appearance of York at Edinburgh gave activity and
importance to his function: his secret influence and covert intrigues
retarded somewhat the projects and desires of the king.
When the first opposition made to acknowledging this pretender to the
English crown was set aside, other difficulties ensued. Some of the
counsellors were for making hard conditions with the young duke, saying,
that half a kingdom were gift enough to a Prince Lackland: a golden
opportunity was this, they averred, to slice away a bonny county or two
from wide England; he whom they gifted with the rest could hardly say
them nay. But James was indignant at the base proposal, and felt
mortified and vexed when obliged to concede in part, and to make
conditions which he thought hard with his guest. After a noisy debate,
these propositions were drawn out, and York was invited to attend the
council, where they were submitted for his assent.
These conditions principally consisted in the surrender of Berwick, and
the promised payment of one hundred thousand marks. They were hard; for
it would touch the new monarch's honour not to dismember his kingdom;
and it were his policy not to burden himself with a debt which his
already, oppressed subjects must be drawn on to pay. The duke asked for
a day for consideration, which was readily granted.
With real zeal for his cause on one side, and perfect confidence in his
friends' integrity on the other, these difficulties became merely
nominal, and the treaty was speedily arranged. But the month of
September was near its close; a winter campaign would be of small avail:
money, arms, and trained men, were wanting. The winter was to be devoted
to preparation; with the spring the Scottish army was to pass the
English border. In every discussion, in every act, James acted as his
guest's brother, the sharer of his risks and fortunes: one will, one
desire, was theirs. Sir Patrick Hamilton went into the west to raise
levies: no, third person interposed between them. It was the king's
disposition to yield himself wholly up to the passion of the hour. He
saw in Richard, not only a prince deprived of his own, and driven into
exile, but a youth of royal lineage, exposed to the opprobium of
nicknames and the accusation of imposture. The king of France
acknowledged, but he had deserted him: the archduke had done the same:
how could James prove that he would not follow in these steps? He levied
the armies of his kingdom in his favour; he was to fight and conquer for
him next spring. The intervening months were intolerable to the fervent
spirit of the Stuart--something speedy, something now, he longed, he
resolved to do; which, with a trumpet-note, should to all corners of the
world declare, that he upheld Richard of York's right--that he was his
defender, his champion. Once he penned a universal challenge, then
another especially addressed to Henry Tudor; but his invasion were a
better mode than this. Should he give him rank in Scotland?--that would
ill beseem one who aspired to the English crown. Should he proclaim him
Richard the Fourth in Edinburgh?--York strongly objected to this.
Money?--it were a base gilding; besides, James was very poor, and had
melted down his plate, and put his jewels to pawn, to furnish forth the
intended expedition. Yet there was one way,--the idea was as
lightning--James felt satisfied and proud; and then devoted all his
sagacity, all his influence, all his ardent soul, to the accomplishment
of a plan, which, while it insured young Richard's happiness, stamped
him indelibly as being no vagabond impostor, but the honoured prince,
the kinsman and ally of Scotland's royal house.
King James and the duke of York had ridden out to inspect a Lowland
regiment, which the earl of Angus proudly displayed as the force of the
Douglas. As they returned, James was melancholy and meditative. "It is
strange and hard to endure," he said at last, fixing on his companion
his eyes at once so full of fire and thought, "when two spirits contend
within the little microcosm of man. I felt joy at sight of those bold
followers of the Douglas, to think that your enemy could not resist
them; but I do myself foolish service, when I place you on the English
throne. You will leave us, my lord: you will learn in your bonny realm
to despise our barren wilds: it will be irksome to you in prosperity, to
think of your friends of the dark hour."
There was sincerity in these expressions, but exaggeration in the
feelings that dictated them. Richard felt half-embarrassed, in spite of
gratitude and friendship. The king, following the bent of his own
thoughts, not those of others, suddenly continued: "Our cousin Kate at
last, finds grace in your eyes; is she not good and beautiful, all cold
and passionless as she is?"
"Cold!" the Lady Katherine, whose heartfelt sympathy, was a sunny clime
in which he basked--whose sensibility perpetually varied the bright
expression of her features--York repeated the word in astonishment.
"Thou findest her wax?" inquired James, smiling; "by my troth, she has
proved but marble before."
"I cannot guess even at your meaning," replied York, with all the warmth
of a champion; "the lady is in the estimation of all, in your own
account, the best daughter, the most devoted friend, the kindest
mistress in the world. How can we call that spirit cold, which animates
her to these acts? It is not easy to perform, as she does, our simplest
duties. How much of self-will, of engrossing humour, even of our
innocent desires and cherished tastes, must we not sacrifice, when we
devote ourselves to the pleasure and service of others? How much
attention does it not require, how sleepless a feeling of interest,
merely to perceive and understand the moods and wishes of those around
us! An inert, sluggish nature, half ice, half rock, cannot do this. To
achieve it, as methinks your fair kinswoman does, requires all her
understanding, all her sweetness, all that exquisite tact and
penetrative feeling I never saw but in her."
"I am glad you say this," said James. "Yes, Kate has a warm heart: none
has a better right to say so than I. There are--there were times, for
the gloom of the dark hour is somewhat mitigated--when no priest, no
penance, had such power over me as my cousin Katherine's sweet voice.
Like a witch she dived into the recesses of my heart, plucking thence my
unholy distrust in God's mercy. By St. Andrew! when I look at her, all
simple and gentle as she is, I wonder in what part of her resides the
wisdom and the eloquence I have heard fall from her lips; nor have I had
the heart to reprove her, when I have been angered to see our cousin Sir
Patrick driven mad by her sugared courtesies."
"Does she not affect Sir Patrick?" asked Richard, while he wondered at
the thrilling sensation of fear that accompanied his words.
"'Yea, heartily,' she will reply," replied the king; "'Would you have me
disdain our kinsman?' she asks when I rail; but you, who are of gender
masculine, though, by the mass! a smooth specimen of our rough kind,
know full well that pride and impertinence are better than equable,
smiling, impenetrable sweetness. Did the lady of my love treat me thus,
'sdeath, I think I should order myself the rack for pastime. But we
forget ourselves; push on, dear prince. It is the hour, when the hawks
and their fair mistresses are to meet us on the hill's side. I serve no
such glassy damsel; nor would I that little Kennedy's eye darted fires
on me in scorn of ray delay. Are not my pretty Lady Jane's eyes bright,
Sir Duke?"
"As a fire-fly among dark-leaved myrtles."
"Or a dew-drop on the heather, when the morning sun glances on it, as we
take our mountain morning-way to the chase. You look grave, my friend;
surely her eyes are nought save as nature's miracle to you?"
"Assuredly not," replied York; "are they other to your majesty--you do
not love the lady?"
"Oh, no!" reiterated James, with a meaning glance, "I do not love the
Lady Jane; only I would bathe in fire, bask in ice, do each and every
impossibility woman's caprice could frame for trials to gain--but I
talk wildly to a youthful sage. Say, most revered anchorite, wherefore
doubt you my love to my pretty mistress?"
"Love!" exclaimed Richard; his eyes grew lustrous in their own soft dew
as he spoke. "Oh, what profanation is this! And this you think is love!
to select a young, innocent, and beauteous girl--who, did she wed her
equal, would become an honoured wife and happy mother--to select her,
the more entirely to deprive her of these blessings--to bar her out for
ever from a woman's paradise, a happy home; you, who even now are in
treaty for a princess-bride, would entice this young thing to give up
her heart, her all, into your hands, who will crush it, as boys a gaudy
butterfly, when the chase is over. Dear my lord, spare her the
pain--yourself remorse; you are too good, too wise, too generous, to
commit this deed and not to suffer bitterly."
A cloud came over James's features. The very word "remorse" was a sound
of terror to him. He smote his right hand against his side, where dwelt
his heart, in sore neighbourhood to the iron of his penance.
At this moment, sweeping down the near hill-side, came a gallant array
of ladies and courtiers. The king even lagged behind; when near, he
accosted Katherine, he spoke to the earl of Angus, to Mary Boyd, to all
save the Lady Jane, who first looked disdainful, then hurt, and, at
last, unable to straggle with her pain, rode sorrowfully apart. James
tried to see, to feel nothing. Her pride he resisted, her anger he
strove to contemn, her dejection he could not endure: and, when riding
up to her unaware, he saw the traces of tears on her cheek, usually so
sunny bright with smiles, he forgot everything save his wish to console,
to mollify, to cheer her. As they returned, his hand was on her
saddle-bow, his head bent down, his eyes looking into hers, and she was
smiling, though less gay than usual. From that hour James less coveted
the prince's society. He began a little to fear him: not the less did he
love and esteem him; and more, far more, did he deem him worthy of the
honour, the happiness he intended to bestow upon him.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE MARRIAGE
She is mine own;
And I as rich in having such a jewel,
As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,
Their water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
SHAKSPEARE.
The threads were spun, warp and woof laid on, and Fate busily took up
the shuttle, which was to entwine the histories of two beings, at whose
birth pomp and royalty stood sponsors, whose career was marked by every
circumstance that least accorded with such a nativity. A thousand
obstacles stood in the way; the king, with all his fervour, hesitated
before he proposed to the earl of Huntley to bestow his daughter, of
whom he was justly proud, on a fugitive sovereign, without a kingdom,
almost without a name. Fortune, superstition, ten thousand of those
imperceptible threads which fate uses when she weaves her most
indissoluble webs, all served to bring about the apparently impossible.
The earl of Huntley was a man of a plain, straightforward, resolved
ambition. His head was warm, his heart cold, his purpose one--to
advance his house, and himself at the head of it, to as high a situation
as the position of subject would permit. In the rebellion which
occasioned the death of James the Third, he had vacillated, unable quite
to ascertain which party would prove triumphant; and when the rebels,
rebels then no more, but lieges to James the Fourth, won the day, they
looked coldly on their lukewarm partizan. Huntley grew discontented:
though still permitted to hold the baton of Earl Marshal, he saw a cloud
of royal disfavour darkening his fortunes; in high indignation he joined
in the nefarious plot of Buchan, Bothwell; and Sir Thomas Todd, to
deliver his sovereign into the hands of Henry of England, a project
afterwards abandoned.
Time had softened the bitter animosities which attended James at the
beginning of his reign. He extended his favour to all parties, and
reconciled them to each other. A wonder it was, to see the Douglases,
Hamiltons, Gordons, Homes, the Murrays, and Lennoxes, and a thousand
others, at peace with each other, and obedient to their sovereign. The
earl of Huntley, a man advanced in life, prudent, resolute, and politic,
grew into favour. He was among the principal of the Scottish peers; he
had sons, to whom the honours of his race would descend, and this one
daughter, whom he loved as well as he could love anything, and respected
from the extent of her influence, and the perfect prudence of her
conduct; she was his friend and counsellor, the mediator between him and
her brothers; the kind mistress to his vassals, a gentle, but
all-powerful link between him and his king, whose value he duly
appreciated.
Her marriage was often the subject of his meditation. Superstition was
ever rife in Scotland. James the Third had driven all his brothers from
him, because he had been told to beware of one near of kin; and his
death, of which his sou was the ostensible agent, fulfilled the
prophecy. Second-sight, in the Highlands, was of more avail than the
predictions of a Lowland sibyl. The seer of the house of Gordon had, on
the day of her birth, seen the Lady Katherine receive homage as a queen,
and standing at the altar with one, on whose young brow he perceived,
all dim and shadowy, "the likeness of a kingly crown." True, this
elevation was succeeded by disasters: he had beheld her a fugitive; he
saw her stand on the brow of a cliff that overlooked the sea, while the
wild clouds careered over the pale moon, alone, deserted; he saw her a
prisoner; he saw her stand desolate beside the corpse of him she had
wedded--the diadem was still there, dimly seen amid the disarray of his
golden curls. These images haunted the earl's imagination, and made him
turn a slighting ear to Sir Patrick Hamilton, and other noble suitors of
his lovely child. Sometimes he thought of the king, her cousin, or one
of his brothers: flight, desolation, and death, were no strange
attendants on the state of the king of Scotland, and these miseries he
regarded as necessary and predestined; he could not avert, and so he
hardly regarded them, while his proud bosom swelled at the anticipation
of the thorny diadem, which was to press the brow of a daughter of the
Gordon.
Lord Huntley had looked coldly on the English prince. Lord Bothwell, as
he called himself, otherwise Sir John Ramsay, of Balmayne, his former
accomplice, tampered with him on the part of Henry the Seventh, to
induce him to oppose warmly the reception of this "feigned boy," and to
negative every proposition to advance his claims. King Henry's urgent
letters, and Ramsay's zeal, awakened the earl's suspicions; a manifest
impostor could hardly engender such fears, such hate; and, when midnight
assassination, or the poisoned bowl, were plainly hinted at by the
monarch of wide England, Huntley felt assured that the enemy he so
bitterly pursued was no pretender, but the rightful heir of the sceptre
Henry held. He did not quite refuse to join with Bothwell, especially
when he heard that he was listened to by the bishop of Moray and the
earl of Buchan; but involuntarily he assumed a different language with
regard to York, became more respectful to him, and by his demeanour
crushed at once the little party who had hitherto spoken of him with
contempt. The king perceived this change; it was the foundation-stone of
his project. "Tell me, you who are wise, my lord," said the monarch to
his earl marshal, "how I may raise our English prince in the eyes of
Scotland. We fight for him in the spring--for him, we say--but few of
ours echo the word; they disdain to fight for any not akin to them."
"They would fight for the Foul Fiend," said Huntley, "whom they would be
ill-pleased to call cousin, if he led them over the English border."
"Ay, if he took them there to foray; but the duke of York will look on
England as his own, and when the nobles of the land gather round him, it
will be chauncy work to keep them and our Scots from shedding each
other's blood; they would spill Duke Richard's like water, if no drop of
it can be deemed Scotch."
"It were giving him a new father and mother," replied the earl, "to call
him thus."
"When two even of hostile houses intermarry, our heralds pale their
arms; the offspring pale their blood."
"But what Scottish lady would your grace bestow on him whose rank were a
match for royalty? There is no princess of the Stuarts."
"And were there," asked James, quickly, "would it beseem us to bestow
our sister on a King Lackland?"
"Or would your majesty wait till he were king of England, when France,
Burgundy, and Spain would compete with you? I do believe that this noble
gentleman has fair right to his father's crown; he is gallant and
generous, so is not King Henry; he is made to be the idol of a warlike
people, such as the English, so is not his rival. Do you strike one
stroke, the whole realm rises for him, and he becomes its sovereign:
then it were a pride and a glory for us, for him a tie to bind him for
ever, did he place his diadem on the head of a Scottish damsel."
"You are sanguine and speak warmly," replied the king: "see you beyond
your own words? to me they suggest a thought which I entertain, or not,
as is your pleasure: there is but one lady in our kingdom fitting mate
for him, and she is more Gordon than Stuart. Did your lordship glance at
the Lady Katherine in your speech?"
Lord Huntley changed colour: a sudden rush of thought palsied the
beatings of his heart. Was he called upon to give his child, his
throne-destined daughter, to this king-errant? Nay, nay, thus did
fortune blindly work; her hand would insure to him the crown, and so
fulfil to her the dark meaning of the seer: hesitating, lost to his
wonted presence of mind, Huntley could only find words to ask for a day
for reflection. James wondered at this show of emotion; he could not
read its full meaning: "At your pleasure, my lord," he said, "but if you
decide against my honoured, royal friend, remember that this question
dies without record--you will preserve our secret."
Every reflection that could most disquiet an ambitious man possessed the
earl marshal. That his daughter should be queen of England was beyond
his hopes; that she should be the errant wife of a pretender, who passed
his life in seeking ineffectual aid at foreign courts, was far beneath
them. He canvassed every likelihood of York's success; now they dwindled
like summer-snow on the southern mountain's side--now they strode high
and triumphant over every obstacle; the clinging feeling was--destiny
had decreed it--she being his wife, both would succeed and reign.
"There is fate in it," was his last reflection, "and I will not gainsay
the fulfilment. Andrew of the Shawe was the prince of seers, as I have
good proof. Still to a monarch alone shall she give her hand, and I must
make one condition."
This one condition Lord Huntley communicated to his royal master. It was
that York should, as of right he might, assume the style and title of
king. James smiled at his earl marshal's childish love of gauds, and did
not doubt that the duke would pay so easy price for a jewel invaluable
as Katherine. But granting this, the king, knowing the noble's despotic
character, required one condition also on his part, that he should first
announce the intended union to the lady, and that it should not have
place without her free and entire consent. Huntley was surprised:
"Surely, my liege," he began, "if your majesty and I command----"
"Our sweet Kate will obey," interrupted James; "but this is no mere
marriage of policy; hazards, fearful hazards may attend it. Did I not
believe that all would end well, by the Holy Rood he should not have
her; but she may see things with different eyes--she may shrink from
becoming the wife of an exile, a wanderer without a home: yet that need
never be."
York little guessed the projects of his royal friend. Love, in its most
subtle guise, had insinuated itself into his soul, becoming a very
portion of himself. That part of our nature, which to our reflections
appears the most human, and yet which forms the best part of humanity,
is our desire of sympathy; the intense essence of sympathy is love. Love
has been called selfish, engrossing, tyrannic--as the root, so the
green leaf that shoots from it--love is a part of us--it is our
manifestation of life; and poisonous or sweet will be the foliage,
according to the stock. When we love, it is our aim and conclusion to
make the object a part of ourselves--if we are self-willed and evilly
inclined, little good can arise; but deep is the fount of generous,
devoted, godlike feeling, which this silver key unlocks in gentle
hearts. Richard had found in the Lady Katherine a magic mirror, which
gave him back himself, arrayed with a thousand alien virtues; his soul
was in her hands, plastic to her fairy touch, and tenderness and worship
and wonder took his heart, ere passion woke, and threw a chain over
these bosom guests, so that they could never depart. A mild, yet golden
light dawned upon his soul, and beamed from it, lighting up creation
with splendour--filling his mind with mute, yet entrancing melody. He
walked in a dream; but far from being rendered by his abstraction morose
or inattentive to others, never had he been so gay, never so considerate
and amiable. He felt that, beneath the surface of his life, there was
the calm and even the bliss of Paradise; and his lightest word or act
must be, by its grace and benevolence, in concord with the tranquil
spirit that brooded over his deeper-hidden self. All loved him the
better for the change, save Frion; there was something in him that the
wily Frenchman did not understand; he went about and about, but how
could this man of "low-thoughted care" understand the holy mysteries of
love.
Katherine accompanied her father to Gordon Castle, in Aberdeenshire.
Where was the light now, that had made a summer noon in Richard's soul?
There was memory: it brought before him her cherub-face, her voice, the
hours when at her side he had poured out his overbrimming soul in
talk--not of love, but of ideas, feelings, imaginations he had never
spoken before. Two days passed, and by that time he had collected a
whole volume of things he wished to say--and she was far: then hope
claimed entrance to his heart, and with her came a train he dreamt not
of--of fears, anticipations, terror, despair; and then a tenfold ardour
for his enterprise. Should he not win Katherine and a kingdom?
On the third day after her departure, King James informed the prince,
that Lord Huntley had invited them to visit him at his castle, "Will
your grace venture," he asked, "so far into the frozen circles of the
icy north? You will traverse many a savage defile and wild mountain-top;
torrents and dark pine forests bar the way, and barrenness spreads her
hag's arms to scare the intruder. I speak your language, the effeminate
language of an Andalusian, who loves the craggy heights, only when
summer basks upon them; and the deep sunless dell, when myrtles and
geranium impregnate the air with sweets. I love the mist and snow, the
tameless winds and howling torrent, the bleak unadorned precipice, the
giant pines where the north makes music. The grassy upland and the
corn-field, these belong to man, and to her they call Nature, the fair,
gaudy dame; but God takes to himself, and lives among these sublime
rocks, where power, majesty and eternity are shaped forth, and the
grandeur of heaven-piercing cliffs allies us to a simple but elevating
image of the Creator."
King James was a poet, and could feel thus--York might smile at his
enthusiasm for the bleak and horrific. But had the path to Gordon Castle
been ten times more frightful, the thoughts of love were roses, the
hopes of love vernal breezes, to adorn it with beauty. "Say, my lord,"
continued James, "shall we go throwing aside the cumbrous burthen of
pomp? We are here in Perth. Yonder, over those peaks, lies our direct
path. Shall we, two woodland rovers, with bows in our hand and quivers
at our back, take our solitary way through the wild region? It is my
pastime ofttimes so to do; and well I know the path that leads me to the
abode of my cousin Kate. We will send our attendants by the easier path
to the eastern sea-shore, at once to announce our approach, and bear
such gear as we may need, not to play too humble a part in Huntley's
eyes."
A thousand motives of policy and pride had induced the earl to desire
that this marriage should be celebrated in the Highlands. Here he would
appear almost a sovereign to his royal son-in-law; here also he should
avoid the sarcasms of the Tudor party, and the anger of those who had
pretended to fair Katherine's hand. James consented to his wish, and now
led his friend and guest, through the very heart of his craggy kingdom
over the Grampians, towards Aberdeen. It was the end of October; a few
sweet autumnal days still lingered among these northern hills, as if to
light on their way the last feathered migrators hastening towards the
south; but dark mists invested their morning progress. The rivers were
swollen; and the mountain peaks often saluted the rising sun, garmented
in radiant snow. It was a little drear, yet grand, sublime, wondrous.
York suppressed his chilling distaste, till it grew into admiration; the
king played the guide featly; and the honoured name of the Bruce, which
peopled this region with proud memories, was the burthen of many a tale;
nor was his account of the fierce people of these wilds unwelcome to a
warrior. York remarked that the king was generally known to them, not,
indeed, as a monarch, but as a hunter, a traveller, sometimes as a
skilful mediciner, or as a bard, and always hospitably received.
After three days they drew near their journey's end: curiosity as to the
cause of their visit, anxiety concerning his reception, all faded in
Richard's heart; dimmed by the glad expectation of seeing her again, who
had dawned the glowing orient of his darkened heart. They had departed
from their rude shelter before the sun rose: the mountain peaks were
awake with day, while night still slumbered in the plain below: some
natural sights speak to the heart more than others, wherefore we know
not: the most eloquent is that of the birth of day on the untrodden
hill-tops, while we, who behold it, are encompassed by shadows. York
paused: the scene appeared to close in on him, and to fill him, even to
overflowing, with its imagery. They were toiling up the mountain's side:
below, above, the dark pines, in many a tortuous shape, clung to the
rifted rocks; the fern clustered round some solitary old oak; while,
beetling over, were dark frowning crags, or the foldings of the
mountains, softened into upland, painted by the many coloured heather.
With the steady pace of a mountaineer, King James breasted the
hill-side; nor did York bely his rugged Spanish home. As a bravado, the
king, in the very sheer ascent, trolled a ballad, a wild Scottish song,
and Richard answered by a few notes of a Moorish air. A voice seemed to
answer him, not an echo, for it was not his own, but taking the
thrilling sweetness of Monina's tones. Ah! ungentle waves, and untaught
winds, whither bear ye now the soft nursling of Andalusia? Such a
thought darkened York's brow; when the king, pausing in his toil, leaned
against a jutting crag--both young, both gallant, both so noble and so
beautiful; of what could they think--of what speak? Not of the
well-governed realm of the one, nor the yet unconquered kingdom of the
other; of such they might have spoken among statesmen and warriors, in
palaces or on the battle plain; but here, in this wild solitude, the
vast theatre whose shifting scenes and splendid decorations were the
clouds, the mountain, the forest, and the wave, where man stood, not as
one of the links of society, forced by his relative position to consider
his station and his rank, but as a human being, animated only by such
emotions as were the growth of his own nature--of what should they
speak--the young, the beautiful--but love!
"Tell me, gentle cavalier," cried James, suddenly; "hast thou ever been
in love? Now would I give my jewel-hilted dagger to tear thy secret from
thee," continued the king, laughing; for York's eyes had flashed with
sudden light, and then fell downcast. Where were his thoughts? at his
journey's goal, or on the ocean sea? If he smiled, it was for Kate; but
the tear that glittered on his long eyelashes, spoke of his Spanish
maid. Yet it was not the passion of love that he now felt for his
childhood companion; it was tenderness, a brother's care, a friend's
watchfulness, all that man can feel for woman, unblended with the desire
of making her his; but gratitude and distance had so blended and mingled
his emotions, that, thus addressed, he almost felt as if he had been
detected in a crime.
"Now, by the Holy Rood, thou blushest," said James, much amused; "not
more deeply was fair Katherine's cheek bedyed, when I put the self-same
question to her. Does your grace guess, wherefore we journey
northwards?"
Richard turned an inquiring and unquiet look upon his royal companion. A
kind of doubt was communicated to James's mind; he knew little of his
friend's former life: was it not possible that engagements were already
formed, incompatible with his plans? With some haughtiness, for his
impetuous spirit ill brooked the slightest check, he disclosed the
object of their visit to Castle Gordon, and the proposal he had made to
the earl to unite him in marriage to the Scottish princess.
"When I shall possess my kingdom--when I may name my wife, that which
she is, or nothing--queen!" Richard exclaimed.
"Nay, I speak of no millenium, but of the present hour," said James.
The enthusiastic king, bent upon his purpose, went on to speak of all
the advantages that would result from this union. York's silence nettled
him: the prince's thoughts were, indeed, opposed to the exultation and
delight which his friend had expected to see painted on his face. The
first glad thought of a lover is to protect and exalt her he loves.
Katherine was a princess in her native land;--and what was he?--an
outcast and a beggar--a vagabond upon the earth--a man allied to all
that was magnificent in hope--to all that imagination could paint of
gallant and true in himself, and devoted and noble in his friends. But
these were idealities to the vulgar eye; and he had only a title as
unreal as these, and a mere shadowy right, to bestow. It had been sinful
even to ally Monina to his broken fortunes; but this high offspring of a
palace--the very offer, generous as it was, humbled him. A few minutes'
silence intervened; and, in a colder tone James was about to address
him, when York gave words to all the conflicting emotions in his
breast--speaking such gratitude, love, hope, and despair, as reassured
his friend, and made him the more resolved to conquer the difficulties
unexpectedly given birth to by the disinterestedness of his guest.
A contest ensued; Richard deprecating the rich gift offered to him--the
king warmly asserting that he must accept it. The words vagabond and
outcast were treason to his friendship: if, which was impossible, they
did not succeed in enforcing the rights to his ancestral kingdom, was
not Scotland his home--for ever his home--if he married Katherine? And
the monarch went on to describe the happiness of their future lives--a
trio bound by the ties of kindred--by affection--by the virtues, nay,
even by the faults of each. He spoke also of the disturbances that so
often had wrecked the fortunes of the proudest Scottish nobles, and
said, that a princess of that land, united, it might be, to one of its
chiefs, trimmed her bark for no summer sea. "Like these wild Highlands
are our storm-nursed lives," continued James. "By our ruder thanes the
beautiful and weak are not respected; and tempest and ruin visit ever
the topmost places. Kate is familiar to such fears, or rather to the
resignation and courage such prospects may inspire. Look around on these
crags! listen! the storm is rising on the hills--howling among the
pines. Such has been my cousin's nursery--such the school which has
made her no slave of luxury; no frail floweret, to be scared when the
rough wind visits her cheek."
In such discussions the travellers beguiled the time. The day was
stormy; but, eager to arrive, they did not heed its pelting. York had a
sun in his own heart, that beamed on him in spite of the clouds
overhead. Notwithstanding his first keen emotion of pain at the idea of
linking one so lovely to his dark fate, the entrancing thought of
possessing Katherine--that she had already consented to be
his--animated him with delight, vague indeed; for yet he struggled
against the flattering illusion.
After battling the whole day against a succession of steep acclivities,
as evening drew near, the friends gained the last hill-top, and stood on
its brow, overlooking a fertile plain or strath--an island of verdure
amidst the black, precipitous mountains that girded it. The sun was
hidden by the western mountains, which cast their shadow into the
valley; but the clouds were dispersed, and the round full silvery moon
was pacing up the eastern heaven. The plain at their feet was studded by
villages, adorned by groves, and threaded by two rivers, whose high,
romantic banks varied the scene. An extensive, strongly-built castle
stood on the hill that overhung one of the streams, looking proudly down
on this strath, which contained nearly thirty-six square miles of
fertile ground. "Behold," said James, "the kingdom of Lord Huntley,
where he is far more absolute than I in my bonny Edinburgh. The Gordon
fought for the Bruce; and the monarch bestowed on him this fair, wide
plain as his reward. Bruce flying before his enemies, on foot, almost
alone, among these savage Grampians, then looked upon it as now we do."
King James's thoughts were full of that wild exhilaration of spirit,
which none, save the inhabitant of a mountainous country, knows, when
desolation is around--a desolation which is to him the pledge of
freedom and of power. But York had other ideas: he had been told that
the Lady Katherine had yielded a willing consent to the proposal made;
and she whom he had before conversed with only as a gentle friend--she,
the lovely and the good--his young heart beat thick,--it had no
imagery, far less words, expressive of the rapture of love, tortured by
the belief that such a prize he ought to--he must--resign.
The petty tyranny of trivial circumstance often has more power over our
best-judged designs, than our pride permits us to confess. From the
moment York entered Castle Gordon, he found an almost invisible, but
all-conquering net thrown over him. The Gordon, for thus the earl of
Huntley preferred being called, when surrounded by his clan in his
northern fastness, received the princes with barbaric, but extreme
magnificence: his dress was resplendent; his followers numerous, and
richly clad according to Highland ideas of pomp. But no Lady Katherine
was there, and it soon became apparent that Richard was first to see her
at the altar. Sounds of nuptial festivity rang through the castle;
instead of grace or generosity attending his meditated declining of the
honour, it would have borne the guise of an arrogant refusal. There was
also something in the savage look of the clansmen, in the rude
uncivilization of her native halls, where defence and attack formed the
creed and practice of all, that reconciled him to the idea of leading
her from the wild north to softer, milder scenes; where every disaster
wears a gentler shape; soothed, not exasperated by the ministrations of
nature.
At midnight, but a very few hours after his arrival, he stood, beside
her in the chapel to interchange their vows. The earl had decorated the
holy place with every emblem that spoke of his own greatness, and that
of his son-in-law. The style of royalty was applied to him, and the
ambitious noble, "overleaping" himself, grasped with childish or savage
impetuosity at the shadowy sceptre, and obscure cloud-wrapt crown of the
royal exile. York, when he saw the princess, summoned all his
discernment to read content or dissatisfaction in her eyes; if any of
the latter should appear, even there he would renounce his hopes. All
was calm, celestially serene. Nay, something almost of exultation
struggled through the placid expression of her features, as she cast her
eyes up to heaven, till modest gentleness veiled them again, and they
were bent to earth.
The generosity and pride of woman had kindled these sentiments. The Lady
Katherine, a princess by birth, would scarcely have dreamed of resisting
her father's behests, even if they had been in opposition to her
desires; but here she was to sacrifice no inclination, nothing but
prosperity; that must depart for ever, she felt she knew, when she
became the bride of England's outcast prince. Yet should aught of good
and great cling to him, it was her gift; and to bestow was the passion
of her guileless heart. It was not reason; it was feeling, perhaps
superstition, that inspired these ideas. The seer who foretold her
fortunes, had been her tutor and her poet; she believed in him, and
believed that all would be accomplished; even to the death of the
beautiful and beloved being who stood in the pride and strength of youth
at her side. All must be endured; for it was the will of Heaven.
Meanwhile, that he should be happy during his mortal career was to be
her study, her gift, the aim of her life. In consenting to be his, she
also had made a condition, that, if defeat awaited his arms, and that
again a wanderer he was obliged to fly before his enemies, she was not
to be divided from him; if no longer here, she was to be permitted to
join him; if he departed, she should accompany him.
As the priest bestowed his benediction on the illustrious and beauteous
pair, a silent vow was formed in the heart of either. Doomed by his
ill-fate to hardship and dependence, he would find in her a medicine for
all his woes, a wife, even the better, purer part of himself, who would
never suffer him to despair; but who would take the bitterer portion of
his sorrow on herself, giving in return the heroism, the piety, the
serene content which was the essence of her being. His vow, it depended
not on himself, poor fellow! "Never through me shall she suffer," was
the fervent resolve. Alas! as if weak mortal hands could hold back giant
Calamity, when he seizes the heart, and rends it at his pleasure.
CHAPTER XXXII
THE MARCH TOWARDS ENGLAND
But these are chimes for funerals: my business
Attends on fortune of a sprightlier triumph;
For love and majesty are reconciled,
And vow to crown thee Empress of the West.
FORD.
The royal party returned to Edinburgh, where the nuptials of Richard of
England and the Lady Katherine were celebrated with splendour.
Festivities of all kinds, tournaments, hunting parties, balls, succeeded
to each other; but far beyond every outward demonstration was the real
happiness insured by this marriage. Graced by Katherine, the little
English court became a paradise. The princess assumed her new character
among the exiles with facility; yet the phrase is bad, for Katherine
could assume nothing, not even a virtue, if she had it not. In every
position she was not princess, queen, patroness, or mistress; but woman
merely--a true-hearted, gentle, refined woman. She was too young for
the maternal character to be appropriate to her, yet the watchfulness
and care she had for all resembled it. Her new subjects felt as if
before they had been a disconnected, vagabond troop, and that dignity
and station were assigned to them through her; through her the charities
and elegances of life hallowed and adorned them. The quality most
peculiarly her own was the divine simplicity which animated her look,
her manners, her acts. Taintless simplicity, that best of fascinations,
whose power is not imperious and sudden, but gradual and changeless,
where every word spoken is but the genuine interpreter of the feelings
of the heart, to which not only falsehood, but even the slightest
disguise or affectation, is wholly foreign; and which is the more
delicate, winning and kind, from being spontaneous--so that, as in
describing her, her royal cousin had said, "you almost questioned her
authority from its want of pretension, yet yielded to it in all its
extent."
Richard's political position stood higher than ever. The ever-watchful
duchess of Burgundy had sent a renowned Burgundian captain, Sir
Roderick-de-Lalayne, with two hundred German mercenaries. The king of
France, at the request of Henry the Seventh, had despatched an embassy
to King James, to advise a peace between England and Scotland. The
ambassador was the Sire de Concressault, York's ancient friend, who
continued to espouse his cause warmly, and gave it all the grace and
honour of his high influence. King James was eager to collect his army,
and to prepare for an invasion. If Richard had lost any part of his
open-hearted confidence and personal friendship, he had gained in his
esteem and consideration. The change that had been operating was
imperceptible to York, who naturally found in his marriage a barrier to
the hourly intercourse they had formerly had, when both were free. Yet
change there was, greater even than the king himself suspected; the
causes were easily traced.
The Tudor party in Scotland, instigated by bribes and large promises,
were very active in their enmity to the White Rose. They had been obliged
to let the torrent of royal favour force its headlong way, but they
watched the slightest pause in its flow, to throw impediments in the way
of the abundant stream. Soon after his return from the North, it became
apparent that the king continued no unsuccessful suitor to the Lady Jane
Kennedy. This a good deal estranged him from his English friend, who no
longer reproved, but whose tacit condemnation he feared, as well as that
of his fair cousin. Nay, more, Lady Jane had drawn from him the cause of
their transient quarrel, and, now that she had yielded, felt angry and
disdainful at the attempt made to estrange her lover. One of those lower
eddies or currents of intelligence, so in use at courts, had reported an
angry expression of hers to the earl of Buchan, one of York's most
active enemies. This grasping-place in their difficult way was eagerly
laid hold of by the conspirators. A coalition was formed between Lady
Jane and this party, which insured the aggravation of any ill-feeling
that might arise between the late brothers in heart. Soon after another
agent or tool was added to their number.
The most subtle, the most politic, the most wily, are sometimes the
slaves of impulse; nay, very often those who fancy that they measure
their actions the most narrowly by the rules, either of self-interest or
ambition, are more easily influenced to unwise passion by any obstacle
thrown in their path. The Secretary Frion had hitherto considered
himself of primal import to the English prince: no project was
conceived, that was not first concocted in his brain, and insinuated by
him; every new partizan had been enticed by his silvery speeches;
whatever of difficult, crooked, and hidden was to be done, Frion was
consulted, and employed, and deeply trusted in its accomplishment. On
his first arrival in Scotland, the intimacy between the king and York
destroyed half his influence. James's discernment and experience was not
duped by the insinuating flatteries of Frion: as a proud man he
disdained, as a conscientious and pious one, he disliked him. It was
worse when Katherine's influence became paramount; she put him exactly
in his right place, yet was so kind that there was no room for
complaint: all his former patrons were her worshippers; her praises were
re-echoed from all; and assuredly no intrigue could exist where she was.
Yet it was neither comprehensible, nor to be endured, that this banished
prince and his friends should walk straight forward in their allotted
route, unaided by plot or manuvre. The subtlety of the man quickly
revealed to him the existence of the opposing party; he was ready to
foment it, were it only to gain reputation afterwards by its
destruction. He made one step, and became the confidant of Balmayne, and
apparently the tool of the higher confederates: at first he rather
perplexed than served them, spinning spiders' webs in their way, and
elevating himself in their eyes by brushing them off at his pleasure. He
was exactly the man to shine in a dark conspiracy: soon nothing could be
done but by his advice, nothing known but as he informed them, nothing
said but as he dictated. Balmayne, who, fierce and moody, entered more
zealously into these discontents than any other, yet took his
counsel--little knew they Matre Etienne Frion: he only watched the
while, sage fisher of men as he was, for the best opportunity of
betraying them for his own advantage. In the midst of festivity, of
gallant, warlike preparation, Frion had, like a witch gathering
poisonous herbs by the silvery light of the quiet moon, sought to
extract all that was baleful in what, but for the uses to which he
strove to put it, had died innocuous.
The winter grew into spring: these were the happiest months of young
Richard's life. He had traversed many a pass of danger and tract of
sorrow--falsehood had blotted--loss of friends, who had died for him,
had darkened the past years: often during their course he had believed
that he gave himself up to despair; he had fancied that he had doubted
every one and every thing; he imagined that he was tired of
existence--vain ideas! Sanguine, confiding, full to the very brim of
that spirit of life which is the happiness of the young, he sprang up a
fresh Antus, each time that Fortune with Herculean power had thrown
him to the earth. And now he congratulated himself even on every misery,
every reverse, every sentiment of despondency that he experienced: they
were so many links of the chain that made him what he was--the friend
of James, the husband of Katherine. It was this best attribute of
sunny-hearted youth, this greenness of the soul, that made Richard so
frank, so noble, so generous; care and time had laboured in vain--no
wrinkle, no deforming line marked his mind, or, that mind's interpreter,
his open, candid brow.
With the spring the Scottish troops drew together, and encamped near
Edinburgh. The occasion seemed seasonable; for news arrived of
disturbances which had taken place in England, and which had caused
Henry the Seventh to recall the earl of Surrey (who was conducting an
army northward to oppose the expected attack from Scotland), to check
and defeat enemies which had arisen in the west of his kingdom. The
inhabitants of Cornwall, vexed by increasing taxes, had long been in a
state of turbulence; and now, instigated by two ringleaders from among
themselves, combined together, and rose in open and regulated
rebellion--sedition, it might have been called; and had perhaps been
easily crushed, but for the interference of one, who acted from designs
and views which at first had made no part of the projects of the
insurgents.
Lord Audley had not forgotten the White Rose. On his return westward,
however, he found all so quiet, that no effort of his could rouse the
rich and satisfied men of Devon, from their inglorious repose. His
imprudence attracted attention; he had notice of the danger of an
arrest, and suddenly resolved to quit the post he had chosen, and to
join the duke of York in Ireland. He came too late; the English squadron
had sailed; and he, changeful as the winds and as impetuous, despising a
danger now remote, resolved to return to England, and to Devonshire. His
voyage from Cork to Bristol was sufficiently disastrous; contrary and
violent winds drove him from his course into the Atlantic; here he beat
about for several days, till the wind, shifting a point or two to the
west, he began to make what sail he could in the opposite direction.
Still the weather was tempestuous, and his skiff laboured frightfully
amidst the stormy waves; not far from them, during the greatest fury of
the gale, was a larger vessel, if such might be called the helmless,
dismasted hull, tossed by the billows, the sport of the winds, as it
rose and fell in the trough of the sea. At length the wind lulled; and
the captain of the caravel, which indeed might be called a wreck,
lowered a boat, and came alongside Lord Audley's vessel, asking whither
he was bound? To England, was the answer; and the vast reef of clouds
lifted on the southern horizon, and showing beyond a streak of azure,
gave promise of success in their voyage. The questioner, who spoke
English imperfectly, went on to say, that in spite of the miserable
state of the caravel, he was resolved not to desert her, but to carry
her, God willing, into the nearest French port he could make. But there
was on board one sick, a woman, whom he wished to spare the dangers and
privations of the voyage. Would the commander take her to England, and
bestow her in some convent, where she might be tended and kept in
honourable safety? Lord Audley gave a willing consent, and the boat went
off speedily, returning again with their stranger passenger. She was in
the extremity of illness, even of danger, and lay, like a child, in the
arms of the dark, tall, weather-beaten mariner, who, though squalid in
his appearance from fatigue and want, stood as a rock that has braved a
thousand storms; his muscles seemed iron--his countenance not stern,
but calm and resolved--yet tenderness and softness were in the
expression of his lips, as he gazed on his fragile charge, and placed
her with feminine gentleness on such rude couch as could be afforded;
then addressing Lord Audley, "You are an Englishman," he said, "perhaps
a father?"
"I am an English noble," replied the other; "confide in my care, my
honour; but, to be doubly sure, if you feel distrust, remain with us;
yonder wreck will not weather another night."
"She has seen the suns of two worlds," said the sailor, proudly, "and
the blessed Virgin has saved her at a worse hazard. If she perish now,
it were little worth that her old captain survived: better both go down,
as, if not now, some day we shall, together. I will confide my poor
child to you, my lord. If she recover, she has friends in England; she
would gain them, even if she had them not. Not one among your boasted
island-women is more lovely or more virtuous, than my poor, my
much-suffering Monina."
Lord Audley renewed his protestations. De Faro listened with the
ingenuous confidence of a sailor; he placed several caskets and a
well-filled bag of gold in the noble's hand, saying, "The Adalid fills
a-pace. You but rob the ocean. If my child survives, you can give her
the treasure you disdain. If she does"--and he bent over her; she
almost seemed to sleep, so oppressed was she by feebleness and fever. A
tear fell from her father's eye upon her brow: "And she will: Saint Mary
guide us, we shall attain."
Suck was the strange drama acted on the wide boundless sea. Such the
chances that restored the high-minded Andalusian to England, to the
White Rose, to all the scenes, to every hope and fear which she had
resolved to abandon for ever. For good or ill, we are in the hands of a
superior power:
"There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will."
We can only resolve, or rather endeavour, to act our parts well, such as
they are allotted to us. Little choice have we to seek or to eschew our
several destinations.
With Monina at his side, and his own restless ambition as a spur, it may
be easily imagined what Lord Audley's projects were in joining the
Cornish insurgents. He led them from the western extremity of the
island towards Kent, where he hoped to find the seeds of rebellion to
Lancaster, which he had sown the year before, ripened into harvest. News
of the unimpeded march of the insurgents from Cornwall to the
neighbourhood of London was brought to Edinburgh, freshening the zeal
and animating the preparations for war.
Already the Scottish army was encamped south of Edinburgh. The English
troops set up their tents among them. The day was fixed for the
departure of the king, the prince, and the noble leaders. They quitted
Edinburgh in all the pompous array of men assured of victory. James
loved the hopes and stirring delights of war: Richard saw his every good
in life dependent on this expedition, and fostered sanguine expectation
of triumph. The burning desire of asserting himself, of rewarding his
faithful friends, of decorating Katherine with the rank and honours due
to her--the belief that he should achieve all this--gave dignity and
even gladness, to his last adieu to his lovely wife. Her heart mirrored
his hopes; not that she entertained them for her own, but for his sake:
yet the quicker sensibilities of a woman imparted fears unknown to him.
She concealed them, till when, as her last office and duty, she had
fastened an embroidered scarf around him. Softly, whisperingly, as
fearful of paining him, she said, "You will return--you have a kingdom
here: though England prove false, you must not disdain to be sole
monarch of Katherine."
These words had been spoken--earl, baron, and gallant knight thronged
the courts of Holyrood. There was the sound of warlike trump and the
streaming of painted banners, among which, that of the White Rose waved
conspicuous. The king vaulted on his saddle; the prince of England rode
at his side. He was surrounded by the rude northern warlike chiefs,
ancient enemies of his native land, whose fierce eyes were lighted up by
the expectation of meeting their old adversaries in the field. Could he
fancy that, through such aid, he might win back the crown usurped from
him?
King James and Richard rode side by side. At this moment, when the one
was spending the riches of his kingdom and the lives of his subjects for
the other's sake, while the hearts of both were softened by regret for
their abandoned home, and both anticipated the joys of victory or perils
of defeat to be shared between them, the sentiment of friendship was
rekindled. Never had they been more cordial, more confidential, more
happy in each other's society. After several hours' ride, the short
spring day declined to evening, which was accompanied by a drizzling
rain: the bad roads and the darkness impeded their progress; and it was
night before the twinkling camp-lights appeared in the distance and the
hum of men was heard. To the right of the camp, surrounded by the tents
of his nobles, the royal pavilion was pitched. On their arrival, the
earl of Buchan was in readiness to hold the king's stirrup. "Nay," said
James, "first we will see our royal guest lodged; where is the tent of
his grace of England? we commanded it to be pitched in close
neighbourhood to our own?"
"Please you, my liege," said Buchan, "Lord Moray, gave direction it
should be placed out of our line; it is set up a mile eastward of us."
"My uncle forgot himself; and you also, sir earl, were bound rather to
obey our order," said the king.
"There were reasons," returned Buchan: "your majesty, I dare aver, will
approve the change, and his highness of England also. There was a brawl
between the Scottish borderers and the English; blood has been shed. We
feared that the peace of the encampment, not to say the life of his
highness, would be endangered if he were in the midst of our savage
Southrons."
"I like not this," said James, moodily, "but it is too late to change
to-night. The rain-drops begin to freeze upon my hair; your highness
would rather be in year tent, far though it be from mine, than quarrel
about its position at this inclement hour. Lord Buchan, you will attend
him thither. Prince, goodnight; to-morrow we will be more brotherly in
our fashion; now the fiat of my lord of Moray must be obeyed."
The king dismounted, and entered his pavilion: as the cloth was raised,
a blazing fire, the apparel of silver flagons and golden cups, the trim
appearance of silken-suited pages were visible, making strong contrast
with the cheerless blank without. One slight glimpse revealed the cause,
and partly excused the inhospitality of James, in not inviting his guest
to partake his warm cheer. One in a kirtle sat somewhat retired from
view; the quick motion of her head, the glance of her dark eye, showed
that the monarch had been impatiently expected, and was gladly welcomed
by the lovely daughter of the earl of Cassils.
Lord Buchan accompanied Richard, Lord Barry, and Plantagenet to their
quarters; talking, as he went, of the contention, which had terminated
fatally to several. They rode down the elevated ground on which the
king's tent was placed, over a plashy, low plain, through a little wood
of stunted larch, across a narrow dell, in whose bottom a brook
struggled and murmured, to the acclivity on the other side, on which the
tents of the English troops were pitched; considerably apart from the
rest was Richard's own pavilion: all looked tranquil and even desolate,
compared to the stirring liveliness of the Scotch camp, Richard was
received by Sir George Neville, who looked more than usually cold and
haughty as he bent to Lord Buchan's salutation: the Scotchman uttered a
hasty good night, galloped down the upland and across the dell, and was
lost to sight in the wood.
"What means this, Sir George?" was the prince's first remark: "what
discipline is yours--brawling and bloodshed with our allies?"
"Did your highness name them our enemies," said Neville, "it were more
appropriate. Suspend your displeasure, I beseech you, until I can lay
before you the reality of what you name a brawl; my honour, and I fear
all our safeties are concerned in the discovery. Now, your grace is wet
and fatigued; you will repose?"
Richard desired solitude, not rest: he wished to be alone; for a
thousand intricate ideas possessed him, clamouring to be attended to. He
dismissed his friends. Frion only remained--Frion, who lately had
almost become surly, but who was now smooth, supple as ever; his eye
twinkling as of yore, and his ready laugh--that most characteristic
part of him--again showing the old secretary returned. To the prince's
warm heart, the appearance of discontent and moodiness was peculiarly
grating; the smile or frown even of Frion had power over him; and he
felt grateful to the man for his glossy and satisfactory speeches, now
that, spite of himself, a feeling--it was not fear, but an anticipation
of evil--disturbed his mind.
At length, he dismissed him; yet still he felt utterly disinclined for
sleep. For some time he paced his tent; images of war and battle floated
before him--and then the vision of an angel with golden hair, came, not
to calm, but to trouble him with unquiet regret. In vain he strove to
awaken the flock of gentle thoughts that usually occupied him; his ideas
seemed wolf-visaged; unreal howlings and cries rung in his ears. This
unusual state of mind was intolerable: he folded his cloak round him,
and stepped into his outer tent. Frion, two pages, and his esquire, were
to occupy it; but he found it solitary. This seemed a little strange;
but it was early yet. He lifted the outer cloth; a sentinel was duly at
his post; the prince saluted him and passed on. The fitful winds of
spring had dispersed the storm: the scarcely waning moon, encircled by
the dark clear ether, was in the east; her yellow light filled the
atmosphere, and lay glowing on the trees and little hill-side. The
prince stepped onwards, down the declivity, across the dell, into the
wood. He thought he heard voices; or was it only the swinging branches
of the pines? The breeze raised his hair and freshened his brow. Still
he walked on, till now he came in view of the Scottish camp, which lay
tranquil as sheep in a fold, the moon's bright eye gazing on it. The
sight brought proud Granada and all its towers, with the Christian camp
sleeping at her feet, before his mind; and he still lingered. Now the
tramp of horses became audible: a troop wound down the hill: the leader
stopped exclaiming in some wonder, "My lord of York! does your highness
need any service? do you bend your steps to the royal tent?"
"I blush to answer, Sir Patrick," replied the prince; "for you will
scoff at me as the moon's minion: I came out but to visit her. Yet a
knight need not feel shame at loitering beneath her ray, dreaming of his
lady-love. You are more actively employed?"
"I was on my way to your highness's encampment," replied the knight.
"His majesty is not quite satisfied with Lord Buchan's report, and sent
but now his esquire to me, to bid me visit it. With your good leave, I
will escort you thither."
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE ASSASSIN
Traitor, what hast thou done? how ever may
Thy cursed hand so cruelly have swayed
Against that knight? Harrow and weal-away?
After so wicked deed, why liv'st thou longer day!
SPENSER.
When he had been dismissed by his royal master, Frion called aside the
esquire, and sent him on an errand, it would seem of some import and
distance; for the youth uttered a few forcible interjections, and with a
lowering brow drew on the riding-boots he had just doffed, muttering,
"I must treat my horse better than my lord treats me; so, master, seek a
fresh steed. By my fay! this is to become a squire of dames--a
love-token to the duchess, in good hour!"
Having got rid of this young gentleman, Frion's next care was to give
distant employment to the pages, saying he would wait their return. But
scarcely had they entered the most crowded part of the camp, before with
quick cautious steps the secretary took the same path which the prince
trod half an hour later--he crossed the dell, and arriving at the
little wood of larches, instead of traversing, he skirted it, till the
gentle eminence on which the English camp was pitched, grew higher and
more abrupt, the murmuring brook took the guise of a brawling torrent,
grey rocks peeped out from the soil, and the scene became wilder and
more mountainous: he walked on, till he arrived where a rustic bridge
spanned the stream; under its shadow were three horsemen, two of whom
dismounted, and a tall servitor held the bridles. One of these men Frion
knew at once to be him who called himself Lord Bothwell, King Henry's
spy, and Richard's fierce, motiveless, but ruthless enemy; the
other--his bonnet was drawn over his brow--a cloak obscured his
person. Frion's quick eyes scrutinized it vainly, for the moon, cloudy
at intervals, gave uncertain light; besides, the man had stationed
himself within the deepest shadow of the bridge.
"Good befall your watch," said Frion; "your worship is before your
time."
"Is not all ready?" asked Balmayne.
"That question is mine," replied the other. "You know our treaty--not a
hair of my lord's head must be injured."
"Tush! tush! fear not, good conscience-stickier," replied Bothwell, with
a contemptuous laugh; "no ill will befall the boy; we but ferry him over
the Tweed a few hours earlier than he dreamed of, and land him all
gently on the shore he seeks. As for thy reward, I have said, name it
thyself."
"Fair words are these, Sir John Ramsay," said Frion; "but I said before,
I must have surer pledge, both for my reward and my lord's safety. King
Henry will haggle about payment when the work is done, and the steel you
wear is a toper in its way."
"How now, sir knave?" cried Balmayne; "thinkest thou that I will turn
midnight stabber?"
The man in the cloak started at these words. He uttered some sound, but
again drew back; while the person who continued on horseback said, and
his voice was that of the bishop of Moray, King James's uncle, "A truce
to this contention, Master Good-fellow--whatever thy name be: I will
answer for thy pay, and here is earnest of my truth." He threw a purse
at Frion's feet. "The peace of two kingdoms--the honour of a royal, too
long dishonoured house are at stake. No time is this to squabble for
marks, or the paltry life of a base impostor. I, a prince of Scotland,
avouch the deed. It were more friendly, methinks; to unlock his life
with the steel key of our friend Wiatt, than to devote him to the
gallows. Let Scotland be rid of him, I reck not how."
Again Frion fixed his eyes on the other;--the clouds had fallen low in
the sky; the moon was clear; the western breeze murmured among the
bushes and the trees, and the beams of the silvery planet played upon
the unquiet waters. "We have no time for delay. Sir John," said Frion,
"prithee introduce me to our fellow-labourer--this is the king's
emissary? You call yourself Wiatt, Master Black Cloak?"
The other made a gesture of impatience as he stepped aside. Balmayne and
Moray discoursed aside, till the former bade the secretary lead on; as
they went, the Scotchman and Frion conversed in whispers concerning
their plans, while their companion followed as if doggedly. Once he cast
an impatient glance at the moon--Frion caught that look. "Have I found
you, good friend," he thought; "then by our lady of Embrun, you shall
acquit you of the debt I claim this night."
With quicker steps the Provenal proceeded, till they readied the
opening of the valley, and came opposite the slope on which the English
camp was pitched. Furthest off and far apart was the royal pavilion, the
banner of England flapping in the breeze, and this the only sign of
life; but for this, the white silent tents looked like vast Druidical
stones piled upon a wild moor. They paused. "I must go first," said
Frion; "we have wasted more time than I counted for--you will await me
here."
"Listen, Master Frion," said Balmayne. "I would hardly trust you, but
that I think you are a wise man; silver angels and golden marks, as a
wise man, you will love: one thing you will hardly seek, a shroud of
moonbeams, a grave in the vulture's maw. Look ye, one soars above even
now; he scents dainty fare: twenty true men are vowed that he shall sup
on thee, if thou art foresworn: thou wilt give some signal, when all is
ready."
"That were difficult," said Frion; "I will return anon if there be any
let to your enterprise; else, when the shadow of that tall larch
blackens the white stone at your feet, come up without fear: have ye
bonds ready for your prisoner?"
"An adamantine chain--away!" Frion cast one more glance at him called
Wiatt. "It is even he, I know him, by that trick of his neck; his face
was ever looking sideways:" thus assured, the Frenchman ascended the
hill. Balmayne watched him, now visible, and now half-hid by the
deceptive light, till he entered the folds of the pavilion; and then he
glanced his eyes upon the shadow of the tree, yet far from the white
stone; and then paced the sward, as if disdaining to hold commune with
Wiatt. Whatever thoughts possessed this hireling's breast he made no
sign, but stood motionless as a statue; his arms folded, his head
declined upon his breast. He was short, even slight in make, his
motionless, half-shrinking attitude contrasted with the striding pace
and the huge, erect form of the borderer. Who that had looked down upon
these two figures, sole animations visible on the green earth beneath
the moon's bright eye, would have read villany and murder in their
appearance; the soft sweet night seemed an antidote to savageness, yet
neither moon nor the sleeping face of beauteous earth imparted any
gentleness to the Scot; he saw neither, except when impatiently he
glanced at the slow-crawling shadow, and the moonlight sleeping on the
signal-stone. Many minutes passed--Bothwell gave one impatient look
more--how slowly the dusky line proceeded! He walked to the edge of the
brook; there was no movement about the pavilion: tranquil as an infant's
sleep was the whole encampment. Suddenly a cry made him start, it was
from Wiatt; the man, heretofore so statue-like, had thrown his arms
upward with a passionate gesture, and then recalled by Bothwell's
imprecation, shrunk back into his former quiet, pointing only with a
trembling finger to the stone, now deep imbedded in the black shadow of
the larch. The Scot gave a short shrill laugh, and crying "Follow!"
began the ascent, taking advantage of such broken ground and shrubs, as
blotted the brightness of the rays that lit up the acclivity. Bothwell
strode on with the activity of a mosstrooper; Wiatt was scarce able to
walk; he stumbled several times. At length they reached the pavilion;
the Frenchman stood just within, lifting the heavy cloth; they entered.
Frion whispered, "I have cleared the coast; my lord sleeps; we need but
cast a cloak around him, to blind him, and so bear him off without more
ado on his forced journey."
"There is wisdom in your speech," said Balmayne, with something of a
grin. "My friend Wiatt has a cloak large and dark enough for the nonce."
Frion drew back the silken lining of the inner tent, saying, "Tread
soft, my lord ever sleeps lightly; he must not be waked too soon."
"Never were the better word," muttered Bothwell: the dimmest twilight
reigned in the tent. The prince's couch was in shadow; the men drew
near; the sleeper was wrapt in his silken coverlid, with his face buried
in his pillow: his light-brown hair, lying in large clusters on his
cheek, veiled him completely. Ramsay bent over him; his breathing was
heavy and regular; he put out his large bony hand, and, as gently as he
might, removed the quilt, uncovering the sleeper's right side; then
turning to Wiatt, who had not yet advanced, he pointed to the heaving
heart of his victim with such a glance of murderous callousness, that
the very assassin shrunk beneath it; yet he approached; his hand held an
unsheathed dagger, but it shook even to impotence; he raised it over his
prey, but had no power to strike. Frion had crept round behind; a sound
just then, and tramp of feet was heard in the outer tent; as by magic,
in one brief second of time the mute dread scene changed its every
characteristic. The assassin cried aloud, "It is not he!" Frion had
seized his arm--the dagger fell--the pretended sleeper (one of York's
pages) leaped from the couch; and the muffling cloak, dropping from the
murderer's shoulders, disclosed the wretched, degraded Clifford. Ramsay
drew his sword, and rushed towards the outer tent, when at the same
moment Richard of York and Sir Patrick Hamilton showed themselves from
beneath the hangings, which their attendants had raised. This sight
startled Frion, and Clifford, restored to life and energy, tore himself
from his grasp, and in a moment had rushed from beneath the pavilion; he
was forgotten; all eyes were turned on Bothwell; the dagger at his feet,
his drawn sword, his appearance in the retirement of the prince of
England, all accused him. He saw at once his danger, drew himself
proudly up, and returned Hamilton's look with a fierce, haughty glare.
"Thy act is worse than thy enemies' speech," said Sir Patrick, sternly;
"thou wilt answer this, recreant, to thy royal master."
"To him, to any, to you," said Balmayne; "there is my glove. Now, on the
hill's side, or in the lists anon, I will avouch my deed."
Hamilton answered with a look of sovereign contempt; he bade his men
seize the traitor. "Before I sleep," he cried, "the king hears this
treason."
Richard had looked on in silence and wonder; he placed his hand on
Hamilton's arm, stopping him, "Pardon me, valiant knight," he said;
"but, I do beseech you, disturb not the king to-night, nor ever, with
this ill tale. Too roughly already has the English prince broken
Scotland's rest. No blood is shed; and, strange as appearances are, I
take Sir John Ramsay's word, and believe that, as a cavalier, he may
maintain his cause, nor stain by it his knightly cognizance. I take up
your glove, fair sir, but only to restore it; without one slightest
accusation attaching itself to you therewith. Nay, myself will take up
the quarrel, if any blame you. Sir Patrick will not call me to the
trial, I am sure. Frion, conduct the gallant gentleman beyond our
lines."
Shame for the first time flushed Ramsay's brow as he left the tent. The
prince drew up to let him pass, with a mien so dignified and yet so
tranquil, with a smile so bland, that thus it seemed an angelic essence,
incapable of wound, might have gazed on a mere mortal, armed to injure
him.
"Is this recklessness or nobility of soul?" Sir Patrick thought. He did
not doubt, when Richard, changing his look to one of anxious appeal,
besought him to omit utterly to report this strange scene. "I much
fear," he said, "my wily secretary to be most in fault; and I caught a
glance of one, whose appearance here proves that Ramsay is not alone
guilty. Let me inquire, let me learn--punish, if need be. English gold
and English steel were the weapons here, and I alone have power over
England. You will pledge me your word. Sir Patrick, not to disquiet our
royal cousin by our domestic brawls. We must not put in opposing scales
our paltry anger against ruffians like these, and the disquiet of the
generous-hearted James. Ramsay was his father's favourite; for his sake
he bears with him; and more easily may I. I indeed, who am most in
fault, for spending the precious minutes wandering, like a shepherd of
Arcadia, in a listless foolishness, instead of acting the general, and
guarding my tents from such visitors. The brawl last night might have
forewarned me."
"Does it not shame Scotland," cried Hamilton, warmly, "that you should
need any guard but our true hearts, while you tread our soil?"
"Were this true," answered York, yet more earnestly, "remember, what
shames Scotland, shames her king. Be assured, dear cousin, I speak
advisedly. Were this examined, worse might appear; and I and your liege
must be the sufferers: I to excite this treason in his subjects' hearts;
he to prove that some near him are not true as they seem."
Hamilton yielded to these many pleas; but his heart warmed with
admiration and love for the noble being who urged the cause of pardon
for his enemies. "Be it as your highness pleases," he exclaimed. "This I
the more readily yield, since any new attempt kills Hamilton ere it
reach you. I will be your guard, your sentinel, your wide, invulnerable
shield; you will not refuse me this post of honour."
"Or let us both fulfil it," cried York, "one to the other; let us be
brothers in arms, noble Hamilton. And yet, how can I, a fugitive, almost
a tainted man, seek the alliance of one who stands as you do, fair and
free in all men's eyes?"
As he spoke, the prince held out his hand; the Scottish knight raised it
respectfully to his lips. But now Frion returned; and the clash of arms
and trumpets' sound spoke of the advance of night, and change of guard:
the noble friends took leave of each other, and Sir Patrick departed. As
soon as they were private, the prince questioned his secretary closely
and sternly as to the events of the night. Frion had a plausible and
ready tale, of artifice and guile, of how he had a pledge even from the
king's uncle that York's life was not to be attempted; and that he had
but wished to balk and vex them, by causing the page to be carried off:
the discovery of their mistake would shame them from any second
enterprise against the prince of England.
York was but half satisfied; he had caught a transient glimpse of the
fugitive. Was it indeed Clifford, who came a hired murderer to his
bedside? A man who had partaken his heart's counsels, long his
companion, once his friend? It was frightful, it was humiliating but to
imagine how deep the man may fall, who once gives himself over to evil
thoughts, and unlawful deeds. Frion here protested his ignorance and
surprise. It was almost day before his master dismissed him: and even
then, how could Richard repose? That couch, Clifford had marked as his
bier--it were a bed of thorns; he threw himself on the bare hard
ground, and innocence had more power than his angelic pity for the vice
of others; it shed poppy influence on his lids; and the beams of the
morning sun stole softly over, but did not disturb his slumbers.
CHAPTER XXXIV
DISAPPOINTMENT
Methinks I see Death and the Furies waiting
What we will do, and all the Heaven at leisure
For the great spectacle. Draw then your swords!
BEN JONSON.
Faster than the airy slave quicksilver is influenced by the changes of
the atmosphere, does the subtle essence of the mind of one, who from
love or gratitude hangs upon the smile or frown of another, feel the
sunshine or frost of that other's countenance; and an independent
disposition speedily revolts from servile obedience to such alteration.
On the following day, and afterwards on the succeeding ones, Richard
felt that the heart of James was no longer the same. He was courteous,
kind--his friend's interests formed the sole topic of their
conversations--but York could neither say the thing he wished, nor do
that which he desired; the same objects were before him, apparently the
same colouring was upon them; yet a pale sickly hue was cast over the
before glowing picture; a chill had penetrated the summer warmth in
which he basked; the wave was yet calm, but it was clouded, and no
longer showed in its limpid depths that sympathy and affection which
made the White Rose's fortunes seem truly and intrinsically Scotland's
own.
Friendship was now professed, service tendered; before words had seemed
superfluous--the thing was there. James assured his guest that he would
not turn back, nor give ear to Henry's propositions; and York felt, with
a start, that ear had been, given to them, or this conclusion had not
been noted. The disunion and continued separation of the camps was
another circumstance that spoke loudly of division of thought and
counsel.
Frion believed that he should now resume his ancient position with his
royal master: he bore his reproofs humbly, and strove to regain his
favour by the importance of his services. The arcana of the Tudor party
were, to a great degree, revealed to York; and it was easy to mark the
ascendancy it was gaining. The presence of Lady Jane Kennedy might
explain the ceremony and regulations observed in the intercourse between
the king and his friend; but it was Frion's part to disclose the enmity
this lady entertained for the White Rose, and the influence she exerted
to its detriment. Moray and Lord Buchan were her friends, and they were
frequent visitors in the royal pavilion.
A short time somewhat changed this state of things. The army drew near
the frontier; and the king separated himself from the fair mistress of
his heart. On the third day they arrived on the banks of the Tweed. It
was but crossing a little river--but stepping from one stone to
another, and Richard would stand on English ground.
The troops had passed the day before; some had proceeded southward;
others were even now to be seen defiling in long lines on the distant
plain. The sun was up cheerily; the fresh pleasant green of spring had
stolen, more like a tinted atmosphere, than in the guise of foliage,
over tree and bush; field flowers and crocusses peeped from under the
mossy turf. The scene was a wide moor, varied by broken ground; clumps
of trees, where many a bird nestled; and here and there thick underwood,
where the wild deer made his lair; this had been the scene of a thousand
conflicts, and of mortal carnage between Scot and Englishman, but the
skylark above sang of nature's bounty and nature's loveliness, an
immemorial and perennial hymn, while nothing spoke of the butchery and
wretchedness which once had made the landscape a tragic corpse-strewn
stage.
Reining in his pawing courser, King James, in all the gay array of a
high-born knight, paused on the Scottish bank--his lips, proud as the
Apollo's--spoke of struggle and victory,
"In his eye
And nostril, beautiful disdain and might
And majesty flashed their full lightnings by."
Here was he who, in a later day, led the flower of Scotland to die on
the English plains; who himself was doomed to lie with mangled limbs,
and in blank, cold extinction, a trophy of victory to his enemy, on
Flodden Field: he was alive now, and in his strength; he drank in with
buoyant spirit every glorious anticipation, and laughed with fond
delight; spurring on his horse, he crossed the ford, and entered
England.
In a moment, as by impulse, York, who had lingered, dashed after him;
allies they were; friends in seeming, nay, in truth; for the glance of
proud enmity Richard cast on the Scot was perhaps the more factitious
feeling: it sprang from patriotism, but its energy was borrowed from the
deadly feuds of their ancestors, that natural hate which is said to
exist now between the French and English, and which was far more
envenomed between the near-rival people. Notwithstanding James's change
towards him, York felt in the core of his affectionate heart, all that
was due to him who had raised him when he was fallen; given him state,
power--Katherine; he saw in him his kinsman--his benefactor. But the
pride of a son of England rose in his breast, when he beheld the haughty
Scot caracol in arrogant triumph on her soil. What was he? What had he
done? He was born king and father of this realm: because he was
despoiled of his high rights, was he to abjure his natural duty to her,
as her child? Yet here he was an invader; not arming one division of her
sons against the other, but girt with foreigners, aided by the ancient
ravagers of her smiling villages and plenteous harvests. He looked on
each individual Scot, and on their gallant king, and felt his bosom
swell with rage and hate. These were unwise, nay, ungrateful sentiments;
but he could not repel them. His first commands were to his cousin, to
hasten to Randal of Dacre, to learn what Yorkists had gathered together
to receive him. "If there be any large company," he said, "without more
ado we will thank our kind cousin, invite him to recross the Tweed, and
leave us to fight our battles by ourselves."
The satisfaction and triumph James felt made him, so far from
participating in York's feelings, turn with renewed cordiality towards
him. It was his first care to have the standard of the White Rose set up
with martial pomp, to disperse his proclamations, and to invite, by his
own manner, the Scottish nobles to increase in observance towards the
prince. Lord Huntley, believing that the prophecy of his daughter's
elevation was on the eve of its accomplishment, was prodigal of his
shows of honour and service to his son-in-law. For some days the
pavilions of the brother kings were pitched side by side, and James each
hour thought to hear of the arrival of the Yorkist nobility of England:
he had expected so many that he had given orders that care should be
taken to recall his own troops, when the English visitants outnumbered
his own guard. Day after day passed, and not one came--not one: even
Randal of Dacre, Lord Dacre's brother, who had visited Richard in
Scotland, seized with panic, had gone southward. Nothing came, save
intelligence that the Cornish insurgents had been defeated on
Blackheath, their ringleaders taken and executed; among them Lord Audley
perished.
Another life!--how many more to complete the sad hecatomb, a useless
offering to obdurate fate in Richard's favour! Sir George Neville,
gathered up in all the cold pride of disappointed ambition, disdained to
regret. Plantagenet saw the hopes and purpose of his life crushed, but
dared not give words to his despair; Sir Roderick sneered; Lord Barry
was loud in his laments; while the Scots grew taller and prouder, and
ceased to frequent the tents of the English exiles. Councils were held
by James, in which York had no part; it was only afterwards, that he
learnt it had been commanded to the Scotch army to lay waste the
country. Now indeed all the Englishman was alive in his heart--he gave
sudden orders to raise his camp, and to march forward; he had sat still
too long; he would enter the kingdom he claimed; discover for himself
his chance of success--and, if there were none, his rights should not
be made the pretence of a Scotch invasion.
None cried, "Long live King Richard!" as he passed along. How did his
noble, youthful spirit droop at finding that not only he did not meet
with, but was judged not to deserve success. It ranks among the most
painful of our young feelings, to find that we are justly accused of
acting wrong. Our motives--we believed them disinterested or
justifiable; we have advanced a wondrous step in life before we can
concede even to ourselves that alloy may be mingled with what we deemed
pure gold: ignorant of the soil and culture of our own hearts, we feel
sure that no base mixture can form a part of what we fancy to be a mine
of virgin ore, Richard would have stood erect and challenged the world
to accuse him--God and his right, was his defence. His right! Oh,
narrow and selfish was that sentiment that could see, in any right
appertaining to one man the excuse for the misery of thousands.
War, held in leash during the army's march from Edinburgh, was now let
loose; swift and barbarous he tore forward on his way; a thousand
destructions waited on him; his track was marked by ruin: the words of
Lord Surrey were fulfilled. What a sight for one, whose best hope in
acquiring his kingdom, was to bestow the happiness of which the usurper
deprived it. The English troops, about five hundred men, crossed the
wide-spread plains in the immediate vicinity of Scotland; they entered a
beaten track, where the traces of cultivation spoke of man; a village
peeped from among the hedge-row trees--York's heart beat high. Would
the simple inhabitants refuse to acknowledge him? A few steps disclosed
the truth--the village had been sacked by the Scotch: it was half
burnt, and quite deserted; one woman alone remained--she sat on a pile
of ashes wailing aloud. The exiles dared not read in each other's eyes
the expression of their horror; they walked on like men rebuked. This
was England, their country, their native home; and they had brought the
fierce Scot upon her. Passing forward, they met trains of waggons laden
with spoil, droves of cattle and sheep. They overtook a troop roasting
an ox by the burning rafters of a farm-house, whose green palings, trim
orchard, and shaved grass-plat, spoke of domestic comfort; the house-dog
barked fearfully--a Lowland archer transfixed him with his arrow.
The English marched on; they dared not eye the ravagers; shame and hate
contended--these were their allies; while the sarcasm and scornful
laugh which followed them, drugged with wormwood the bitter draught. In
vain, west or east or south, did they turn their eyes, a sad variety of
the same misery presented itself on every side. A stout yeoman, gashed
by an Highlander's claymore, was sometimes the ghastly stepping-stone
passed over to enter his own abode; women and children had not been
spared, or were only left to perish for want. Often during apparent
silence, a fearful shriek, or the voice of lamentation, burst upon the
air: now it was a woman's cry, now the shrill plaint of infancy. With
the exception of these sufferers, the landscape was a blank. Where were
the troops of friends Richard had hoped would hail him? Where the
ancient Yorkists? Gone to augment the army which Surrey was bringing
against the Scot; attached to these ill-omened allies, how could the
prince hope to be met by his partizans? He had lost them all; the first
North Briton who crossed the Tweed trampled on and destroyed for ever
the fallen White Rose.
Resolutely bent on going forward till he should have advanced beyond the
Scotch, on the following day York continued his march. They entered the
ruins of another village; the desolation here was even more complete,
although more recent; the flame was hardly spent upon the blackened
rafters; the piles which the day before had been smiling dwellings,
still smoked; a few domestic animals were skulking about. There was a
church at the end of what had been a street; this was not spared. The
English entered the desecrated aisle; an aged bleeding monk was lying at
the altar's foot, who scowled even in death upon the soldiery; suddenly
he recognized his countrymen; pleasure gleamed in his sunken eyes, "Ye
will avenge us! Deliver the land!--The hand of God will lead ye on!"
Plantagenet rushed forward--"Father!" he cried, "do I find you here?"
The old man spoke, looked faintly; Edmund bent over him: "My father, it
is I, Edmund, your boy, your murde----"
"My son," said the monk, "I behold you again, and die content! You are
in arms, but by the blessing of the saints your sword's point is turned
against the cruel invader. Not one, oh! not one Englishman will fall by
his brother's hand, for not one will fight for that base deceit, the
ill-nurtured Perkin, to whom God in his wrath has given such show of
right as brings the Scot upon us. Once I thought--but no son of York
would ally himself to these cruel border-robbers. God of my country, oh
curse, curse him and his cause!"
The dying man spoke with difficulty; a few moments more, a spasm crossed
his features, and they settled into stony insensibility. Edmund threw
himself on the body; a deathlike silence reigned in the building; every
heart beat with breathless horror; the curse uttered by the murdered man
was even then breathed before God, and accepted. York spoke first with a
calm, firm voice, "Arise, my cousin," he said; "do not thou fix yet more
deeply the barbed arrow, which has entered my heart."
There are periods when remorse and horror conquer by their intensity
every lesser impulse, and reign kings of the waste; this was no time for
words or tears. Oh! welcome the grief or crime, which the bitterest of
these could express or extenuate; it would insult this sad effigy of
death to imagine that the impiety could be expiated. In silence they
bore the reverend corpse to the vaults of the church, and then continued
their way; some of the under-officers and men whispered together; but
when again the chiefs conversed, they did not allude to this frightful
scene, or to the awful imprecation which they felt suspended over their
heads, shadowing their souls with unknown horror.
This was but the opening scene to worse wretchedness; hitherto they had
seen the waste of war, now they came upon its active atrocities. A dense
smoke, the flickering of pale flames, marked the progress of
devastation; fierceness gleamed in the open blue eyes of Richard; he bit
his lips, and at a quicker pace went forward; screams and horrid
shrieks, mixed with shouts--oh! may not a veil be drawn over such
horrors--flying children, mothers who stayed to die, fathers who
unarmed rushed upon the weapons of the foe; fire and sword, animated by
man's fellest spirit, were there to destroy. Kindled to fury, York and
his chief friends had outspeeded their troops: they came to save; they
called on the fierce Scot to spare; and, when their words were unheeded,
they drew their swords to beat back their allies. A fresh troop of
Borderers, headed by Sir John Ramsay, at this moment poured into the
village. The grey eye of the Scot was lighted up to the fiercest rage;
but when he saw who and how few were they who had assailed his men, a
demoniac expression, half exultation and joy, half deadly hate, animated
him. Richard was driving before him a whole troop of camp-followers,
cowardly and cruel fellows. Balmayne's hand was on his arm. "Your
Highness forgets yourself," he said; "or is the fable ended, and you
turned friend of Tudor?"
York's blood was up; his cheek, his brow were flushed; the word
"assassin" burst from his lips, as he wheeled round and assailed his
midnight foe. Thus a natural war began; English and Scotchmen, bent on
mutual destruction, spurred on by every feeling of revenge, abhorrence,
and national rivalship, dealt cruel blows one on the other. Richard's
troops began to arrive in greater numbers; they far out-told their
adversaries. Lord Bothwell, with his marauders, was obliged to retreat,
and York was left in possession of his strange conquest. The peasantry
gathered round him: they did not recognize the White Rose, they but
blessed him as their deliverer: yet the sufferers were many, and the
flames still raged. One woman with a wild shriek for her children, threw
herself into the very heart of her burning cot; while, statue-like,
amidst a little helpless brood, his wife at his feet a corpse, his
dwelling in ashes, a stout yeoman stood; tears unheeded flowing down his
weather-beaten cheeks. During the whole day Richard had striven against
his own emotions, trying to dispel by pride, and indignation, and
enforced fortitude, the softness that invaded his heart and rose to his
eyes, blinding them; but the sight of these miserable beings, victims of
his right, grew into a tragedy too sad to endure. One young mother laid
her infant offspring at his feet, crying, "Bless thee; thou hast saved
her!" and then sunk in insensibility before him; her stained dress and
pallid cheeks speaking too plainly of wounds and death. Richard burst
into tears, "Oh my stony and hard-frozen heart!" he cried, "which
breakest not to see the loss and slaughter of so many of thy
natural-born subjects and vassals!"
He spoke--he looked: Plantagenet was there, grief and horror seated in
his dark, expressive eyes; Neville, who had lost his lofty pride; it was
shame and self-abhorrence that painted their cheeks with blushes or
unusual pallor. "We must hasten, my lord," said Barry, "after those
evil-doers: they but quit one carcase, to pounce upon another."
"Do we fight the king of England's battles?" cried the Burgundian
Lalayne, in unfeigned astonishment: "this will be strange intelligence
for James of Scotland."
"So strange, Sir Roderick," said Richard, "that we will be the bearers
of it ourselves. Give orders for the retreat, gentlemen. His majesty is
engaged in the siege of Norham Castle. We will present us before him,
and demand mercy for our unhappy subjects."
CHAPTER XXXV
THE RETREAT
Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o'ertake me on the way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?
SHAKSPEARE.
It was York's characteristic to be sanguine beyond all men. Pain
impressed him more deeply and sorely, than could be imagined by the cold
of spirit; but show him the remedy, teach him the path to redress, and
he threw off the clogging weight of care, and rose free and bright as in
earliest youth. His impatience to behold his royal friend, to speak the
little word, which he felt assured would recall the Scots from their
ravages, and take from him the guilt of his subjects' blood, grew like a
torrent in the spring:--he outspeeded his main troop; he left all but
his chiefest friends behind; one by one even these grew fewer; he
mounted a fresh horse, it was the third that day--"May-flower is worse
than blown," said Neville; "will not your highness repose till
to-morrow?"
"Repose!"--this echo was his only answer, and already he was far and
alone upon his way.
The Scottish lines were passed, and the embattled walls of Norham, grey
and impenetrable as rock, were before him; the royal pavilion occupied
the centre of the camp. The wearied steed that bore York dropt on one
knee as he reined him up before it, flushed, with, every mark of travel
and haste--he threw himself from his saddle, and entered the tent: it
was thronged; he saw not one face, save that of the monarch himself, who
was conversing with a churchman, whose dark foreign countenance Richard
had seen before; now it was like a vision before him. James, in an
accent of surprise, cried, "My lord, this is an unexpected visit."
"Excuse ceremony, my dear cousin," said York; "I come not to speak to
the majesty of Scotland: man to man--a friend to his dearest friend--I
have a suit to urge."
James, who was aware that his actual occupation of listening and even
acceding to the suggestions of his foreign visitant, in favour of peace
with Henry, was treason to York's cause, thought that news of Don Pedro
D'Ayala's arrival was the secret of these words: he blushed as he
replied, "As friend to friend, we will hear anon--to-morrow."
"There is no anon to my dear plea," said York; "even now the hellish
work is about which you must check. Oh, what am I, king of Scotland,
that I am to be made the curse and scourge of my own people? The name of
Richard is the bye-word of hate and terror, there, where I seek for
blessings and filial love. You know not the mischief your fierce
Borderers achieve--it is not yet too late; recall your men; bid them
spare my people; let not the blood of my subjects plead against my
right; rather would I pine in exile for ever, than occasion the
slaughter and misery of my countrymen, my children."
Richard spoke impetuously; his eyes filled with tears, his accents were
fraught with passionate entreaty, and yet with a firm persuasion that he
spoke not in vain: but his address had the very worst effect. James
believed that, hearing that he was in treaty with his foe, he had come
to re-urge his suit, to enforce the many promises given, to demand a
continuation of the war. James, a Scotchman, bred in civil strife among
fierce Highlanders and ruthless Borderers, saw something contemptible in
this pity and supplication for cottagers and villains: the shame he had
felt, or feared to feel, at the idea of being accused of treachery by
his guest, was lightened; his lips were curled even to scorn, as in a
cold tone he replied, "Sir, methinketh you take much pains, and very
much strive to preserve the realm of another prince, which, I do
believe, never will be yours."
A momentary surprise set open wide York's eyes; he glanced round him;
the earl of Huntley's brow was clouded; a smile curled Lord Buchan's
lips; the emotion that had convulsed the prince's features, gave place
to the calmest dignity. "If not mine," he said, "let me yield the sway
to the lady Peace: the name and presence of a Plantagenet shall no
longer sanction the devastation of his country. I would rather be a
cotter on your wild Highlands, than buy the sovereignty of my fair
England by the blood of her inhabitants."
The warm, though capricious heart of James, was quietly recalled by the
look and voice of his once dearest friend, to a sense of the
ungraciousness of his proceeding: he frankly stretched out his hand; "I
was wrong, cousin, forgive me, we will confer anon. Even now, orders
have been issued to recall the troops; a few words will explain
everything."
York bent his head in acquiescence. The king dismissed his nobles, and
committed to the care of one among them the reverend D'Ayala. With a
strong sentiment of self-defence, which was self-accusation--a half
return of his ancient affection, which acted like remorse--James set
himself to explain his proceedings. Fearful, unaided by any of the
natives, of proceeding with an inadequate force farther into the heart
of the country, he had set down before the castle of Norham, which was
defended undauntedly by the bishop of Durham. He had wasted much time
here; and now the Cornish insurgents being quelled, the earl of Surrey
was marching northwards, at the head of forty thousand men. Surrey,
Howard, might he not be a masked friend? "who," continued James, "has
surely some personal enmity to your highness; for the reverend Father
D'Ayala, an ambassador from Spain, visited him on his journey northward,
and it seems the noble indulged in despiteful language; saying, that he
who could bring the fell Scot (I thank him) into England, wore manifest
signs of--I will not say--I remember not his words; they are of no
import. The sum is, my dear lord, I cannot meet the English army in the
open field; walled town--even those paltry towers--I cannot win: with
what shame and haste I may, I must retreat over the border."
Many more words James, in the heat of repentant affection, said to
soothe his English friend. York's blood boiled in his veins; his mind
was a chaos of scorn, mortification, and worse anger against himself.
The insult inflicted by James before his assembled lords, the bitter
speech of Surrey; he almost feared that he deserved the one, while he
disdained to resent the other; and both held him silent. As speedily as
he might, he took leave of the king: he saw signs in the encampment of
the return of the foragers; they were laden with booty: his heart was
sick; to ease his pent-up burning spirit, when night brought solitude,
though not repose, he wrote thus to the Lady Katherine:--
"Wilt thou, dear lady of my heart, descend from thy lofty state, and
accept an errant knight, instead of a sceptered king, for thy mate?
Alas! sweet Kate, if thou wilt not, I may never see thee more: for not
thus, oh not thus, my God, will Richard win a kingdom! Poor England
bleeds: our over-zealous cousin has pierced her with dismal wounds; and
thou wouldst in thy gentleness shed a thousand tears, hadst thou beheld
the misery that even now, grim and ghastly, floats before my sight. What
am I, that I should be the parent of evil merely? Oh, my mother, my too
kind friends, why did ye not conceal me from myself? Teaching me lessons
of humbleness, rearing me as a peasant, consigning me to a cloister, my
injuries would have died with me; and the good, the brave, the innocent,
who have perished for me, or through me, had been spared!
"I fondly thought that mine was no vulgar ambition. I desired the good
of others; the raising up and prosperity of my country. I saw my
father's realm sold to a huckster--his subjects the victims of
low-souled avarice. What more apparent duty, than to redeem his crown
from Jew-hearted Tudor, and to set the bright jewels, pure and sparkling
as when they graced his brow, on the head of his only son? Even now I
think the day will come when I shall repair the losses of this sad
hour--is it the restless ambitious spirit of youth that whispers future
good, or true forebodings of the final triumph of the right?
"Now, O sweetest Kate, I forget disgrace, I forget remorse; I bury every
sorrow in thought of thee. Thy idea is as a windless haven to some
way-worn vessel--its nest in a vast oak-tree to a tempest-baffled
bird--hope of Paradise to the martyr who expires in pain. Wilt thou
receive me with thine own dear smile? My divine love, I am not worthy of
thee; yet thou art mine--Lackland Richard's single treasure. The stars
play strange gambols with us--I am richer than Tudor, and but that thy
husband must leave no questioned name, I would sign a bond with
fate--let him take England, give me Katherine. But a prince may not
palter with the holy seal God affixes to him--nor one espoused to thee
be less than king; fear not, therefore, that I waver though I
pause--Adieu!"
CHAPTER XXXVI
TIDINGS FROM IRELAND
Yet noble friends, his mixture with our blood,
Even with our own, shall no way interrupt
A general peace.
FORD.
Pedro D'Ayala was ambassador from Ferdinand and Isabella to the king of
England. There was something congenial in the craft and gravity of this
man with the cautious policy of Henry. When the latter complained of the
vexation occasioned him by the counterfeit Plantagenet, and the favour
he met with in Scotland, D'Ayala offered to use his influence and
counsel to terminate these feuds. He found James out of humour with
York's ill success among the English, weary of a siege, where
impregnable stone walls were his only enemies, uneasy at the advance of
Surrey; pliable, therefore, to all his arguments. A week after D'Ayala's
arrival, the Scots had recrossed the Tweed, the king and his nobles had
returned to Edinburgh, and York to Katherine.
Richard's northern sun was set, and but for this fair star he had been
left darkling. When the English general in his turn crossed the Tweed,
and ravaged Scotland, he was looked on by its inhabitants as the cause
of their disasters; and, but that some loving friends were still true to
him, he had been deserted in the land which so lately was a temple of
refuge to him. The earl of Huntley exerted himself to prevent his
falling into too deep disgrace in the eyes of Scotland, and was present
at the consultations of the exiles to urge some new attempt in some
other part of King Henry's dominions. York was anxious to wash out the
memory of his overthrow; so that this check, which seemed so final to
his hopes, but operated as an incentive to further exertions. Yet
whither should he go? the whole earth was closed upon him. The territory
of Burgundy, which had so long been his home, was forbidden.
France--Concressault, who was his attached friend, dissuaded him from
encountering a mortifying repulse there. Even his own Spain would refuse
to receive him, now that D'Ayala had shown himself his enemy; but, no,
he was not so far reduced to beg a refuge at the limits of civilization;
still he had his sword, his cause, his friends.
A stranger came, an unexpected visitant from over the sea, to decide his
vacillating counsels. The man was aged and silver-haired, smooth in his
manners, soft-voiced, yet with quick grey eyes and compressed lips,
indications of talent and resolution and subtlety. Frion saw him first,
and, deceived by his almost fawning manners into an idea of his
insignificance, asked his purpose and name. The stranger with the utmost
gentleness refused to disclose his object to any but the prince; and
Frion, with great show of insolence, refused to introduce him to his
presence. "Then without thy leave, sir knave," said the old man calmly,
"I must force my way."
Astley, the poor scrivener of Canterbury, was present. This honest,
simple-hearted fellow, had shown so much worth, so much zeal, so much
humbleness with such fidelity, that he had become a favourite in York's
court, and principally with the Lady Katherine. Frion hated him, for he
was his opposite, but pretended to despise him, and to use him as an
underling. Astley meekly submitted, and at last gained a kind of favour
in the Frenchman's eyes by the deference and respect of his manner. The
stranger, with the readiness of one accustomed to select agents for his
will, addressed him, bidding him announce to his highness a gentleman
from Ireland. "And be assured," he said, "the duke will ill-requite any
tardiness on thy part."
An angry burst from Frion interrupted him. This man, rarely off his
guard, but roused now by recent mortifications, forgot himself in the
violence he displayed, which strangely contrasted with the soft
tranquillity of the stranger, and Astley's modest, but very determined
annunciation of his resolve to convey the message to the prince. Frion,
from loud words, was about to proceed to acts, when Lord Barry
entered--Barry, who felt Scotland as a limbo of despair, who was for
ever urging Richard to visit Ireland, to whom the court life of the
English was something like a trim-fenced park to a new caught lion.
Barry saw the stranger--his eyes lighted up, nay, danced with sudden
joy: with no gentle hand he thrust Frion away, and then bent his knee,
asking a blessing of the prior of Kilmainham; and in the same breath
eagerly demanded what had brought the venerable man from Buttevant
across the dangerous seas.
Keating's presence gave new life to York's councils: he brought an
invitation from Maurice of Desmond to the duke. The earl had, since
Richard's departure, been occupied in training troops, and so fortifying
himself as to enable him to rise against Poynings, whose regular
government, and above all, whose predilection for the Butlers, caused
him to be detested by the Geraldines. Hurried on by hatred and revenge,
Desmond resolved to do that which would be most dreaded and abhorred of
Henry--to assume the badge of the White Rose, and to set up the
pretensions of young Richard. The tidings were that York was a loved and
honoured guest in Edinburgh; and the impetuous Desmond feared that he
would hardly be induced to abandon King James's powerful alliance, for
the friendship of a wild Irish chieftain. The very invitation must be
committed to no mean or witless hands: the difficulties appeared so
great, that the measure was on the point of being abandoned, when the
prior of Kilmainham, who, in the extreme of age, awoke to fresh life at
a prospect of regaining his lost consequence, offered himself to
undertake the arduous task. His views went far beyond the earl's: he
hoped to make the king of Scotland an active party in his plots, and to
contrive a simultaneous invasion of England from the north and from the
west. Already his turbulent and grasping spirit saw Irish and Scotch
meeting midway in England, and with conjoined forces dethroning Tudor,
and dictating terms to his successor. He came too late: he came to find
a peace nearly concluded between James and Henry; the White Rose fallen
into disregard; and his arrival looked, upon as the best hope, the last
refuge of his fallen party.
Richard on the instant accepted his invitation. To a generous heart the
feeling of enforced kindness succeeding to spontaneous affection, is
intolerable. The very generosity of his own disposition made him recoil
from exacting a reluctant boon from his sometime friend. To live a
pensioner among the turbulent, arrogant Scots, was not to be thought of.
The earl of Huntley, in fond expectation of his daughter's greatness,
would have despised him had he remained inactive. Even Katherine was
solicitous to leave Scotland--she knew her countrymen; and, ready as
she was to give up every exalted aim, and to make her husband's
happiness in the retired quiet of private life, she knew that insult and
feud would attend his further tarrying among the Scotch.
York had been for nearly a year the guest of King James; twelve months,
in all their long-drawn train of weeks and days, had paced over the wide
earth, marking it with change: each one had left its trace in the soul
of Richard. There is something frightful, to a spirit partly tired of
the world, to find that their life is to be acquainted with no durable
prosperity; that happiness is but a modification of a train of events,
which, like the fleeting birth of flowers, varies the year with
different hues. But York was still too young to be aweary even of
disappointment; he met the winter of his fortunes with cheerful
fortitude, so that a kind of shame visited James, inspired by the
respect his injured friend so well merited.
The capricious, but really noble heart of the Scottish king was at this
time put to a hard trial. One of the preliminaries of peace, most
insisted upon by Henry, was, that his rival should be given up to
him:--this was, at the word, refused. But even to dismiss him from his
kingdom, seemed so dastardly an act towards one allied to him by his own
choice, that the swelling heart of the cavalier could not yet tame
itself to the statesman's necessity. Some of his subjects, meanwhile,
were ready enough to cut the Gordian knot by which he was entangled.
Tudor had many emissaries in Edinburgh; and Lord Moray, Lord Buchan, and
the dark Both well, whose enmity had become fierce personal hate, were
still egged on by various letters and messages from England to some deed
of sanguinary violence.
Sir John Ramsay was sought out by Frion. That goodly diplomatist must
have entertained a high opinion of his mollifying eloquence, when he
dared encounter the hot temper of him he had dishonoured in the eyes of
the English prince, and of his own countryman Hamilton. But Frion knew
that in offering revenge he bought pardon: he was of little mark in
Ramsay's eyes, while the man he had injured, and whom he consequently
detested beyond every other, survived to tell the grating tale of the
defeated villany of the assassin, and the godlike magnanimity of him who
pardoned.
Frion's own feelings, which had vacillated, were now fixed to betray the
prince. He had wavered, because he had a kind of personal affection for
the noble adventurer. Somehow he managed to fancy him a creature of his
own: he had worked so long, and at one time so well for him, that he had
fostered the vain belief that his dearest hopes, and best pretensions,
would vanish like morning mist, if he blew unkindly on them. It was not
so: James had been his friend; Huntley had given him his daughter
without his interference; and the Irish project, with Keating at its
head, who treated Frion with galling contempt, filled up the measure of
his discontents. If anything else had been needed, the Lady Katherine's
favour to Astley, and some offices of trust, in which York himself had
used him, sufficed to add the last sting to malice. "If they will not let
me make, they shall rue the day when I shall mar; learn shall they, that
Frion can clip an eagle's wings even in its pride of flight."
It is common to say that there is honour among thieves and villains. It
is not honour; but an acknowledged loss of shame and conscience, and a
mutual trust in the instinctive hatred the bad must bear the good, which
strongly unites them. In spite of the Frenchman's former treachery,
Balmayne felt that he could now confide, that his guilt would stretch
far enough to encircle in its embrace the very act he desired; and he
again trusted, and used him as the chief agent of his plots.
The earl of Surrey was ravaging Scotland; and King James, with the
chivalrous spirit of the times, challenged him to single combat. The
earl, in answer, refused to place his master's interests at the hazard
of his single prowess, though ready for any other cause to accept the
honour tendered him. The herald that brought this reply, Frion reported
to Richard to be charged with a letter to him. Its purpose was to
declare, that though, while aided and comforted by the enemies of
England, the earl warred against him, yet the Howard remembered the
ancient attachments of his house; and that, if the White Rose, wholly
renouncing the Scotch, would trust to the honour of the representative
of a race of nobles, the army now in the field to his detriment should
be turned to an engine of advantage. "Time pressed," the letter
concluded by saying--"and if the duke of York were willing to give his
sails to the favouring wind, let him repair with a small company to
Greenock, where he would find zealous and powerful friends."
At first this intimation filled the prince with exultation and delight.
The time was at last come when he should lead the native nobility of
England to the field, and meet his enemy in worthy guise. There was but
one check; he could not join Surrey, while Surrey was in arms against
his once generous friend; so that, by a strange shifting of events, he
now became anxious for peace between Scotland and England; eager that
the seal should be set that destroyed the alliance and amity which had
so lately been the sole hope of his life. Neville and Plantagenet
entered into his views; and while, seemingly at the bottom of Fortune's
scale, a new spirit of gladness animated this little knot of Englishmen.
For one thing young Richard was not prepared: the preliminaries of peace
he knew were arranged, and he was aware that its conclusion would take
the sword out of James's hand. They had rarely met lately; and this,
while it lessened the familiarity, rather added to the apparent kindness
of their interviews. There was in both these young princes a genuine
warmth of heart, and brightness of spirit, that drew them close whenever
they did meet. James honoured the integrity and the unconquered soul of
the outcast monarch, while his own genius, his vivacity, and polished
courtesy, in spite of his caprice and late falling off, spread a charm
around that forced admiration and affection even from him he injured. It
was at this period, that, notwithstanding their real disunion, Richard
felt it as strange to find his royal host confused in manner, and
backward of speech. They had been at a hunting party, where Lord Moray's
haughty glance of triumph, and the sneer that curled the earl of
Buchan's lip, would have disclosed some victory gained by them, had York
deigned to regard their aspects. At length, after much hesitation, while
riding apart from his peers, James asked--"If there were any news from
the Lady Margaret of Burgundy?"
"Sir Roderick Lalayne returned to her a month ago," replied York, "and
with him went my dear and zealous Lady Brampton, to urge fresh succour
for one, to whom fortune has so long shown a wintry face, that methinks
spring must at last be nigh at hand, herald of bright, blossoming
summer."
"What promises then my lady duchess?" said the king, eagerly.
"Alas! her promises are as blank as her power," replied Richard. "Even
when the old dukes of Burgundy were as emperors in Christendom, they
were but as provosts and city-magistrates in the free towns of Flanders;
and these towns resolve on peace with England."
"It is the cry of the world," said James, with a sigh; "this Tudor is a
mighty man. Why, even I, a Scot, a warrior, and a king, am forced to
join the universal voice, and exclaim, 'Peace with England,' even though
my honour is the sacrifice."
"Your majesty imparts no strange truth to me," said York. "I have long
known that this must be; but surely you speak in soreness of spirit,
when you speak of the sacrifice of honour. I thought the terms agreed on
were favourable to Scotland?"
"King Henry demanded, in the first place, the delivery of your highness
into his hands." James blushed deeply as he said these words.
"Or he will come seize me," rejoined the duke, with a laugh. "In good
hour I will deliver myself, if he will walk through the bristling
lances, and set at naught the wide-mouthed cannon that will bellow in
his path."
"Have you then new hopes?" cried the king; "oh! say but so; and half my
shame, and all my sorrow vanishes. Say that you have hope of speedy good
in some other country; for I have sworn, ere April wear into May,
Scotland shall be made poor by your highness's absence."
A long pause followed these words. James felt as if he had given words
to his own concealed dishonour, and struck his iron-girdled side with
the bitter thought. "O! spirit of my father, this may not atone; but I
must pay also in shame and torturous self-contempt for my heavy guilt."
A sudden blow, a precipitous fall when unaware his feet had reached the
crumbling brink of a beetling precipice, would not have made such
commotion in Richard's heart, as the forced and frightful conviction
that the friend he had trusted heaped this insult on him. For the first
time in his life, perhaps, pride conquered every other feeling; for
reproach had been more friendly, than the spirit that impelled him, with
a placid voice, and a glance of haughty condescension, to reply:--"Now
that your majesty dismisses me, I find it fittest season to thank you
heartily for your many favours. That you deny me to the suit of your new
ally, and send me forth scathless from your kingdom, is the very least
of these. Shall I forget that, when, a wanderer and a stranger, I came
hither, you were a brother to me? That when an outcast from the world,
Scotland became a home of smiles, and its king my dearest friend? These
are lesser favours; for your love was of more value to me than your
power, though you used it for my benefit; and, when you gave me the Lady
Katherine, I incurred such a debt of gratitude, that it were
uncancelled, though you cast me, bound hand and foot, at Tudor's
footstool. That I am bankrupt even in thanks, is my worst misery; yet,
if the eye of favour, which I believe Fortune is now opening on me,
brighten into noon-day splendour, let James of Scotland ask, and, when
England shall be added to his now barren name, Richard will give, though
it were himself."
"Gentle cousin," replied the king, "you gloss with horrid words a bitter
pill to both; for though the scath seem yours, mine is the punishment. I
lose what I can ill spare, a kinsman and a friend."
"Never!" cried York; "Scotland bids a realmless monarch, a beggar
prince, depart: the king of Scotland, moved by strong state necessity,
is no longer the ally of the disinherited orphan of Edward the Fourth:
but James is Richard's friend; he will rejoice, when he sees him, borne
with the flowing tide, rise from lowness to the highest top at which he
aims. And now, dear my lord, grant me one other boon. I am about to
depart, even of my own will; dismiss then every rankling feeling; lay no
more to your generous, wounded heart, a need, which is even more mine
than yours; but let smiles and love attend your kinsman to the end,
unalloyed by a deeper regret, than that fate wills it, and we must
separate."
CHAPTER XXXVII
TREACHERY
I am your wife,
No human power can or shall divorce
My faith from duty.
FORD.
----With
My fortune and my seeming destiny,
He made the bond, and broke it not with me.
No human tie is snapp'd betwixt us two.
SCHILLER'S WALLENSTEIN.
Frion believed that he held the strings, which commanded the movements
of all the puppets about him. The intrigues of party, the habitual use
of ill means to what those around him deemed a good end, had so
accustomed him to lying and forgery, that his conscience was quite
seared to the iniquity of these acts; truth to him was an accident, to
be welcomed or not according as it was or was not advantageous to his
plots.
King James prepared a fleet for the conveyance of the prince; and the
earl of Huntley, as a matter of course, promised to entertain his
daughter royally, until, in a palace in Westminster, she should find her
destined title and fit abode. The Lady Katherine thanked him, but
declared that she was nothing moved from her bridal vow, and that she
never would desert Richard's side. All that her father urged was of no
avail. State and dignity, or their contraries, humiliation and disgrace,
could only touch her through her husband; he was her exalter or debaser,
even as he rose or fell; it was too late now to repine at degradation,
which it ill beseemed the daughter of a Gordon to encounter; it was
incurred when she plighted her faith at the altar; wherever she was it
must be hers. As a princess, she was lost or redeemed by her husband's
fortunes. As a woman, her glory and all her honour must consist in never
deviating from the straight line of duty, which forbade her absence from
his side.
The earl disdained to reason with a fond doting girl, as he called the
constant-minded lady, but applied to the king, representing how it would
redound to his discredit, should a princess of his blood wander a
vagrant beggar over sea and land. James had passed his royal word to
Katherine, that she should have her will on this point; and when, at her
father's suit he tried to dissuade her, he was at once silenced by her
simple earnest words; "Ask me not," she said, "to place myself on the
list of unworthy women: for your own honour's sake, royal cousin, permit
your kinswoman to perform a wife's part unopposed. You and my father
bestowed me, a dutiful subject, an obedient daughter, according to your
will; you transferred my duty and obedience; and truly as I paid it to
you, so will I keep it for my lord."
"What can we reply, my good earl marshal," said James, turning to
Huntley, "I rebelled against the religion through which I reign, did I
deny our sweet Kate free allowance to follow the dictates of her
generous heart. Nor let us grudge the White Rose this one fair bloom.
Love, such as Katherine feels, love, and the dearest, best gift of
God--alas! too oft denied to poor humanity, and most to
me--self-complacency, arising from a good conscience, will repay her
every sacrifice."
Huntley retired in high indignation; his will was opposed; his word,
which he deemed a law, had but a feather's weight. The blood of the
Gordon was stirred to rage; and he broke forth in fierce and cruel
expressions of anger, calling his daughter ingrate--her lord base, and
a traitor. Such muttered curses were reported to Lord Buchan: in the
scheme on foot, they had somewhat dreaded to incur Huntley's displeasure
and revenge, knowing how dearly he prized the hope of royalty for his
daughter; but now they fancied that they might draw him in ere he was
aware to approve their deed. The crafty Frion was set on to sound him;
the iron was hot, most easily to their eyes, it took the desired form.
Huntley was a Scot, cunning even when angry--cautious when most
passionate. The first intimations of the conspiracy were greedily
received by him. He learnt the falsehood of the letter pretending to
come from the earl of Surrey; and the use that was to be made of this
decoy to seize on the duke of York's person. He did not scruple to
promise his assistance; he reiterated his angry imprecations against his
unworthy son-in-law; he thanked Frion with cordial warmth for affording
him this opportunity for revenge; he declared his gratitude towards the
confederate nobles; and the Frenchman left him, with the full belief
that he was ready to lend his best aid to deliver over the English
prince to ignominy and death.
Such was the end of King Henry's last scheme to obtain possession of his
too noble, too excelling rival, by means of Scottish fraud, and the
treason of York's dependants. The earl of Huntley conducted the whole
affair with the utmost secrecy. Apparently he acted the part designed
for him by the conspirators. He reconciled himself to the prince; he
urged an instant compliance with Surrey's invitation. The English had
asked for some guarantee of Surrey's truth. Huntley obviated this
difficulty. Through his intervention a new and sufficing impulse was
given. Richard appointed the day when he should repair to Greenock,
there to meet the envoy who was to lead him to Lord Surrey's presence.
In the harbour of Greenock rode the bark which was to convey him to his
English prison. King Henry's hirelings were already there: Frion
conducted the victims blindfold into the net: they had meant to have
gathered together a troop of ruffian borderers to prevent all
resistance; but Huntley promised to be there himself with a band of
Highlanders. The whole thing only seemed too easy, too secure.
The wily secretary had overshot his mark in taking so readily for
granted Huntley's assent to the ruin of the duke of York. He had come
upon him in his angry hour: his honied words were a dew of poison; his
adjurations for peace, oil to fire. Then, as the noble strode through
the hall, imprecating vengeance, he slid in words that made him stop in
full career. Men are apt to see their wishes mirrored in the object
before them; and, when the earl bent his grey eyes upon the Provenal
and knit his time-furrowed brow in attention and interest, Frion saw the
satisfaction of a man on the brink of dear revenge. He was far a-field.
The very rage in which the earl had indulged, by a natural reaction,
softened him towards his children; and when the traitor spoke of schemes
ripe to deliver York into his adversary's hands, he recoiled at once
from the path of vengeance opened before him, and listened with horror
to the detail of a conspiracy which would tear the very shadow of a
diadem from his daughter's brow; yet he listened, and his words still
enticed the over-wily Frion. "Balmayne," said the earl, "all must
succeed even to the death. Where he intermeddles, he is ruthless;" thus
ran his comments: "My good Lord Buchan, what the foul fiend makes him so
busy? English gold! Yes: Buchan loves the gilding better than the strong
iron that it hides. The honour of the royal house, my most reverend
uncle! Is his animosity so stirring? Oh! priests are your only haters.
So Richard's tale is told. The chroniclers will speak of Duke Perkin, of
the canker that ate out the heart of Gordon's fair rose, the gibbet,
instead of a throne, to which she was wed; a fair eminence! My Kate will
hardly ascend it with him: she must halt at the gallows' foot." These
words, said with bitterness, seemed to Frion the boiling sarcasm of an
exasperated parent. The man's vanity was the trap in which he was
caught: he could not believe that a savage Scot, an untaught Highlander,
could enter the lists with one nurtured in the subtle atmosphere of
Provence, with the pupil of Louis the Eleventh; a man schooled in
eastern lore, who had passed a whole life of contrivance and deceit.
The Scottish nobles, Moray, Buchan, and Bothwell, were satisfied in
having given their countenance to the English hirelings; and now that
the more powerful Huntley promised to watch over the execution of their
designs, they were glad enough to withdraw from the rude and
inhospitable act. Huntley had everything in his own hands. He, with a
party of Highlanders, escorted the duke and duchess of York, with their
friends and attendants, to Greenock. Frion had never shown himself so
humble or so courteous; he seemed afraid that any one of his victims
should escape: he was particularly anxious to entice his old enemy, the
prior of Kilmainham, into the snare. His readiness and vivacity were
remarked by all: it was attributed to the high hopes he entertained of
his royal master's success through the alliance of the earl of Surrey;
and, while York expressed his affectionate approbation, he smiled
blandly, and painted every feature in the very colouring he wished it to
wear.
The vessel rode at anchor; the English sailors, on the arrival of York,
went on board, got her under weigh, and dropped down the coast. With the
dawn Lord Howard of Effingham, with a chosen troop, was, according to
the false hopes of Richard, to arrive at the rendezvous, a wood about
two miles south of the town, bordering the sands of the sea. Here the
English emissaries were congregated, and here a score of Highlanders
were in ambush, to assist in the capture of the White Rose. Hither, even
before dawn, the wakeful Frion came, to announce the speedy arrival of
his lord. He found his English friends in some anxiety. Clifford, who,
under the name of Wiatt, had been chief among them, was seized with
panic or remorse, and had gone on board the vessel, which had east
anchor but a few furlongs from the shore. The others were mean
underlings: Frion's presence gave them courage; he was elated; his laugh
was free; he had neither doubt nor scruple; no, not even when he turned
from the vulgar, brutalized countenances of these ruffians, to behold
the princely victim in all the splendour of innocence, with one beside
him so lovely, that the spirit of good itself had selected her form for
its best earthly bower; or to see Edmund, whose dark eyes beamed with
unknown joy, and Neville, whose haughty glance was exchanged for a glad
smile. The man's sole thought was exultation at his own cleverness and
success, in having inveigled so many of the noble and the brave to this
dark fate.
"What tidings of Effingham?" asked York.
"Are ye ready?" cried Huntley.
"All!" replied Frion; "all save him ye name Wiatt. Sir Robert, forsooth,
is but half a man, and never does more than half deed, though that half
makes whole crime. All is ready. I hear the sound of oars; the boat
nears the shore."
Through the tall bare trunks of the trees, a glimpse of the beach might
be gained; the roaring of the surges was distinct, now mingled with the
cry of sailors.
"Then lose we no time," said Huntley. "My lord of York, these words
sound strange. You expected a noble countryman to lead you to victory;
you find nameless fellows, and the prince of knaves, most ready and
willing to lead you to everlasting prison. Lo, the scene shifts again!
Never be cast down, Master Frion; you are as subtle as any of your
race--only to be outwitted by a niggard Scotchman, who can ill read,
and worse write; except when villany is blazoned in a man's face, and
his sword indites a traitor's fate. Your clerkship will find none among
us learned enough to afford you benefit of clergy."
Huntley drew his sword; and at the signal his Highlanders arose from
their ambush. Prion was seized and bound. None, who even a moment before
had seen the smooth-faced villain, could have recognized him; he was
pale as the snow on Ben Nevis. A Highlander, an adept in such acts,
dexterously threw a knotted rope over his head, and cast his eye up to
the trees for a convenient branch. Such had been the orders; such the
summary justice of the earl.
Richard meanwhile looked on the blanched visage and quailing form of his
betrayer in mere compassion. "Is it even so, Etienne!" he said; "and
after long companionship we part thus."
The trembling craven fell on his knees, though he tightened the halter
by the movement, so that when Richard turned away, saying, "I had
thought better of thee: Jesu pardon thee as readily as I--farewell!" he
had scarce voice to cry for mercy.
"Aye," cried the Gordon; "such mercy as we grant the wolf and thievish
fox. Short shrift be thine, Master Secretary!"
"By Our Lady's grace, stay!" said Katherine; "do not kill the
false-hearted knave. He is a coward, and dares survive his honour; let
him live."
Richard looked sternly on the kneeling slave. To the good there is
something awful in the sight of a guilty man. It is a mystery to them
how the human heart can be so perverted. Is it a spirit from hell that
incorporates itself with the pulsations of our mortal bosom; a darkness
that overshadows; a fiendish essence that mingles with the breath God
gave to his own image? York felt a shrinking horror. "Thou hast pursued
me since my youth," he said, "forcing thyself into my councils;
sometimes as a wily enemy; at others befriending me in seeming, raising
my soul, that flagged beneath the world's unkind ministry; dropping balm
by thy words into a wounded heart; to end thy office thus! Was this thy
purpose ever; or what demon whispered thee to betray? Die! oh no! too
many, the good, the great, the true, have died for me; live thou a
monument--a mark to tell the world that York can pardon, York can
despise--not so base a thing as thee--that were little, but even thy
employer. Go, tell my sister's husband that I bear a charmed life; that
love and valour are my guards. Bid him bribe those, nor waste his
ill-got crowns on such as thee. Unbind him, sirs; make signal to the
boat; let him on board; the wind stands fair for England."
The fall of many a hope, roused by the forgery on Surrey's name, was
forgotten by Richard, as he sickened at this other mark of man's
wickedness and folly. He was surely the dear sport of fortune, a tale to
chronicle how faithless friends may be. If such thoughts, like summer
clouds, darkened his mind, they vanished, driven by the winds of life
that bore him onward. This was no time for mere gloomy meditation.
Though he was obliged to return to his forgotten Irish scheme, and to
dismiss the glorious anticipation in which he had indulged, of leading
the chivalry of England to the field; though no real defeat had ever
visited him so keenly as this mockery of one; yet he was forced to
forget himself, and to apply himself to console and rouse his downcast
friends; but his skill was well repaid, and soon he again awoke to those
feelings of buoyant hope, unwearied energy, and unshaken confidence
which were the essence of his character.
In this last trial he felt how much good he might derive from the
sweetness and constant spirit of the Lady Katherine. She hoped for none
of the world's blessings, except they came in the shape of loves from
him to whom she was united; happiness--all hers as centred in her
blameless affections; and her confidence was placed in the belief and
knowledge, that by devoting herself to her lord, to the wandering
outcast who so dearly needed her sacrifice, she fulfilled her destiny
upon earth, and pleased "the great Task Master," who for happiness or
misery, but certainly for good, had given her life. All her gentle
eloquence was spent in dissuading Richard from those unkind thoughts
towards his species, which the treason of these base men, the caprice of
James, the harsh sentence (for this was again brought home to him by
disappointment) of Surrey, awakened in his bosom. It proved no hard
task; soon the princely adventurer, with eagle flight, soared from the
sad prostration of spirit, the birth of his disasters, to fresh hopes
and lofty resolves.
It was necessary immediately to prepare for his departure. The earl of
Huntley, struck by his magnanimity, no longer opposed his daughter's
wish. The English exiles were eager for a new, and, they believed (for
untired is hope in man), for a prosperous career. Scotland grew rude,
confined, and remote in their eyes. In Ireland were placed for them the
portals of the world, to be opened by their swords; the dancing
sea-waves invited them; the winds of heaven lent themselves to their
service. "My friends," said Richard, "dear and faithful partners of my
wayward fortunes, I would fondly believe that we are favoured of Heaven.
We are few; but the evil and the treacherous are no longer among us. And
does old Time in all his outworn tales tell any truer, than that the
many, being disunited, and so false, have ever been vanquished by the
loving, bold, and heroic few? That a child may scan with its fingers our
bare arithmetic, will therefore be to us the source of success, as
assuredly it will be of glory. The English were few when they mowed down
thickly-planted French at Cressy and Poictiers. Which among us, armed as
we are in the mail of valour, but would encounter ten of Tudor's
scant-paid mercenaries? For me! I do believe that God is on my side, as
surely as I know that justice and faith are; and I fear no defeat."
It is thus that man, with fervent imagination, can endue the rough stone
with loveliness, forge the misshapen metal into a likeness of all that
wins our hearts by exceeding beauty, and breathe into a dissonant trump
soul-melting harmonies. The mind of man--that mystery, which may lend
arms against itself, teaching vain lessons of material philosophy, but
which, in the very act, shows its power to play with all created things,
adding the sweetness of its own essence to the sweetest, taking its
ugliness from the deformed. The creative faculty of man's soul--which,
animating Richard, made him see victory in defeat, success and glory in
the dark, the tortuous, the thorny path, which it was his destiny to
walk from the cradle to the tomb.
Oh, had I, weak and faint of speech, words to teach my fellow-creatures
the beauty and capabilities of man's mind; could I, or could one more
fortunate, breathe the magic word which would reveal to all the power,
which we all possess, to turn evil to good, foul to fair; then vice and
pain would desert the newborn world!
It is not thus: the wise have taught, the good suffered for us; we are
still the same; and still our own bitter experience and heart-breaking
regrets teach us to sympathize too feelingly with a tale like this;
which records the various fortunes of one who at his birth received
every gift which most we covet; whose strange story is replete with
every change of happiness and misery; with every contrast of glorious
and disgraceful; who was the noble object of godlike fidelity, and the
sad victim of demoniac treason; the mark of man's hate and woman's love;
spending thus a short eventful life. It is not spent; he yet breathes:
he is on the world of waters. What new scene unfolds itself? Where are
they who were false, where those who were true! They congregate around
him, and the car of life bears him on, attended by many frightful, many
lovely shapes, to his destined end. He has yet much to suffer; and,
human as he is, much to enjoy.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
DEPRESSION
One moment these were heard and seen; another
Past, and the two who stood beneath that night,
Each only heard, or saw, or felt the other.
SHELLEY.
The hour had now arrived when Richard took leave of Scotland. The king
was humbled by the necessity he felt himself under, of sending forth his
friend and kinsman into the inhospitable world; and he felt deep grief
at parting with his lovely cousin. She grew pale, when for the last time
she saw the friend of her youth. But Katherine looked upon life in a
mode very different from the usual one: the luxuries and dignities of
the world never in her mind for a moment came in competition with her
affections and her duty; she saw the plain path before her; whatever her
father's or her royal cousin's idea had been in giving her to the duke
of York, she knew that, being his, her destiny upon earth was to share
his fortunes, and soothe his sorrows. This constant looking on, giving
herself up to, and delighting in one aim, one object, one occupation,
elevated her far above the common cares of existence. She left
----"All meaner things,
The low ambition and the pride of kings,"
--to shroud herself in love; to take on herself the hallowed state of
one devoting herself to another's happiness. Cleopatra, basking in sunny
pomp, borne, the wonder of the world, in her gilded bark, amidst all the
aroma of the east, upon the gently-rippling Cydnus, felt neither the
pride nor joy of Katherine, as, on the poor deck of their dark
weather-beaten skiff, she felt pillowed by the downy spirit of love,
fanned by its gentle breath.
The duke of York was more depressed; he thought of how, since his
miserable childhood, he had been the sport of Fortune and her scorn. He
thought of the false, the cold, the perished: a dark wall seemed to rise
around him; a murky vault to close over him: success, glory, honour, the
world's treasures, which he had been brought up to aspire to as his
dearest aim, his right, were unattainable; he was the defeated, the
outcast; there was a clog in his way for ever; a foul taint upon his
name. Thus seated on the deck, his arm coiled round a rope, his head
leaning on his arm, while the stars showered a dim silvery radiance, and
the sparkling sea mocked their lustre with brighter fires; while the
breeze, that swelled his sail, and drove him merrily along, spent its
cold breath on him; he, painting all natural objects with the obscure
colouring suggested by his then gloomy spirit, distorting the very
scenery of heaven and vast ocean into symbols of his evil fate, gave
himself up to the very luxury of woe,--meanwhile the shadow of a lovely
form fell on him, soft fingers pressed the curls of his hair, and
Katherine asked, "Are the nights of Andalusia more glorious than this?"
At the voice of the charmer the demon fled; sky and sea cast off the dim
veil his grief had woven, and creation was restored its native beauty.
Hitherto the halls of palaces, the gaiety of a court, the
council-chamber, had been the scenes in which the princely pair had
lived together; linked to an engrossing state of things, surrounded by
their partisans, they had been friends, nay lovers, according to the
love of the many. But solitary Nature is the true temple of Love, where
he is not an adjunct, but an essence; and now she alone was around them,
to fill them with sublime awe, and the softest tenderness. In Richard's
eyes, the kingdom of his inheritance dwindled into a mere speck; the
land of her nativity became but a name to Katherine. It sufficed for
their two full hearts that they were together on the dark wide sea; the
bright sky above, and calm upon the bosom of the deep. They could ill
discern each other in the shadowy twilight; a dream-like veil was cast
over their features, as sleep curtains out the soul, so that we look on
the beloved slumberer, and say, "He is there, though the mystery of
repose wraps me from him;" so now darkness blinded and divided them: but
hand clasped hand; he felt that one existed who was his own, his
faithful; and she rejoiced in the accomplishment of the master-sentiment
of her soul, the desire of self-devotion, self-annihilation, for one who
loved her. The passion that warmed their hearts had no fears, no tumult,
no doubt. One to the other they sufficed; and, but that the trance is
fleeting, Happiness, the lost child of the world, would have found here
her home; for when love, which is the necessity of affectionate hearts,
and the sense of duty, which is the mystery and the law of our souls,
blend into one feeling, Paradise has little to promise save immortality.
For many days this state of forgetful ecstasy lasted. Plantagenet and
Neville spoke of wars in England; Lord Barry and Keating of their Irish
schemes--the prince listened and replied; but his soul was far
away--Oh, that for ever they might sail thus on the pathless, shoreless
sea!--Nothing mean or trivial or ignoble could visit them; no hate, no
care, no fear--this might not be, but to have felt, to have lived thus
for a few short days, suffices to separate mortal man from the groveling
part of his nature--no disgrace, no despair can so bring him back to
the low-minded world, as to destroy the sense of having once so existed.
And Richard, marked for misery and defeat, acknowledged that power which
sentiment possesses to exalt us--to convince us that our minds, endowed
with a soaring, restless aspiration, can find no repose on earth except
in love.
CHAPTER XXXIX
SIEGE OF WATERFORD
"Now for our Irish wars!"
SHAKSPEARE.
Again the duke of York approached the rocky entrance of the Cove of
Cork, again he passed through the narrow passage, which opening,
displayed a lovely sheet of tranquil water, decked with islands. The
arrival of his fleet in the harbour was hailed with joy. Old John
O'Water had returned to his civic labours, and had contrived to get
himself chosen mayor for this year, that he might be of greater
assistance to the White Rose in his enterprise.
As soon as the arrival of his ships off the coast was known, O'Water
despatched messengers to the earl of Desmond, and busied himself to
give splendour to Richard's entrance into Cork. Tapestry and
gay-coloured silks were hung from the windows; the street was strewn
with flowers--citizens and soldiers intermixed crowded to the
landing-place. York's heart palpitated with joy. It was not that thence
he much hoped for success to his adventure, which required more than the
enthusiasm of the remote inhabitants of the south of Ireland to achieve
it: but Cork was a sort of home to him; here he had found safety when he
landed, barely escaped from Trangmar's machinations--here he first
assumed his rightful name and title--here, a mere boy, ardent,
credulous, and bold--he had seen strangers adopt his badge and avouch
his cause. Five years had elapsed since then--the acclaim of a few kind
voices, the display of zeal, could no longer influence his hopes as then
they had done, but they gladdened his heart, and took from it that
painful feeling which we all too often experience--that we are cast
away on the inhospitable earth, useless and neglected.
He was glad also in the very first spot of his claimed dominions whereon
he set foot, to see the Lady Katherine received with the honours due to
her rank. Her beauty and affability won the hearts of all around, and
O'Water, with the tenderness that an old man is so apt to feel towards a
young and lovely woman, extended to her a paternal affection, the
simplicity and warmth of which touched her, thrown as she was among
strangers, with gratitude.
Lord Desmond arrived--he was struck by the improvement in York's
manner, still ingenuous and open-hearted: he was more dignified, more
confident in himself than before--the husband of Katherine also
acquired consideration; as an adventurous boy, he might be used
according to the commodity of the hour--now he had place--station in
the world, and Desmond paid him greater deference, almost unawares.
But the earl was sorely disappointed; "Reverend Father," said he to
Keating, "what aid does Scotland promise? Will they draw Tudor with his
archers and harquebusiers, and well-horsed knights, to the north,
giving our Irish kern some chance of safe landing in the west?"
"Peace is concluded between Scotland and England," replied Keating.
Desmond looked moody. "How thrives the White Rose over the water? How
sped the duke, when he entered England? Some aid somewhere we must have,
besides yonder knot of wanderers, and our own hungry, naked kerns."
"By my fay!" replied Keating, "every budding blossom on the Rose-bush
was nipped, as by a north-east wind. When Duke Richard sowed his hopes
there, like the dragon's teeth of Dan Cadmus, they turned into so many
armed men to attack him."
"Sooth, good prior," said the earl, with a sharp laugh, "we shall speed
well thereby: would you a re-acting of the gleeful mime at Stowe?"
"Wherefore," said Keating, "fix your thoughts on England? The dark sea
rolls between us, and even the giants of old broke their causeway, which
in the north 'tis said they built, ere it laid its long arm on the
English shore. The name of Ireland reads as fair as England; its sons
are as brave and politic, able to defend, to rule themselves: blot
England from the world, and Ireland stands free and glorious, sufficing
to herself. This springal, valorous though he be, can never upset
Tudor's throne in London; but he can do more for us by his very
impotence. He is the true lord of Ireland: we are liegemen in
maintaining his right. Plant his banner, rally round it all men who wish
well to their country; drive out the good man Poynings; crush the
Butlers--aye, down with them; and when Richard is crowned King of Erin,
and the Geraldines rule under him, our native land will stand singly,
nor want England for a crutch--or, by'r Lady! for a spear to enter her
heart, while she leaneth on it; so the wars of York and Lancaster may
free us from the proud, imperious English; and the Irish, like the
Scotch, have a king and a state of their own."
Desmond's eyes flashed for a moment, as Keating thus presented before
them the picture he most desired to behold; but they grew cold again.
"The means, reverend prior, the arms, the money, the soldiers?"
"A bold stroke brings all: strike one blow, and Ireland is at our feet.
We must not tarry; now the Butlers and their party are asleep in their
security; gather men together; march forward boldly; strike at the
highest, Dublin herself."
"Father," replied the earl, "long before I were half way there, my
litter would be abandoned even by its bearers, and we left alone among
the bogs and mountains, to feed as we may, or die. If there be any sooth
in your scheme, it can only prove good, inasmuch as we secure Connaught
to ourselves, and turn this corner of the island into a kingdom; but
neither one word, nor one blow, will gain Dublin. You are right so
far,--something must be done, and speedily; and, if it be well done, we
may do more, till by the aid of the blessed St. Patrick and
white-tooth'd Bridget! we tread upon the necks of the Butlers."
This one thing to be undertaken, after much consultation among the
chieftains, was the siege of Waterford: it had been summoned to
acknowledge Duke Richard as its lord, and had refused: Keating was very
averse to spending time before a fortified town. "On, on, boutez en
avant!" He reminded Lord Barry of his device, and strove to awaken
ambition in him. The prior of Kilmainham had spent all his life in
Dublin, a chief member of the government, a seditious, factious but
influential man: the capital to him was all that was worth having,
while, to these lords of Munster, the smallest victory over their
particular rivals, or the gaining a chief city in a district, which was
their world, appeared more glorious than entering London itself
victoriously, if meanwhile Waterford, or any one of the many towns of
Ireland, held out against them.
On the fifteenth of July, 1497, the duke of York, the earl of Desmond,
and the other many chief of many names, some Geraldines, all allied to,
or subject to them, as the O'Briens, the Roches, the Macarthys, the
Barrys, and others, assembled at Youghall, a town subject to the earl of
Desmond, and situated about midway between Cork and Waterford, at the
mouth of the river Blackwater.
On the twenty-second of July the army was in movement, and entered the
county of Waterford; the chiefs, at the head of their respective
followers, proceeded to the shrine of St. Declan at Ardmore, to make
their vows for the success of their expedition. The church at Ardmore,
the round tower, the shrine, and healing-rock, were all objects of
peculiar sanctity. The countess of Desmond, and her young son, and the
fair duchess of York, accompanied this procession from Youghall. After
the celebration of mass, the illustrious throng congregated on the rocky
eminence, on which the mysterious tower is built, overlooking the little
bay, where the calm waters broke gently on the pebbly beach. It was a
beauteous summer-day; the noon-day heat was tempered by the sea breeze,
and relieved by the regular plash of the billows, as they spent
themselves on the shore. A kind of silence--such silence as there can
be among a multitude, such a silence as is preserved when the winds sing
among the pines--possessed the crowd: they stood in security, in peace,
surrounded by such objects as excited piety and awe; and yet the hopes
of the warrior, and, if such a word may be used, a warrior's fears,
possessed them; it was such a pause as the mountain-goat makes ere he
commits himself to the precipice. A moment afterwards all was in motion;
to the sound of warlike instruments the troops wound up the Ardmore
mountains, looking down on the little fleet that stemmed its slow way
towards the harbour of Waterford. The ladies were left alone with few
attendants. The young duchess gazed on that band of departing warriors,
whose sole standard was the spotless rose; they were soon lost in the
foldings of the hills; again they emerged; her straining eye caught
them. That little speck upon the mountain-side contained the sole hope
and joy of her life, exposed to danger for the sake of a little good;
for Katherine, accustomed to the sight of armies, and to the
companionship of chiefs and rulers, detected at once the small chance
there was, that these men could bring to terms a strongly fortified
city; but resignation supplied the place of hope; she believed that
Richard would be spared; and, but for his own sake, she cared little
whether a remote home in Ireland, or a palace in England received them.
She looked again on the mountain path; no smallest moving object gave
sign of life; the sunlight slept upon the heathy uplands; the grey rocks
stood in shadowy grandeur; Katherine sighed and turned again to the
chapel, to offer still more fervent prayers, that on this beauteous
earth, beneath this bright genial heaven, she might not be left
desolate: whatever else her fortune, that Richard might be hers.
The army which the earl of Desmond led against Waterford, did not
consist of more than two thousand men. With these he invested the
western division of the city. Richard, with his peculiar troop, took his
position at the extremity of this line, nearest Passage, close to
Lumbard's Marsh, there to protect the disembarkment of troops from the
fleet.
Neither party failed in zeal or activity. The first days were actively
employed in erecting works and bringing the cannon to play upon the
town. On the third, in the very midst of their labours, while the earl
in his litter was carried close under the walls among the pioneers, and
Lord Barry in his eagerness seized a spade and began to work, signals of
attack were made from the town, and the troops poured out from the
nearest gate. The advanced guard were too few to contend with them; they
were driven back on the entrenchments. The citizens were full of fury
and indignation; they rushed forward with loud cries, and created a
confusion, which Desmond and Lord Barry were not slow to encounter; they
brought a few regular troops to stand the assault; a well pointed cannon
from the town swept the thin lines; they fell back; a yell of victory
was raised by the men of Waterford; it reached the outpost of Duke
Richard: he, with a score of men, five among them, with himself, being
cavaliers armed at all points, were viewing a portion of the walls that
seemed most open to assault; the roar of cannon and the clash of arms
called him to more perilous occupation; he galloped towards the scene of
action; and, while still the faltering men of Desmond were ashamed to
fly, yet dared not stand, he, with his little troop, attacked the enemy
on their flank. The white steed, the nodding plume, the flashing sword
of York were foremost in the fray; Neville and Plantagenet were close
behind; these knights in their iron armour seemed to the
half-disciplined Irish like invulnerable statues, machines to offend,
impregnable to offence; twenty such might have turned the fortunes of a
more desperate day: their antagonists fell back. The knight of Kerry led
on at this moment a reinforcement of Geraldines, and a cannon, which
hitherto had been rebel to the cannoneer's art, opened its fiery mouth
with such loud injurious speech, that for many moments the dread line it
traced remained a blank. Richard saw the post of advantage, and
endeavoured to throw himself between the enemy and the city: he did not
succeed; but, on the contrary, was nearly cut off himself by a
reinforcement of townsmen, sent to secure the retreat of their fellows.
Those who saw him fight that day spoke of him as a wonder: the heart
that had animated him in Andalusia was awake; as there he smote to death
the turbaned Moor, so now he dealt mortal blows on all around, fearless
of the pressing throng and still increasing numbers. While thus hurried
away by martial enthusiasm, the sound of a distant trumpet caught his
ear, and the echo of fire-arms followed; it came from the east--his own
post was attacked: now, when he wished to retreat, he first discerned
how alone and how surrounded he was; yet, looking on his foes he saw,
but for their numbers, how despicable they were; to a knight, what was
this throng of half-armed burghers and naked kerns, who pell-mell aimed
at him, every blow ineffectual? But again the loud bellow of distant
cannon called him, and he turned to retreat--a cloud of missiles
rattled against him; his shield was struck through; the bullets
rebounded from his case of iron, while his sword felled an enemy at
every stroke; and now, breaking through the opposing rank on the other
side, his friends joined him--the citizens recoiled. "Old Reginald's
tower," they averred, "would have bled sooner than these Sir
Tristans--they were charmed men, and lead and good arrowheads were
softer than paper-pellets on their sides." The first movement of panic
was enough; before their leaders could rally them again to the attack,
the English knights were far, riding at full speed towards the eastern
gate.
Here Richard's presence was enough to restore victory to his
standard--flushed, panting, yet firm in his seat, his hand true and
dangerous in its blows, there was something superhuman in his strength
and courage, yet more fearful than his sharp sword. The excess of
chivalrous ardour, the burning desire to mingle in the thickest fight,
made danger happiness, and all the terrible shows of war entrancing joys
to York. When reproached for rashness by his cousin, his bright eye was
brighter for a tear, as he cried, "Cousin, I must have some part of my
inheritance: my kingdom I shall never gain--glory--a deathless
name--oh, must not these belong to him who possesses Katherine? The
proud Scots, who looked askance at my nuptials, shall avow at least that
she wedded no craven-hearted loon."
With the morrow came a new task. Their little fleet had made its way up
Waterford Harbour into the river Suir; and the troops destined to join
his were partly disembarked. To protect the landing, he and Neville rode
across the marsh to the strand. On their return a fresh sight presented
itself--the ponds of Kilbarry were filled, the besieged having raised a
mound of earth to stop the course of the river which flows from Kilbarry
into the Suir; and the road back to their camp was completely cut off.
There was no mode of getting round save by the road to Tramore; yet to
the active mind of Richard, it seemed that even this disaster might be
turned into a benefit. He re-embarked the troops; he himself went on
board the principal vessel; he called to secret council the
captains:--the conclusion was not immediately divulged, but some
adventure of peril was assuredly planned among them.
The long summer day went slowly down; the hum of men from Waterford
reached the ships; the quay was thronged with soldiers: several vessels
were anchored in the advance, and manned with troops; but the English
fleet, their anchors cast, their sails furled, seemed peacefully
inclined. As night came on, the quay became a desert; the ships were
worked back to their former stations. It grew darker; the city, with its
old rough tower and spires, was mirrored indistinctly in the twilight
tide; the walls grew dim and gigantic; the sound of fire-arms ceased;
the last roll of the drum died away; the city slept, fearless of its
invaders. At this moment, the ebbing tide began to flow. Assisted by the
rising waters, Richard and Neville ran a small boat under the cover of
the opposite bank of the river, to observe what defences the quay might
possess. The low tide at that hour was its best defence; a watch-tower
or two with their sentinels, completed the guard of a part of the town,
whose defence on that side was neglected; by midnight also the tide
would have risen, but it was necessary to wait for the following night;
for first he must communicate with Desmond, that a night attack in the
opposite direction might effectually leave the water-side deserted. The
vessels meanwhile dropped down below Little Island, at once to get out
of shot of Reginald's Tower, which commands the harbour, and to remove
from the citizens any apprehensions they might entertain of attack. The
winding of the river concealed them entirely from the town.
The next day, a burning August day, declined into a dewy night;
imperceptibly during the dark the vessels were nearer the city; and
while the warders of the city fancied that the troops on board the fleet
were finding a circuitous path over land to Desmond's camp, the stars of
night twinkled through the shrouds upon decks crowded with men, arming
themselves in busy silence. Suddenly it was reported to Richard that a
stranger caravel was among them; she was the only vessel with set sails,
and these were enlarged by night, till as she neared, she seemed a
giant, a living thing stalking between heaven and the element beneath. A
sudden shiver convulsed the prince; to his eye it was the likeness of
that vessel which long ere this had traversed, he hoped in safety, the
western sea, stemming its mountainous waves towards the beauteous Indian
Isles. Had it been wrecked, and this the spectre? It was the illusion of
a moment; but it was necessary to ascertain the nature and intentions of
the stranger, who was now close among them. York's vessel, at his
command, got alongside of her; he leapt upon the deck, and saw at once
him whom the dim night had concealed before, Hernan de Faro upon the
deck.
A thousand emotions--wonder, fear, delight--rushed into the youth's
heart; while the mariner, yet more weather-beaten, thin to emaciation,
but still erect, still breathing the same spirit of fortitude and
kindliness, grasped his hand, and blessed the Virgin for the meeting.
The questions, the anxiety of Richard, could not be uttered in this hour
of action; he only said, "You will join us, and we will be doubly
strong; or must you remain to guard your daughter?"
"I come from her--she is not with me--more of this anon."
Rapidly he asked and obtained information of the meditated attack; in
part he disapproved, and, with all the sagacity of a veteran in such
enterprises, suggested alterations. Now every boat was lowered with
silent expedition, each received its freight of troops, and was rowed
with the tide up the Suir. One skiff contained York and the Moor. The
prince, in the anticipation of the hazardous contest, looked serious;
while every feature of De Faro's face was bright, his animated, glad
smile, his flashing eyes--all spoke the exhilaration of one engaged in
his elected pleasure. Richard had never seen him thus before: usually he
appeared kind, almost deferential; yet, except when he talked of the
sea, heavy and silent, and speaking of that in a subdued tone. He now
stood the picture of a veteran hero, self-possessed and calm, but for
the joyousness that the very feeling of his sword's weight, as his right
hand grasped the hilt, imparted to his warlike spirit.
Had an angel, on poised wings of heavenly grain, hovered over the city
of Waterford, gazing on its star-pointing spires, the reflecting waters
of the Suir, the tranquil hills and woods that gathered round the river,
he would have believed such quiet inviolate, and blessed the sleep that
hushed the miserable passions of humanity to repose. Anon there came the
splash of waters, the shout of men, the sentinels' startled cry, the
sudden rush of the guard, the clash of swords, the scream, the low
groan, the protracted howl, and the fierce bark of the watch-dog joining
in. The celestial angel has soared to heaven, scared; and yet honour,
magnanimity, devotion, filled the hearts of those who thus turned to
hell a seeming paradise. Led by Richard and De Faro, while a party was
left behind to insure retreat, another rushed forward right through the
town, to throw open the western gate, and admit Desmond, before the
terrified citizens had exchanged their nightcaps for helmets; in vain:
already the market-place was filled with soldiers ready for the
encounter; guided by a native, they endeavoured to find a way through
the bye-streets; they lost themselves; they got entangled in narrow
alleys; the awakened citizens cast upon their heads tiles, blocks of
wood,--all they could lay hands upon. To get back to the square was
their only salvation; although the storm and yell that rose behind,
assured them that Desmond had commenced the attack. With diminished
numbers York regained the market-place; here he was furiously attacked:
the crowd still increased, until the knot of assailants might have been
crushed, it seemed, by mere numbers; day, bright day, with its golden
clouds and swift-pacing sun, dawned upon the scene. In one of those
pauses which sometimes occur in the most chaotic roar, a trumpet was
heard, sounding as it seemed Desmond's retreat from the walls. Richard
felt that he was deserted, that all hope was over; and to secure the
retreat of his men was a work of sufficient difficulty. Foot to foot the
young hero and the veteran mariner fought; one by the quickness of his
blows, the other by his tower-like strength, keeping back the enemy;
while retreating slowly, their faces to the foe, they called on their
men to make good their escape. They reached the quay--they saw the wide
river, their refuge; their vessels near at hand, the boats hovering
close, their safety was in sight, and yet hope of safety died in their
hearts, so many and so fierce were those who pressed on them, Richard
was wounded, weary, faint; De Faro alone--Reginald's old tower, which,
dark and scathless, frowned on them, seemed his type. They were at the
water's edge, and the high tide kissed with its waves the very footway
of the quay: "Courage, my lord,--a few more blows and we are safe:" the
mariner spoke thus, for he saw Richard totter; and his arm, raised
feebly, fell again without a stroke. At that moment, a flame, and then a
bellowing roar, announced that the tardy cannoneer had at last opened
his battery on the fleet, from the tower. One glance De Faro cast on his
caravel; the bolt had struck and damaged one of the vessels, but the
Adalid escaped, "Courage, my lord!" again he shouted; and at that moment
a blow was struck at Richard which felled him; he lay stretched at De
Faro's feet. Ere it could be repeated, the head of the assailant was
cleft by a Moorish scimitar. With furious strength, De Faro then hurled
his weapon among the soldiers; the unexpected act made them recoil; he
lifted up the insensible form of Richard with the power of an elephant;
he cast him into the near waves, and leapt in after: raising him with
one hand, he cut the waters with the other, and swam thus towards his
vessel, pursued by a rain of missiles; one arrow glanced on Richard's
unstrung helmet, another fixed itself in the joint at the neck; but De
Faro was unhurt. He passed, swimming thus, the nearest vessels: the
sailors crowded to the sides, imploring him to enter: as if it had been
schoolboy's sport, he refused, till he reached the Adalid, till his own
men raised Richard, revived now, but feeble, to her worn deck: and he,
on board her well-known planks, felt superior to every sovereign in the
world.
CHAPTER XL
AN ESCAPE
Farewell, Erin! farewell all
Who live to weep our fall!
MOORE.
On the height of the tower of Ardmore, the White Rose of young Richard
kept her vigils, and looked across the calm sea, and along the passes of
the mountains of Drum, in anxious expectation of the event of the
expedition. Sad forebodings oppressed her; the sentiment that mastered
every other, was that her lord should require her presence, her
assistance, while she was far. He had promised to send a post each day;
when these failed, her heart sank within her. The only change that
occurred, was when she saw the Adalid proceed slowly in the calm towards
Waterford.
One sunny morn she from her watch-tower perceived several straggling
groups descending the mountains. She strained her eyes: no banners
waved; no martial music spoke of victory. That was secondary in her
eyes; it was for Richard's safety that she was solicitous; yet she would
not, did not fear; for there is an instinctive sense in human nature
which, in time of doubt, sallies forth from the ark of refuge, and
brings back tidings of peace or sorrow to the expectant on the perilous
flood; a prophetic spirit which, when it despairs--woe the while!--the
omen proves not false. The Lady Katherine watched anxiously but not in
despair. At length heavy footsteps ascended the tower-stairs; and to
answer the beatings of her heart, Edmund Plantagenet and the mayor of
Cork presented themselves; they eagerly asked, "Is he not here?"
"Nay, he has not fled?" she replied, while for the first time she grew
pale.
"Weigh our words as mere air," said O'Water; "for we know nothing,
gentle dame, but that I must to Cork, to bar out the men of Waterford.
His highness left us for the fleet; and the filling up of those cursed
ponds of Kilbarry--ill luck to them!--cut off his return. Last
night--Saint Patrick knows the deeds of the last night!--weary from
our labour the day before, we were all too carelessly asleep, when our
camp was assaulted. Earl Maurice had ridden to Lismore to hasten his
cousin, the Knight of the Valley. There was some report of an attack
upon the town from the ships. Havoc was the cry that roused the welkin
from east to west. The sum I know not, save that we are runaways--the
siege of Waterford is raised."
"What skiff is that?" interrupted the duchess. Round the point of
Minehead first peeped the bowsprit, then the prow; and last the complete
form of a vessel in full sail, yet scarcely touched by the wind,
weathered the promontory. "Haste we, my friends," she continued; "the
duke may be on board; at least we shall have intelligence."
"I know that craft full well," said O'Water; "her captain is a converted
Moorish pagan."
"The White Rose waves from her mast-top," cried Katherine; "oh, he is
there!"
"Holy angels!" exclaimed Edmund; "it is the Adalid! I will on board on
the instant."
Already the duchess was descending the steep narrow stairs; the
villagers of Ardmore, with many of the soldiers who had fled from
Waterford, were on the shingles, watching the caravel, now full in
sight, yet fearful to venture too near the shelving shore. "They are
bound for Cork," cried a man.
"Oh, not till I first speak to them," said Katherine; "the day is fair,
the sea calm, put off a boat. Ah, my cousin Edmund, take me with thee."
Plantagenet had already got a boat from its moorings. O'Water was beside
the princess to beseech vainly that she would be patient; and poor
Astley, who had been left in special attendance on her, waited near with
blanched cheeks. Accompanied by these dear or humble friends, the White
Rose was borne with the speed of ten oars towards the Adalid. On the
deck, half reclining on a rude bed, very pale, yet with lively, wakeful
eyes, lay the prince of England. In a moment Katherine was assisted on
board. There was no death for Richard; she was there, life of his life;
so young, so beautiful, and true; the celestial goodness that beamed in
her eyes, and dimpled her cherub countenance, was not like that of an
inhalant of this sad planet; except that spirits of beauty and love ever
and anon do animate the frames of the earth-born; so that we behold in
the aspects of our fellow-beings glances and smiles bright as those of
angels. De Faro himself looked with admiration on the bending form of
this lovely one, till accosted by Edmund, whose first question was, "Don
Hernan here--where then is----"
"My beloved Monina you would ask for," said De Faro; "she, who to please
her vagrant father would have crossed the wild Atlantic to visit the
savage Western Isles. Poor child, even at the threshold of this
adventure we were nearly wrecked. She is now in England; she sent me
here--to tell of rebellion against King Henry; to invite Duke Richard
to his kingdom."
Thus they were occupied on the sunny deck; the sea was calm, the keel
almost stationary in the water; they were bound for Cork; Plantagenet
and the mayor gathered eagerly from De Faro the history of the combat.
They learned that it had been expected that Desmond would have assaulted
from land, while York invaded the city from the river; but the fellow
sent with Richard's missive had been taken, the city put on her guard.
Nothing but the desire of the citizens to do too much, and his own
desperate valour, had saved Richard; they resolved at once to receive
and destroy him, and to sally unawares on the earl's camp: they hoped to
make prisoners of all the chiefs. They failed in this, but succeeded in
raising the siege of their city.
Towards evening a land-breeze sprung up, and two others of York's
vessels hove in sight, and passed them quickly; for the Adalid was much
disabled, and made slow way. Soon in pursuit appeared a ship and two
corvettes, which O'Water recognized as belonging to Waterford. The
corvettes proceeded on their way; but the larger vessel spied out the
Adalid, and, being now in advance of her, hove to, with the manifest
resolve of attacking her on her watery way towards Cork. De Faro, with
his keen eyes fixed on the enemy's movements, stood on the forecastle in
silence; while Plantagenet and O'Water eagerly demanded arms, and
exhorted the sailors to a most vain resistance. From the vessel of the
foe the Moorish mariner cast his eyes upwards; the wind was shifting to
the west. With a loud voice he shouted to his crew to man the yards;
then, seizing the rudder, gave the swift orders that made the caravel go
about. Sailing near the wind, her canvass had flapped lazily, now it
filled; the keel felt the impulse, and dashed merrily along, bounding
forward like a courser in the race; the ship, which had furled its sails
in expectation of the combat, was in an instant left far behind; the
other vessels from Waterford were still further to the west, towards
Cork.
All these manuvres were mysteries to the landsmen: they gladly hailed
the distance placed between them and a superior enemy; but as with a
freshening gale the Adalid still held her swift course towards the east,
and the land began to sink on the horizon, O'Water asked with some
eagerness whither they were bound.
"To safety," De Faro replied, laconically.
"An idle answer," said Edmund; "we must judge where our safety lies?"
"I have ever found best safety on the wide ocean sea," cried the
mariner, looking round proudly on his beloved clement. "Your safeties
and your lords are, methinks, English born; if this wind hold, on the
third morning we shall see the coast of Cornwall."
The mayor was aghast, exclaiming--"Cornwall! England! we are betrayed?"
De Faro looked on him with contempt:--"I do not command here," he
continued, "I obey the prince of England; let him decide. Shall we
engage superior force; be boarded; taken by the enemy: or land, be
wrecked, perchance, upon this savage coast; alive with vengeful
kerns--defeated men among a victorious angry people? Or go where we are
called by your leader's cause, where thousands of men are up in arms to
receive you like brothers, to fight for you, with you; where England,
the long-desired kingdom, makes you welcome to her green, sunny shores?
Ask ye your prince this question; let his word be law."
This statement, upheld by York, brought conviction to the minds of
Plantagenet and O'Water. The latter was aware of the risk he ran from
the awakened vengeance of Henry, to pursue his having fostered rebellion
in the city of which he was magistrate; and a moment's reflection showed
him that there was no security for him, except in flight from Ireland.
Meanwhile the wind, increasing in its strength, and right astern,
carried them over the foaming waters. The early dawn showed them far at
sea: they had outrun or baffled their pursuers; and though, now and
then, with anxious thought, they reflected on the comrades left behind,
on the poor equipage, and diminished numbers with which they were about
to land in England, still there was something so miraculous in their
escape, so unforeseen in the destiny that cut them off, and carried
them, a remnant merely of the war, away from its dangers, that they felt
as if they were under the immediate direction of a ruling Providence,
and so resigned themselves; greedily drinking in the while the highly
coloured picture De Faro painted of the Yorkist army which awaited them
in Cornwall.
Again upon the sea--again impelled by winds and waves to new
scenes--new hopes, tossed here and there by Fortune, it was Richard's
fate to see one frustrated expectation give place to another, which, in
its turn, faded and died. This constant succession of projects kept
alive within him that sanguine spirit which never could be vanquished.
Eagerly he passed from one idea to another, and almost welcomed the last
disaster, which appeared but to pioneer the way to future success.
During this voyage, weak as his wounds had made him, he talked of
England as his own--the dearer because he must spend his blood to win
it. Circumstances had an exactly contrary effect upon Katherine. The
continual change of schemes convinced her of the futility of all. She
felt that, if the first appearance of the duke of York, acknowledged and
upheld by various sovereigns and dear high-born relatives, had not
animated the party of the White Hose in his favour, it was not now,
after many defeats and humiliations on his side, and after triumphs and
arrogant assumptions on that of his enemy, that brilliant success could
be expected. This conviction must soon become general among the
Yorkists, Richard would learn the sad lesson, but she was there to
deprive it of its sting; to prove to him, that tranquillity and
Katherine were of more worth than struggles, even if they proved
successful, for vain power.
It was strange that a girl of royal birth, bred in a palace, accustomed
to a queen-like sovereignty over her father's numerous vassals in the
Highlands, should aim at restricting the ambitious York to mere privacy;
while Monina, the humble daughter of a Moorish mariner, would have felt
honour, reputation, all that is dear to man, at stake, if her friend had
dreamed of renouncing his claims to the English crown. His cause was her
life; his royalty the main spring of all her actions and thoughts. She
had sacrificed love to it--she taught her woman's soul to rejoice in
his marriage with another, because his union with a princess was pledge
to the world of his truth. Perhaps, had the time ever come when he
renounced his struggles, she had felt with a pang that his lowly
fortunes might not incongruously be shared by her, and self had mingled
in the religion of her heart, which was virtuous devotion to him; but as
it was, the idea never presented itself. He must win or die. Did he win,
her happiness would result from the contemplation of his glory; were he
to die, the young hero's grave would not be watered by her tears: she
believed that in that hour her life would cease.
The Lady Katherine saw a vain mask in all the common-place pomp of
palaces; she perceived that power failed most when its end was good; she
saw that in accomplishing its purpose in the cottage, or in halls of
state, felicity resulted from the affections only. It was but being an
actor in different scenes, to be a potentate or a peasant; the outward
garb is not the livery of the mind: the refinement of taste which
enables us to gather pleasure from simple objects; the warmth of heart
which necessitates the exercise of our affections, but which is content
when they are satisfied; these, to her mind, were the only, but they
were the complete ingredients of happiness; and it was rarer to find and
more difficult to retain them, among false-hearted, ambitious courtiers,
and the luxury of palaces, than among simple-minded peasantry and a
plain natural style of living. There was some romance in this idea;
Katherine felt that there was, and subdued herself not to lay too much
store by any change or guise of outward circumstance. She taught herself
to feel and know, that in the tumult of camps and war, in the anxieties
of her present vagrant life, on the throne which she might possess, or
in the prison she might share, by devoting herself to the happiness of
him to whom she was united, whose heroism, goodness and love merited all
her affection, she was performing the part assigned to her on earth, and
securing a portion of happiness, far beyond the common lot of those
whose colder, harder natures require something beyond sympathy to
constitute their misnamed felicity.
CHAPTER XLI
ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND
From Ireland thus comes York to claim his right.
If I am not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a soused gurnet.
SHAKSPEARE.
On the deck of the sea-worn Adalid, watching the renovated strength, and
attending on the still remaining weakness of her lord, the soft heart of
the princess possessed to fulness all its desires; while Monina, among
the wild rude Cornish rebels, exerted herself to inspire zeal for his
cause, and to increase the number of his partisans, winning them by her
thrilling eloquence, ruling them by her beauty and enthusiasm. She had
found the whole population ready to second him; but fitting leaders,
noble and influential men, were absolutely wanting. She sent her father
to urge Richard to this new attempt, and when he should appear,
attended, as she fondly hoped, by a train of high-born Irish lords, of
gallant Scotch cavaliers, and devoted English warriors; he would be able
to give a martial form to the rout of Cornish insurgents, to discipline
their wild, untamed valour, to attract others by name and rank, and
Tudor at last must grow pale upon his throne. With eagerness she awaited
the fleet that was to bring the chosen band of heroes; when, after a
long and calm voyage, on the third of September, the Adalid ran into
White Sand Bay, on the western coast of Cornwall, and Plantagenet, at
Richard's command, disembarked and proceeded forthwith to Bodmin.
It was strange that the chief partizan of the White Rose should, on his
invasion of the island, find a Spanish girl the main source of
information--the chief mover of the rebellion by which he was to
profit. Yet Plantagenet almost forgot his mortal struggle for a kingdom,
in the anticipation of seeing Monina. Plantagenet, prouder, more
ambitious for his cousin than Richard for himself--Plantagenet, who had
but one object, to be the guardian, supporter, defender of York, now
wandered in thought far back through many years to their Spanish home;
to his tenderness for the sweet child of Madeline; to the development of
the beauty and virtues of the lovely Moor. Thrown apart by their several
destinies, he had scarcely seen her since then; and now, in place of the
dark, laughing-eyed girl, he beheld a woman, bright with intelligence
and sensibility; whose brow wore somewhat the sad trace of suffering,
whose cheek was a little sunk, but in whose eyes there was a soul, in
whose smile an enchantment not to be resisted. She was all life,
vivacity, and yet softness: all passion, yet yielding and docile. Her
purpose was steady, stubborn; but the mode of its attainment, her
conduct, she easily permitted to be guided. Edmund scarcely recognized
her, but she instantly knew him; her elder brother, her kind but serious
guardian, whom she had loved with awe, as the wisest and best of men.
Now he bore a dearer name, as the unfailing friend of him she loved. To
both their hearts this meeting was an unexpected joy. Monina had thought
too much of Richard to remember his cousin. He had half forgotten his
own sensations; or, at least, was quite unprepared for the power and
effect of her surpassing beauty.
After the first overflowing of affection, Monina eagerly detailed the
forces raised, and dwelt on the spirit and courage of the insurgents.
"They are poor fellows," she said, "but true; burning with zeal to right
themselves, and to avenge their losses at Blackheath. They are gathered
together by thousands. They want merely leaders, discipline, arms,
money, ammunition, and a few regular troops to show them the way: these,
of course, you bring."
"Alas! no," said Edmund, "we bring merely ourselves."
"Could Ireland, then, furnish no warlike stores?" continued the zealous
girl, "But this can be remedied, doubtless. Yourself, your leader, Lord
Desmond, Lord Barry, the gallant Neville; tell me who else--who from
Burgundy--what Irish, what Scottish knights?"
The last word was said with difficulty: it made a pause in her rapid
utterance; while Edmund, aghast, replied, "Indeed! none of all these, or
very few: in a word, we have fled from Waterford in the Adalid. His
highness and myself are the sole English knights. The good old mayor of
Cork must represent all Ireland, gentle and simple, to your eyes--our
fair duchess, Scotland: her attendants will follow in due time, but
these are but needy servitors." Monina laughed. "We came to seek, not
bring aid," continued Plantagenet, gravely.
"Do not be angry," replied Monina. "There is more bitterness and sorrow
in my laugh, than in, methinks, a widow's tears. My dear friend, God
send we are not utterly lost. Yet his highness and yourself may work
wonders. Only report truly our state, that the duke be not too
dissatisfied with our appearance. Tell him Lord Audley headed a worse
organized troop: tell him that Master Heron, the mercer, has no silken
soul--that Master Skelton, the tailor, disdains a smaller needle than a
cloth-yard shaft."
"And is it to head men like these we have been drawn from our Irish
friends?" cried Edmund; "better return. Alas! our path is besieged; the
very sea is subject to our enemy; in the wide world the king of England
has no refuge."
"That he is king of England," said Monina, "let not him, let none of us
forget. The very name is powerful: let him, on his native shores, assume
it. Surely, if their liege king stand singly in the land of his
forefathers, at his sacred name thousands will congregate. He has dared
too little, when he had power: at the worst, even now, let him dare all,
and triumph."
Her bold, impetuous language had its effects on Edmund; it echoed his
own master passion, which ever cried aloud, "He is a king! and, once
give himself that sacred name, submission and allegiance from his
subjects must follow." Buoyed up by these thoughts, his report on board
the Adalid was free from those humiliating details, which, even if he
had wished, he would have found no voice to communicate to his royal
cousin.
Monina's task of imparting to her friends the destitute condition in
which their sovereign arrived, was even easier. "He is come among tall
men," said the pompous Heron, "who can uphold him for the better king,
even to the satin of his doublet."
"And fight for him, even to the rending of our own," cried Skelton.
"And die for him, as he must too, when all's done," said Trereife. "A
soldier's death is better than a dastard's life."
"We will have our men in goodly array," said Heron. "Master Skelton, are
the doublets cut from that piece of sad-coloured velvet, last of my
wares, slashed with white, as I directed?"
"Slash me no doublets but with a Spanish rapier," squeaked Skelton,
"Have I not cast away the shears? Yet, look you now, good lack! I lie.
Here in my pouch be a sharp pair, to clip Master Walter of Hornbeck's
ears--if, by the help of the saints, we can lay him as flat on the
field as his own grey suit was on my board when a shaping; by the same
token that he never paid for it."
"In good hour, Sir Taylor," said Monina: "but the talk now is, how duly
to receive his grace, how induce him to accept your aid."
"Ay, by Saint Dunstan!" cried Trereife, "he has ruffled in France and
Burgundy, my masters, and will look on you as clowns and base-born
burghers; but no man has more to give than his life, and if he waste
that heartily, time was, and time may be, when villains trod on the
necks of knights, as the ghost of Charles of Burgundy could tell us.
Courage is the beginning and end of a soldier's catechism."
Such were the chiefs Monina found desirous, and in their own conceit
capable, of placing England's diadem on Duke Richard's head. Heron, the
bankrupt mercer, who fancied himself the base-born offspring of the late
earl of Devonshire, and whose first deed of arms would find him Heron no
more, but Sir John Courtney; Skelton, a luckless wight, whose shears
ever went astray (the true cause why Walter of Hornbeck paid not for his
misshapen suit), and who, therefore, believed himself born for greater
things; and Trereife, the younger prodigal son of a rural Franklin, who,
cast off and disinherited, had served in the wars in Flanders, gaining
in that country no small reverence for the good Duchess Margaret, and
ready therefore to right her nephew; besides, like a true hero, he
abhorred this silken time of peace, and hoped to gather spoil, if not
laurels, in the meditated insurrection.
The noble passengers disembarked from the Adalid. "Welcome to England,
sweet Kate! welcome to the country of which thou art queen," said York;
"and even if her reception be cold or rough, love her for my sake, for
she is my mother."
"A stepmother I will not call her, dear my lord," replied the princess,
"but the maternal embrace is strangely wanting on these deserted sands:
the narrow deck of yonder caravel, were, methinks, a kindlier home: may
we go on and prosper; but, if we fail, my lord will pardon me, if I
welcome the day when I embark again on board the Adalid; to find, when
the wide earth proves false, safety and happiness on the free waves of
ocean."
CHAPTER XLII
RECEPTION IN CORNWALL
SKELTON. 'Tis but going to sea, and, leaping ashore, cut ten or twelve
thousand unnecessary throats, fire seven or eight towns, take half a
dozen cities, get into the market-place, crown him. Richard the Fourth,
and the business is finished.
FORD.
Am I not king?
Awake, thou coward majesty! thou sleepest.
Is not the king's name forty thousand names?
SHAKSPEARE.
These doughty leaders drew out their followers in a plain just without
Bodmin. There were about two hundred men decently clad from the remnants
of the mercer's wares, tolerably well armed and disciplined by Trereife;
this troop obtained the distinction of being selected as King Richard's
body-guard. Skelton was their captain, a rare commander, whose real
merit was that he felt happiest when stuck close as a burr to Trereife;
for at heart he was an arrant coward, though a loud braggart, and talked
of slaying his thousands, while the very wounding of his doublet had
made him wince.
Heron was brave in his way; a true Cornishman, he could wrestle and cast
his antagonist with the strength of a lion; he loved better, it is true,
to trust to his arm than to his sword, which, in spite of his strength,
Trereife always made fly from his hand in their fencing lessons; not the
less did he consider himself a gallant knight, and had cut up many a
yard of crimson cramoisy to make a rich suit for himself. He wore
Monina's glove in his cap and large yellow roses at his knees; he called
himself generalissimo, and marshalled under him full three thousand men,
who in truth had
Never set a squadron in the field
Nor the division of a battle knew
More than a spinster;
but they were sturdy discontented spirits, who valued life at its worth,
which was even nothing to them, who had laboured with all their hearts,
till labour was of no avail, and who then left the mine and the furrow
to carry their loud complaints to the foot of Henry's throne--they were
better pleased with the prospect of overthrowing it.
"Now, my masters, make yourselves heard," cried Heron, as he shuffled
down a little eminence on a short-legged Welsh pony, the only steed he
found he could back in safety. "His grace is within ear-shot, so you be
loud. Long life to King Richard!--down with the taxes--Saint Michael
and Cornwall for ever!"
The din was prolonged, ended, began, went on, as the prince arrived at
the summit of the hill with his little train--fair Katherine was at his
side--Plantagenet, O'Water, De Faro, with some dozen soldiers who fled
from Waterford; sure never invader came so ill equipped. On the hill-top
the illustrious wanderers paused, Richard hastily scanned the
rough-suited multitude--then, turning to Plantagenet, "Cousin," he
said, "you told me that the insurgent army would be drawn out for my
view; is it not strange that yonder rabble should hide it from us? As
far as my eye can reach, I see no martial discipline, no banners, no
lordly crest; fie on those drums! they have no touch of military
concord. What makes our army so slack of duty, cousin?"
Though no fault of his, Edmund blushed deeply in very shame--the
approach of Heron, Skelton, Trereife, and three or four other principal
rebels, cut off his reply. It had been agreed that Skelton, who had a
gift of eloquence, should speak, and many words he used to welcome his
liege. "We will have every man with a red rose in his cap, in a drag
chain, please your grace, and give a sound lesson to the saucy burghers
of Exeter withal. Not a knight shall live in the land, but of your
majesty's dubbing. We have but to put to rout King Henry's army, to hang
the false loon for a traitor, and to set fire to London and the
Parliament. Such nobles as please to doff their silken cloaks, and don
miners' jackets, may work, the rest shall hang. Their mere wardrobes,
bless the day! will find us and your grace in cloth of gold, embroidery,
and other rich garniture to the end of our lives."
"We thank your zeal, my worthy master," said Richard, courteously; "if
our good troops do half your saying, King Henry must look to it."
"Are those men to be worse than their word?" cried Skelton. "There is
not one among us but has the arms of ten. We are of a race of giants,
please your majesty, and could knock the walls of Exeter down with, our
fists. Please you to enter Bodmin, whose very stones will cry for King
Richard louder than King Hal's cannon;--to-morrow, God willing, we are
for the wars."
The royal party passed on--the dark ferocity or sturdy obstinacy
painted on the faces of the ill-armed rout, struck Richard as he
passed--he became meditative, while Edmund, shamed and angry, his
cheeks burning, his eyes on the ground, listened in indignant silence to
Master Skelton, who fastened on him with such talk, that whether a
soldier spoke of killing doublets, or a tailor prattled of fashioning a
field of slaughter, was a riddle ill to be devised. At length they
passed the gates of Bodmin; and here was a louder cry of welcome from
the shrill voices of women, who held up their thin hands and
half-starved children, crying for vengeance on Tudor, blessing the sweet
faces of Richard and his lovely wife. York's eyes flashed again with
their wonted fires; his creative spirit had found materials here to work
some project, all poor and rude as they might seem.
They entered the town-hall; when, by some sudden revulsion, in the tide
of the crowd, every Cornishman fell back, closed the doors, and left the
wanderers alone. Something was forgotten surely; for Heron had paced
pompously up to Richard, when suddenly he turned on his heel, crying, "A
word, my masters!" and all were gone. The Lady Katherine had marked
their backing and hurrying with becoming gravity; but, when the door was
fairly shut, she could restrain no longer a heartfelt laugh. Richard
joined in her mirth, while Plantagenet strode through the hall angrily;
muttering, "an army, a rout of shirtless beggars; is this England's
reception for her king?"
"It were fine mumming," said Richard, "under a hedge with the green
sward for a stage."
"By our Lady, this passes patience!" reiterated Edmund; "where are the
gentlemen of England? Where the sons of those who fell for York? Are we
to oppose these half-naked knaves to the chivalry of Henry?"
"It would seem that such is expected," replied the prince; "and, verily,
cousin, we might do worse. I pray you, treat the honest rogues well;
better may come of it; keep we our secret, and have we not an array?"
"My lord!" cried Plantagenet, in wonder.
"Patience, dear friend," said York; "I have not been apprentice to
adversity so many long years, without becoming an adept in my calling. I
say, I have an army; bold, though poor--ragged truly, but exceeding
faithful. Methinks it were more glorious to put Tudor down with such
small means, than to meet him in equal terms, like a vulgar conqueror. I
do beseech you, Edmund, put a good face on it; speak to our Cornish
giants, as if they had souls of mettle, and bodies decked like Ponce de
Leon and his peers, when they welcomed Queen Isabel to the Spanish camp.
You remember the golden array of the knights, cousin?"
Edmund was impatient of the prince's gay humour; while Katherine, seeing
in his bright eyes heroism and lofty resolve, felt a dewy moisture
gather in her own: there is something at once awful and affecting, when
a man, the sport of fortune, meets her rudest blow unshrinking, and
turns her very spite into arms against herself. The whole secret of
Richard's present thoughts she could not divine, but she saw that their
scope was worthy of his birth, his aim: her respect--her love
augmented; and her gentle heart at that moment renewed its vow to devote
herself to him entirely and for ever.
In the same spirit, York answered the deputation that waited on him. He
commanded a proclamation to be made, in which he assumed the title of
Richard the Fourth. He announced his intention of immediately
penetrating England, and seizing on some walled town or city, before
Henry could be aware of his having landed. Nor did he confine his energy
to words; he examined the state of his men; their arms and furniture; he
provided for their better discipline, and animated his cousin to take an
active part in marshalling them to order. He went among them, learned
the causes of their dissatisfaction, promised them better days, and so
raised a glad spirit in them, that their hearts, overleaping both time
and circumstance, paid him the honour and the love he might have
claimed, had he already led them through fertile England, and planted
his victorious standard on the Tower of London. Trereife swore by his
beard, he was a proper youth; the old soldier awoke to the remembrance
of harvests of spoil he had gathered in the Netherlands, the stern
encounters and the joys of success; he gazed on the rough Cornish men,
and wondered how they should withstand the nobility of England: but,
when Richard glanced hope and triumph from his bright eyes, when he
spoke of the omnipotence of resolved valour, when he drew a picture of
their ghastly poverty, and showed them how, by standing firm merely,
they might redeem themselves;--while the poor fellows answered with a
prolonged shout, or better still, grasped their arms more fiercely, and
trod the earth with free and decided steps;--a thousand facilities
seemed to be discovered; a thousand resources for the war displayed,
undreamt of before. Were these mere words? or at his voice did soldiers
rise from the clods, and victory obey the sound?
Plantagenet, seeing his royal cousin's resolve, strove to second it.
With a party of men he assaulted a near fortress, carried it, and seized
on a store of arms. This success looked like a mighty victory; Richard
exalted it as such; and the very fellows who handled awkwardly their
booty, fancied themselves heroes at the mere sight of it.
On the third day they were to proceed to Exeter, it being determined
that they should besiege this city. De Faro offered to sail to Cork to
invite the warlike chieftains of Munster to come over with their power;
and at least himself to bring back in the Adalid, Neville, and the rest
of the English exiles. While Edmund, who looked glad at the thought,
counselled that they should entrench themselves in this corner of
England, which was so entirely devoted to them, till these forces were
added to their number, and till by discipline, they should have made
regular troops of the rabble, by courtesy ycleped an army.
"Wherefore, cousin," asked Richard, "do you desire others to share in
our disasters?"
"My lord!" cried Edmund, astounded.
"I have but one wish," continued the prince, "that you and my good
O'Water were even now in Ireland; so that I might stand the brunt of
this war alone. You look amazed. Yet it were more amazing if I expected
to do battle against the Veres, the Howards, the Berkeleys, the
Courtneys, and ten thousand other names of high renown, backed by their
train of martial adherents, with ragged regiments like those we are
about to lead to the field;--even though the kerns of Ireland made
their number double, and the Geraldines, Barry and Neville added by
their nobleness dignity to our victor's conquest. Remember Stoke, my
cousin Edmund; you may well remember it. Remember my honoured kinsman
the earl of Lincoln and my lamented Lovel. Ah! that I did not now peril
your life, then spared!"
"Yet, if your grace fight at all," said O'Water, bluntly; "methinks we
were not the worse for being better appointed for the fray. For victims,
even those poor honest varlets are too many."
"That one other life should be wasted for me," replied Richard,
fervently, "is my saddest thought. I fear it must be so; some few lives,
each as dear to him that spends it, as is the life-blood to our own
hearts, I can say no more. I have a secret purpose, I confess, in all I
do. To accomplish it--and I do believe it to be a just one--I must
strike one blow; nor fail. Tudor is yet unprepared; Exeter vacant of
garrison; with stout hearts for the work, I trust to be able to seize
that city. There the wars of York shall end. So far I confide in your
discretions, that you may not deem me mad. More is the single property
of my own soul. Will you help me so far, dear friends--so far hazard
life--not to conquer a kingdom for Richard, but to redeem his honour?"
The warm-hearted, grey-headed Irish O'Water, with gushing eyes, swore to
adhere to him the last.
Edmund replied, "I am but a bit of thee; deal with me as with thyself;
and I know thou wilt be no niggard in giving me away to danger."
De Faro cried, "I am a sailor, and know better how to face death on the
waves than victory on shore; but, Santiago! may our blessed Lady herself
look shy on me at the great day, if the mariner of the wreck prove false
to your grace."
"Now then to our work," cried York, "to speak fair to my faithful
fellows and their braggart leaders. They at least shall be winners in
our game; for my hand is on my prize; a spirit has whispered success to
me; my hope and its consummation are married even at their birth."
CHAPTER XLIII
MISGIVINGS
Dost thou hear, lady?
If from the field I shall return once more
To kiss these lips, I will appear in blood;
I and my sword will earn our chronicle;
There is hope in it yet.
SHAKSPEARE.
Richard was obliged to plead his cause yet once again. Katherine had
watched all his movements; she had eyed curiously the army he mustered
to the field: she talked to its leaders, and while they vaunted her
affability, she was diving with earnest mind, into the truth of things.
No fear that it could be hid from her; love for Richard was the bright
light that dispelled every deceptive shadow from the scene. She saw the
bare reality; some three thousand poor peasants and mechanics, whose
swords were more apt to cut themselves than strike the enemy, were
arrayed against the whole power and majesty of England. On the morrow
they were to set forward. That night, while at the casement of his rude
chamber, Richard gazed upon the congregated stars, trying to decipher in
their intricate bright tracery the sure omen of the good he was told
they charactered for him, Katherine, after a moment's hesitation, with a
quivering voice, and hand that shook as it pressed his, knelt on a
cushion at his feet, saying, "My sweet Richard, hear me; hear your
faithful friend--your true wife; call not my councils weak and
feminine, but weigh them sagely ere you resolve. May I speak?"
"Lady of my heart, arise," said Richard; "I speak, my soft-voiced
Katherine--my White Rose of beauty--fair flower, crowning York's
withered tree. Has not God done all in giving you to me? yet we must
part, love, for a while. Your soldier is for the wars, Kate, while you
sit in your bower, weaving victorious garlands for his return."
"My ever dear lord," said Katherine, "I speak with fear, because I feel
that I shall not address myself to your concealed thought. I do not wish
to penetrate your secrets, and yet I tremble at their event. You have
not so far deceived yourself as to imagine, that with these unfortunate
men you can ride over the pride and the power of this island; did I see
on what else you founded the lofty hope, that has, since we came here,
beamed in your eyes, I would resign myself to your better wisdom. But,
wherever I turn my view, there is a blank. You do not dream of conquest,
though you feel secure of victory. What can this mean, save that you see
glory in death?"
"You are too quick-sighted, sweet Kate," said Richard, "and see beyond
the mark. I do not set my cast upon falling in this fray; though it may
well happen that I should: but I have another aim."
"Without guessing at what that may be," replied the lady, "since you
seem desirous to withhold the knowledge, permit me to present another
object to your choice; decide between them, and I submit: but do not
carelessly turn from mine. There is all to lose, nought to win, in what
you now do. Death may blot the future page, so that we read neither
disgrace nor prison in its sad lines; but wherefore risk to die. While
yet, dear love, we are young, life has a thousand charms, and one may be
the miserable survivor, whose heart now bleeds at the mere surmise."
She faltered; he kissed her soft cheek, and pressed her to his heart.
"Why may we not--why should we not live?" continued Katherine; "what is
there in the name or state of king that should so take captive our
thoughts, that we can imagine no life but on a throne? Believe me,
careful nights and thorny days are the portion of a monarch: he is
lifted to that awful height only to view more clearly destruction
beneath; around, fear, hate, disloyalty, all yelling at him. The cold,
heartless Tudor may well desire the prize, for he has nothing save the
gilt crown to ennoble him; nothing but the supple knees of courtiers to
present to him the show of love. But--ah! could I put fire into my weak
words--my heart's zeal into my supplicatory voice--persuasion would
attend upon me, and you would feel that to the young, to two united as
we are, our best kingdom is each other's hearts; our dearest power that
which each, without let or envy, exercises over the other. Though our
palace-roof be the rafters of a lowly cot, our state, the dear affection
we bear each other, our attendants the duty and observance of one to the
other--I, so served by King Edward's son--you, by the rightful queen
of this fair island--were better waited on than Henry and Elizabeth, by
their less noble servitors. I almost think that, with words like these,
I might draw you from the uneasy throne to the downy paradise of love;
and can I not from this hard struggle, while death yet guards the
palace-gate, and you will be pierced through and through long ere you
can enter."
"Thus, my gentle love," said Richard, "you would have me renounce my
birth and name; you desire that we become the scorn of the world, and
would be content that, so dishonoured, the braggart impostor, and his
dame Katherine, should spend their shameful days in an ignominious
sloth, misnamed tranquillity. I am a king, lady, though no holy oil nor
jewelled crown has touched this head; and such I must prove myself."
"Oh, doubt it not," she replied, "it is proved by your own speech and
your own nobleness; my heart approves you such; the whole earth, till
its latest day, will avouch that the lord of Katherine is no deceiver;
but my words avail not with you."
"They do avail, my best, my angel girl, to show me that the world's
treasure is mere dross compared with thee: one only thing I prize, not
as thy equal, but as that without which, I were a casket not even worthy
to encase this jewel of the earth--my honour! A word taught me by my
victim brother, by my noble cousin Lincoln, by the generous Plantagenet;
I learnt its meaning among a race of heroes--the Christian
cavaliers--the Moorish chivalry of Spain; dear is it to me, since
without it I would not partake your home of love--a home, more glorious
and more blessed than the throne of the universe. It is for that I now
fight, Katherine, not for a kingdom; which, as thy royal cousin truly
said, never will be mine. If I fall, that cousin, the great, the
munificent James, will be your refuge."
"Never," interrupted the lady. "Scotland I shall never see again; never
show myself a queen and no queen, the mock of their rude speech; never
put myself into my dear, but ambitious father's hands, to be bartered
away to another than my Richard; rather with your aunt of Burgundy,
rather in Tudor's own court, with your fair sister. Holy angels! of what
do I speak? how frightfully distinct has the bereft world spread itself
out as my widowed abode!"
A gush of tears closed her speech. "Think of brighter days, my love,"
said Richard, "they will be ours. You spoke erewhile of the difficulty
of giving true imagery to the living thought; thus, I know not how to
shape an appropriate garb (to use a trope of my friend Skelton) for my
inmost thoughts. I feel sure of success. I feel, that in giving up every
prospect of acquiring my birthright, I make the due oblation to Fortune,
and that she will bestow the rest--that rest is to rescue my name from
the foul slur Henry has cast on it; to establish myself as myself in the
eyes of England; and then to solicit your patience in our
calamity--your truth and love as the only sceptre and globe this hand
will ever grasp. In my own Spain, among the orange and myrtle groves,
the flowery plains and sun-lit hills of Andalusia, we will live
unambitious, yet more fortunate than crowned emperors."
With such words and promises he soothed her fears; to the word honour
she had no reply. Yet it was a mere word here; in this case, a barren
word, on which her life and happiness were to be wrecked.
The prince and Monina had met with undisguised delight. No Clifford
would now dare traduce her; she need not banish herself from countries
where his name enriched the speech of all men; nor even from that which,
invited by her, he had come to conquer. He was glad to be able to extend
his zealous fraternal protection over her, to feel that he might guard
her through life, despite of the fortune that divided them. He obtained
for her the Lady Katherine's regard, which she sought opportunities to
demonstrate, while they were avoided by Monina, who honoured and loved
her as Richard's wife and dearest friend, yet made occasion to absent
herself from both. Nothing beautiful could be so unlike as these two
fair ones. Katherine was the incarnate image of loveliness, such as it
might have been conceived by an angelic nature; noble, soft, equable
from her tender care not to displease others; in spite of the ills of
fate, gay, because self-satisfied and resigned; the bright side of
things was that which she contemplated: the bright and the
tranquil--although the hazards run by him she loved, at this period
informed her thoughts with terror. Monina--no, there was no evil in
Monina; if too much self-devotion, too passionate an attachment to one
dear idea, too enthusiastic an adoration of one exalted being, could be
called aught but virtue. The full orbs of her dark eyes, once flashing
bright, were now more serious, more melancholy; her very smile would
make you weep; her vivacity, all concentred in one object, forgot to
spend itself on trifles; yet, while the princess wept that Richard
should encounter fruitless danger for a mistaken aim, gladness sat on
Monina's brow: "He goes to conquer; God will give victory to the right:
as a warrior he treads his native land; as a monarch he will rule over
her. The very name of king he bears will shame the lukewarm English;
they will gather round the apparent sun, now that he shows himself
unclouded, leaving the false light, Tudor, to flicker into its native
nothingness."
"Monina," said the prince, "you in the wide world can bestow richest
largess on the beggar. King Richard." She looked on him in wonder. "I go
to conquer or to die: this, lovely one, is no new language for you; a
warrior's friend must hear such words unflinching. I die without a fear
if you take one charge upon you." Her beaming, expressive eyes replied
to him. He continued: "The Adalid and safety are images most firmly
united in my mind; if I cannot find security on board of her myself, let
those dear to me inherit my possession there. The hardest thought that I
bear with me, is that my fair queen should become captive to my
base-minded foe. May I not trust that if I fall, the Adalid will be her
home and refuge to convey her to her native country, or any whither she
may direct? I intrust this charge to you, my sister, my far more than
sister, my own kind Monina. You will forget yourself in that fateful
hour, to fulfil my latest wish?"
"My prince," she replied, "your words were cruel, did I not know that
you speak in over-care, and not from the impulse of your heart. In the
same spirit, I promise that your desire shall be accomplished: if you
fall, my father will protect--die for my lady the queen. But why speak
these ill-omened words? You will succeed; you will hasten the lagging
hand of Fate, and dethrone one never born to reign, to bestow on England
its rightful king. The stars promise this in their resplendent,
unfailing scrowl--the time-worn student in his lore has proclaimed
it--the sacred name of monarch which you bear is the pledge and
assurance of predestined victory."
"And you, meanwhile, will stay, and assure Katherine's destiny?"
"My dear lord, I have a task to accomplish. If I leave her grace, it is
because all spirits of good and power watch over her, and my weak
support is needed elsewhere. I am bound for London."
They parted thus. The temerity of their designs sometimes inspired them
with awe; but more usually animated them to loftier hopes. When the
thickening shadows of "coming events" clouded their spirits, they took
refuge in the sun-bright imaginations which painted to each the
accomplishment of their several hopes. Monina felt assured that the hour
of victory was at hand. Richard looked forward to a mortal struggle, to
be crowned with success: a few short weeks or briefer days would close
the long account: his word redeemed, his honour avenged, he looked
forward to his dear reward: not a sceptre--that was a plaything fit for
Henry's hand; but to a life of peace and love; a very eternity of sober,
waking bliss, to be passed with her he idolized, in the sunny clime of
his regretted Spain.
CHAPTER XLIV
A CHALLENGE
Oh, that stern, unbending man!
In this unhappy marriage what have I
Not suffered--not endured!
SCHILLER'S WALLENSTEIN.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
SHAKSPEARE.
The lapse of years had confirmed Henry on his throne. He was
extortionate and severe, it is true; and thus revolts had been frequent
during the earlier portion of his reign; but they took their rise in a
class which, even in modern days, it is difficult to keep within the
boundaries of law. The peasantry, scattered and dependent on the nobles,
were tranquil: but artificers, such as the miners of Cornwall, who met
in numbers, and could ask each other, "Why, while there is plenty in the
land, should we and our children starve? Why pay our hard earnings into
the regal coffers?" and, still increasing in boldness, demand at last,
"Why should these men govern us?"
"We are many--they are few!"
Thus sedition sprung from despair, and assumed arms; to which Henry had
many engines to oppose, bulwarks of his power. A commercial spirit had
sprung up during his reign, partly arising from the progress of
civilization, and partly from so large a portion of the ancient nobility
having perished in the civil wars. The spirit of chivalry, which
isolates men, had given place to that of trade, which unites them in
bodies.
Among these the White Rose of England had not a single partizan--the
nobles who once had upheld the house of York were few; they had for the
last eight years been intent upon restoring their fortunes, and were
wholly disinclined to the endangering them afresh for a stranger youth.
When Fitzwater, Stanley, and their numerous fellow-conspirators and
fellow-victims, sided with the duke of York, nearly all England
entertained a timid belief in his identity with lung Edward's lost
son--but those times were changed. Many were glad to soothe their
consciences by declaring him an impostor; many so desired to curry
favour with Henry; a still greater number either feared to say their
thought, or were averse to disturb the tranquillity of their country by
a contest which could benefit one man alone, and which must entail on
them another war like that so lately ended. Abroad, in France, Burgundy,
and Scotland, the prince might be discountenanced from political
motives; but he was treated with respect, and spoken of as being the man
he named himself: in England it was otherwise--contempt followed hard
upon fear, giving birth to derision, the best weapon against the
unhappy, which Henry well knew how to wield. He had two motives in
this--one was, that by affixing disgrace and scorn to his adversary, he
took away the glitter of his cause, and deterred the young and ambitious
from any desire to share in his obloquy. The other was a feeling
deeper-rooted in his mind--an intense hatred of the house of York--an
exultation in its overthrow and disgrace--a gloating over every
circumstance that blotted it with ignominy. If Richard had really been
an impostor, Henry had not used half the pains to stigmatize him as
low-born--to blast his pride with nicknames, nor have looked forward
with the joy he now did, to having him in his power--to the
degradation--the mortal stain of infamy he intended to taint him with
for ever.
Secure in power--fearless of the result, Henry heard with unfeigned joy
that his young rival had landed in England, and was advancing into the
interior of the island, at the head of the Cornish insurgents. He
himself announced the rising to his nobles. Laughing, he said, "I have
tidings for you, gentlemen, a flight of wild geese clad in eagles'
feathers, are ready to pounce upon us. Even now they hover over our good
city of Exeter, frighting the honest burghers with their dissonance."
"Blackheath will witness another victory," said Lord Oxford.
"And my kitchen receive a new scullion," replied the king; "since
Lambert Simnel became falconer, our roast meat thinks itself dishonoured
at not being spitted by a pretender to my crown; for no Audley heads
these fellows, but the king of Rakehells himself, the most noble Perkin,
who, to grace the more the unwashed rogues, calls himself Richard the
Fourth for the nonce. I have fair hope to see his majesty this bout, if
he whiz not away in a fog, or sink underground like Lord Lovel, to the
disappointment of all merry fellows who love new masks and gaudy
mumming."
"Please your majesty," said the young Lord William Courtney, "it is for
the honour of our house that not a stone of Exeter be harmed. With your
good leave, my father and myself will gather in haste what force we may:
if fortune aid us, we may present your grace with your new servitor."
"Be it so, my lord," replied the king, "and use good despatch. We
ourselves will not tarry: so that, with less harm to all, we may tread
out these hasty lighted embers. Above all, let not Duke Perkin escape;
it is my dearest wish that he partake our hospitality."
"Yes," so ran Henry's private thoughts; "he must be mine, mine alive,
mine to deal with as I list." With even more care than he put in the
mustering his army, he ordered that the whole of the southern sea-coast
of England should be guarded; every paltry fishing village had its
garrison, which permitted no boat to put off to sea, nor any to land,
without the strictest investigation; not content with this, he committed
it to the care of his baser favourites to forge some plot which might
betray his enemy without a blow into his hands.
"Give me your benison, good Bess," said the monarch, with unwonted
gaiety of manner; "with daylight I depart on the ungentle errand of
encountering your brother Perkin."
Elizabeth, not less timid than she had ever been, was alarmed by his
show of mirth, and by this appellation bestowed on one she knew to be so
near of kin. That very morning she had seen Monina--the enthusiastic
Monina, who, confiding in her royal friend's success, visited London to
watch over the fate of Elizabeth and her children. The queen smiled at
her offers of service; she felt that no such army could endanger Henry's
reign; but she feared for Richard, for her ill-fated brother, who had
now entered the net, for whom she felt assured there was no escape.
Trembling at her own boldness, she answered the king, "Whoever he may
be, you will not destroy him in cold blood?"
"You would have me spare the impostor?" asked Henry. "Spare him who
claims your son's throne? By Our Lady of Walsingham, the maternal
virtues of the daughter of York deserve high praise."
Elizabeth, dreading more to offend, horror-struck at the idea that her
husband should shed her brother's blood, burst into tears. "Silly girl,"
said Henry, "I am not angry; nay, more, I grant your prayer. Perkin, if
not slain by a chance blow, shall live. My word is passed, trust to it;
I neither inquire nor care whether he be the godson or the base brat of
the libertine Edward. In either case, my revenge stoops not so low as
his paltry life: does this content you?"
"May the saints bless your grace," said Elizabeth, "you have eased my
every fear."
"Remember then that you prove no ingrate," continued the king, "no dupe
of report, no traducer of your children's birth. Betray no interest in
the knave's downfall, save as he is my enemy. If you display any emotion
that awakens a doubt that this canker rose be aught in your eyes except
a base pretender--if you mark any feeling but stern contempt for one so
vile--tremble. My vengeance will fall on him; and his blood be on your
head."
"Magnanimous prince!" thought Elizabeth, in bitter scorn, when he had
left her: "this is your mercy. You fear! My poor Richard--your sister,
a monarch's daughter, is finely taught by this earl's son. But you will
live; then let him do his worst: the queen of England is not quite a
slave; if Henry can bind, Elizabeth may loose; and the duke of York
laugh in another land at the malice of his enemy."
We return to this prince, whose lofty spirit was sustained by an aim, an
object dearer than a kingdom in his eyes. He arrived before Exeter at
the head of seven thousand men. All the discontented in Cornwall and
Devonshire joined him. Some of these were younger brothers; some
men-at-arms who repined at peace; chiefly they were needy, oppressed
men, roused by a sense of wrong, as destitute, but not so hardy as the
kerns of Ireland. Still they were many, they were valiant; Exeter was
ungarrisoned, unprepared for defence, and there was a possibility that
by sudden assault, he might possess himself of the town. With this
intent he did not allow his troops time to repose, but at once set on
for the attack, endeavouring to scale the lofty walls; unaided by any
fitting machinery, scarcely possessed of a single scaling ladder, he was
driven back with loss. Foiled, but not vanquished, for his heart was set
upon this prize, for three days, though unpossessed of artillery or any
warlike engine, he exerted his utmost force to win the city; he
contrived rude machinery to cast stones, he planted the ladders himself,
he multiplied himself to appear everywhere, flattering, encouraging,
leading his troops again and again to the assault. When they found the
walls impregnable, he made an attempt on the gates; with fascines and
hewed trees he set one of them on fire; his men shouted as they heard
the stout oak crackle, and saw it split and crumble, offering a large
opening; but the citizens, made desperate, fearful of the ravages this
untamed multitude might commit, were true to themselves; they resisted
fire by fire, keeping up a fierce blaze within, till with piles of brick
and rubbish they had blocked the passage. Richard saw his last hope
fail. "This is not the work of the burghers," he cried, "a soldier's
skill is here."
"True as my old yard measure!" cried Heron. "It was but last night that
my cousin, the earl of Devon, clambered into the city; he came to the
northern wall, where Skelton keeps watch; when my valiant tailor heard
the noise, he ran to look for Master Trereife, who, poor fellow, lies
cold within the moat. The citizens heard and answered my cousin the
earl's call; but they were too frightened to let light through the
keyhole of a postern; and his lordship, God save him! was obliged to
climb the battlements."
"Climb the battlements, noble captain?" said Richard; "that is, a ladder
was let down!"
"It was a stone ladder he scaled, my liege," said Heron; "your grace may
walk up the same. It will scarce budge, seeing that it is the old part
of the wall itself."
"Who knows more of this?" asked the prince.
"I saw the whole," said Skelton; "That is the end. Master Trereife was
dead for the nonce, so I came back to lead my men to the fray. There was
the earl, perched like a crow, on the boughs of an old thorn-bush that
grows at the top of the wall. Surely he must have torn his cloak, for
the place is thick with all manner of weeds, and rough stones, and
brambles. But more than his broadcloth got a hole; for Clim of
Tregothius handled his bow, and let fly a cloth-yard shaft, which was
sticking in his shoulder as he got down the other side."
While the tailor talked, Richard was proceeding hastily to the spot. It
looked tranquil. The old crumbling wall was green with rank grass and
tangled weeds. He drew nearer, and then a whole shower of arrows was
discharged against him. The earl had expected that his success would
excite their curiosity, and prepared for them, with not the less zeal on
account of his own wound. Richard escaped unhurt; but Edmund, who was
scantily armed, received an arrow in his side--he fell. That same hour
tidings came of the advance of King Henry at the head of a formidable
army.
Plantagenet's wound was dressed; it showed signs of danger, and quite
disabled him. "My faithful fellows swear to preserve you in safety,
cousin," said Richard; "I must leave you."
"Do you retreat?" asked Edmund.
"No, by my soul! Truly, my hopes have somewhat quailed; yet it is but a
lucky blow, and I gain all. I leave you, my friend; but I will not leave
you in doubt and ignorance. Read this paper: it is to enforce its
contents--to oblige my haughty foe to lay aside his worst weapon,
detraction, that I, against all probability and wisdom, will urge my
cause to the last. My kingdom, it is his; my honour he must restore, and
I cry him quits. Now you have my secret. Pardon for my poor fellows;
pardon, and some alleviation of their cruel lot. For myself, as you will
find, I ask little, but I must show no fear, no retreating, to obtain
even that. I march forwards, then, towards Taunton: it is a less place
than Exeter. The smallest secure port gained, and Henry may grant my
boon."
Plantagenet unfolded the paper, and read these words:--
"Richard, legitimate and true son of Edward the Fourth, king of England
and France, and lord of Ireland, to Henry, the reigning sovereign of
these realms. In my infancy I was made a prisoner by a usurping uncle,
escaping from his thrall by aid of the most noble earl of Lincoln. This
uncle, this usurper, you conquered, and seized upon his crown. You claim
the same by right of Bolingbroke, and strengthen your title through your
union with my sister, the Lady Elizabeth. I am poor, and an
outcast--you a king. God has destroyed my house, and I submit. But I
will not submit to the vile slander that takes from me my name, and
brands me a dishonoured man.
"Henry of Richmond, I neither admit nor combat your claim to the crown.
Lancaster has many partisans, and the victory is yours. But as duke of
York, I challenge and defy you. I call on you, either by person or by
champion, to meet me in the lists, that I may defend my honour and
maintain the right. Let us spare the people's blood. In single combat
let my pretensions be set at issue; and my good sword shall cut to
pieces the wicked lies and base traditions you have calumniously and
falsely forged to my disgrace.
"Body to body, I will meet you or your champion. Name the day, the hour,
and the place. With my lance and my sword, to the death I will maintain
my birth. If I fall, I ask that my wife, the Lady Katherine Gordon, be
permitted to return to her royal cousin, James of Scotland; that such of
my followers as desire it, may be allowed to go beyond seas; that those
of your subjects, who, goaded into rebellion by your exactions, have
taken up arms, receive free pardon and remission of their imposts. If I
conquer, I add but one other demand--that you confess to the wide world
how foully you have slandered me; revoke the lies you have published,
and acknowledge me to all men, the rightful duke of York.
"If you deny my just demands, be the blood spilt in defence of my honour
on your head; England ravaged, your towns destroyed, your realm subject
to all the calamities of war; these evils rest with you. I will not
sheathe my sword, nor tread one backward step in my undertaking; but as
in the lists, so on the dread battle-field, meet your abettors, and
conquer or die in defence of my name. Expecting a fitting answer to this
just defiance, I bid you heartily farewell.
"RICHARD.
"Written under the walls of Exeter, this twelfth day of September, in
the year of our Blessed Lord, 1497."
Plantagenet was deeply affected by his cousin's gallantry. He sighed,
saying, "Tudor has not, will not reply to your challenge?"
"He has not, but he may," replied Richard. "I have, I know not why, a
firm belief that good will come from it. If not, in a few days all will
be over. In a very few days you can be conveyed to St. Michael's Mount,
where the queen now is. The Adalid hovers near. Save her, save yourself:
save one other, less helpful than my Katherine--be a brother to
Monina."
Richard, erring in his mark, was animated by the most sanguine hopes, to
which he was seduced by a constant belief that his life was not near its
close, and therefore that his claims would be admitted: as otherwise he
had resolved to fall in the assertion of them. Leaving the sick couch of
his cousin, he prepared to advance to Taunton. A conversation meanwhile
which he dreamt not of, and would have scorned, had taken place in an
obscure and gloomy spot in London, fraught with fate to him.
After the base desertion of his royal master, Frion had sailed to
England with the other hirelings of Henry; among these was
Clifford--Clifford, whose need and whose malice armed him against
York's life, but who tried to hide his shame under an assumed
appellation. There had always been a false fellowship and a real enmity
between Frion and the knight. On his first arrival in Brussels, the
secretary looked on him as an interloper; and Clifford, while he used
the other, tried to force him into his place as an underling, and to
blind him to his own designs. When he betrayed his party, spreading
death among the partizans of York, and annihilating the cause, Frion,
whose fortunes depended on its success, was unmeasured in his
expressions of indignation and contempt. They had worked in direct
opposition the year before in Kent: and, when Frion saw the hand of this
reprobated man uplifted in midnight assassination, he triumphed in the
lowness of his fall. Both were traitors now, both baffled: Frion looked
on Clifford as the worse villain; and Clifford writhed under the
familiar impertinence of a menial. They arrived in London; Sir Robert
was dismissed with barren thanks, Frion thrown into prison; how far the
knight's account gave intimation of the Frenchman's double-dealing, and
so brought this severity upon him was not known, but for three months
this mercurial spirit had languished in confinement.
Addicted to scheming, he had now full leisure to spend his whole
thoughts that way; a single, simple plot was too plain for his
industrious soul; he wore a whole web of them so intricate, that he
sometimes lost the clue himself; not the less did he do his endeavour to
put them in action. He intended either to lose Richard or make him;
either to be the cause of his overthrowing Henry, or of being overthrown
by him; in either case, to reap favour and advantage from the triumphant
party.
Sad as is ever a prison-house, it was worse in those days of
incivilization: this pen could ill describe the squalid figures and dire
visages that crowded its tumultuous court. Even here Frion reigned
umpire; but he broke from a knot of noisy squabblers, who held tattered
cards, and appealed to him on a question of fair-play, as he saw one
enter. Even he a wretch, yet many degrees better than the best of his
miserable companions; a scarlet suit, trimmed with gold lace, somewhat
tarnished, a cloak of ample folds, but threadbare, a dark plumed bonnet,
drawn over his brow, above all, a rapier at his side, distinguished him
from the prisoners. "This is kind, Sir Robert," said Frion in his
softest manner, "I half feared you were too proud or politic to visit a
disgraced man; for these last three days I have despaired of your
worship; by my fay! you are right welcome."
Clifford cast a shuddering look around the walls; his eyes were hollow;
his cheek sunk; he was the mere shadow of bold Robert. "Few words are
best thanks, Master Stephen," he replied; "I am kind to you because the
dice are cruel to me; you promise largely, and my wants are no dwarfs.
What are your designs?"
"This is no place for parley," said Frion; "follow me." He led the way
through several narrow passages to a miserable cell; straw was heaped in
one corner for a bed; the walls were dank and tattered; the floor broken
and filthy. "Welcome to my domicile, sir knight," said Frion: whether it
were compunction that he had brought him to this, or distrust that the
injury would be revenged, Clifford shrunk back and his lips grew livid.
"One would not live here from choice," said Frion, "I allow; yet do not
grudge me a few moments, it may stead us both."
"To the point then," said the knight; "it is not the place, Master
Frion; but at the hour of noon--"
"No excuses, you like the place as ill as I," said the Frenchman, with a
bland smile; "but you are more generous, for I would not dwell an
instant's space here of my own will to gain any man's salvation. Now,
what news from the west? Is it true that the duke of York is slain? or
Exeter taken? both reports are rife. Adam Wicherly and Mat Oldcraft made
their escape two days ago, to join the gallant. Mat was seized again,
and says that there were bonfires in Southwark for Richard the Fourth."
Clifford, by a brief detail, answered, and then after some hesitation
said, "He is not so low but that the king desires him to be lower: he
who could bring him, bound hand and foot, to London, would be made a
man. Empson saw Garthe yesterday; and he, who calls me Wiatt, came post
to consult with me; but it were hazardous to attempt him; he is ten
thousand strong."
"You know me, Sir Robert," said Frion; "there are few things I cannot
bring about, so that I have room to ruffle in. I have a plot, King
Richard is ours in three days, so one word be said; that word is liberty
to me. Take you the reward; I ask no further share in your gains than
free leave to set the channel between me and this dingy island."
Each despising, each mistrusting the other, these men conspired for the
prince's fall: like "mousing owls" they hawked at an eagle with too true
an aim. York's thoughts were of honour; but through them they were to be
drugged with ignominy and despair. It is melancholy that circumstance
and fortune should have power to reach the very shrine of our dearest
thoughts; degrading them from their original brightness to a likeness of
the foul aspect of the outer world. Richard's free and noble spirit was
to become plastic to the touch of such men as the fallen Clifford and
crafty Frion. Men, whom he had cast from him as unworthy his regard,
could besiege the citadel of his hopes, and garrison it with disgrace;
forcing him to occupy himself with ideas as base as those which
possessed their own minds. It is the high heart's curse to be obliged to
expend its deep and sacred emotions in hatred of, or struggle with
things so mean, so very alien to its own aspiring nature.
CHAPTER XLV
ARRIVAL AT TAUNTON
Ah! Richard, with the eyes of heavy mind,
I see thy glory, like a shooting star,
Fall to the base earth from the firmament.
SHAKSPEARE.
Richard proceeded towards Taunton. Although this was in appearance an
advance, his ill success before Exeter, and report of the large force
already brought against them by Sir John Cheney, King Henry's
chamberlain, had so far discouraged his followers as to occasion the
desertion of many, so that of the seven thousand he had with him in
Devonshire, he retained but three on his arrival near Taunton. These
consisted of the original body of insurgents, Cornishmen, who had
proceeded too far to go back, and who, partly in affection for their
leader, partly from natural stubbornness, swore to die in the cause.
Poor fellows! rusty rapiers, and misshapen lances were their chief arms;
a few had bows; others slings; a still greater number their ponderous
tools, implements of labour and of peace, to be used now in slaughter.
Their very dress displayed at once their unmartial and poverty-stricken
state. In all these might be gathered a troop of three hundred foot, not
wholly destitute of arms and discipline. The horse were not less at
fault; yet among them there were about one hundred tolerably mounted,
the riders, indeed, but too frequently disgracing their steeds.
It required all Richard's energy of purpose to hold him back from
despair. The bitter sense of degradation visited him in spite of every
effort. Had he ever made one of the chivalry of France and Burgundy? Had
he run a tilt with James of Scotland, or grasped in knightly brotherhood
the mailed hand of Sir Patrick Hamilton? And were these his comrades?
unwashed artificers; ragged and rude peasants; vulgar-tongued traders?
He felt "in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes;" and now to obtain
pardon for them, to send them back scathless to their own homes, was his
chief desire, even to the buying of their safety with his own downfall.
After a two days' march he arrived near Taunton. On reconnoitring the
town, its position and weakness gave him hope that he might carry it,
even with his sorry soldiery. To check these thoughts, tidings came,
that Sir John Cheney was in close neighbourhood, and Henry himself
advancing with a chosen body of men. On the evening of their arrival
before the town, a detachment of the enemy entered it, cutting off the
last hope of Richard.
The next morning it became evident that the crisis of his fortunes was
at hand. The whole country teemed with soldiery. As the troops poured
towards a common centre, the array and order of a battle-field became
apparent in their operations. A battle, between a very myriad of
golden-spurred knights, armed at all points, and the naked inhabitants
of Richard's camp! call it rather a harvest; there were the
reapers, here the bending corn. When in the north Richard wept
over the devastation of the land, he felt that a word of his could
counteract the harm--but now, his challenge had proved an airy
dagger--substance-less--his resolve to encounter his foe, bringing the
unarmed against these iron-suited warriors, grew in his eyes into
premeditated murder: his heart heaved in his overcharged breast. To add
bitterness to his thoughts there were his companions--O'Water brave in
despair; Astley pale with fear for his lord; Heron foolish in his
unmeaning boasting; Skelton trembling in every joint, and talking
incessantly, apparently to deafen himself to "the small still voice"
that whispered terror to his heart.
Richard spent the day among his men. They were prepared to fight; if
needs must, to fall: protestations of sturdy devotion, the overflowing
of the rude, manly heart, always affecting, met him at every turn. He
was beloved, for he was generous and kind. Often he had exposed his
life, when before Exeter, to save some one among them: when dismayed, he
had cheered, when defeated, he had comforted them; nor did he leave the
body of the meanest camp-follower uninterred; for one of Richard's
characteristics was a quick sympathy with his species, and a reverence
for all that bore the shape of man. But, while these qualities rendered
him dear to all, they inspired him with a severe sense of his duties
towards others, and a quick insight into their feelings; thus increasing
to anguish the disquietude that agitated him.
Towards evening he was alone in his tent. At first he was confused by
the various aspects, all terrible, that his fortunes assumed. By the
caprice of destiny, he, who was descended from a line of kings, who had
so long been the inhabitant of courts, a cavalier, honourable in his
degree, renowned for his prowess, had not one noble-born partizan near
him: not one of his ancient counsellors, to whom he had been used to
defer, remained; he was absolutely alone; the sense of right and justice
in his own heart was all he possessed, to be a beacon-light in this
awful hour, when thousands depended upon his word--yet had he the power
to save?
An idea, dim at first as a star on the horizon's verge, struggling
through vapours, but growing each second brighter and clearer, dawned
upon his mind. All then was over! his prophetic soul had proved false in
its presumed foreknowledge; defeat, dishonour, disgrace tracked his
steps. To lead his troops forth, and then to redeem them at Henry's
hand, by the conditionless surrender of himself, was the thought, child
of despair and self-devotion, that, still struggling with the affections
and weaknesses of his nature, presented itself, not yet full fledged,
but about to become so.
He had been several times interrupted during his meditations by the
arrival of scouts, with various reports of the situation and proceedings
of the enemy: Richard, better than these untaught recruits, knew the
meaning of the various operations. As if on a map, he saw the stationing
of a large and powerful army in expectation of battle; and was aware how
incapable he was to cope with their numbers and force. At last Astley
announced the arrival of two men: one was a Fleming, known to Richard as
one of Lalayne's men, but the fellow was stupidly drunk; the other was
an English peasant. "Please your worship," he said, "I am this man's
guide, and must act as his interpreter besides; nothing would serve the
spungy fellow but he must swallow ale at every tavern on the way."
"Speak, then," said Richard; "what is the purport of his journey?"
"Please you, sir, last night three hundred of them came right pop upon
us afore we were aware: sore afraid they made us with their tall
iron-shafted poles, steel caps, and short swords, calling each one for
bread and beer."
"Do you mean," cried the prince, his eye brightening as he spoke, "that
three hundred men, soldiers, armed like yonder fellow, are landed in
England?"
So the countryman averred; and that even now they were but at the
distance of twenty miles from Richard's encampment. They were still
advancing, when the report was spread that the prince's forces were
dispersed, himself taken prisoner. The rustic drew from the Fleming's
pocket a letter, in French, signed by Schwartz, a son of him who fell at
Stoke, a man in high favour with the Lady Margaret of Burgundy. It said
how he had been despatched by her grace to his succour; how intelligence
of the large army of Henry, and his defeat, had so terrified his men,
that they refused to proceed, nay, by the next morning would take their
way back to Poole, where they had landed, unless Richard himself came to
reassure them, and to lead them on. Every word of the letter lighted up
to forgotten joy young Richard's elastic spirit. With these men to aid
him, giving weight and respectability to his powers, he might hope to
enforce the conditions of his challenge. All must be decided on the
morrow; that very hour he would set forth, to return before morning
with these welcome succours.
It was near midnight; his camp was still: the men, in expectation of the
morrow's struggle, had retired to repose; their leaders had orders to
visit their commander in his tent at the hour which now the empty
hour-glass told was come. Hastily, eagerly, Richard announced the
arrival of these German mercenaries; he directed them to accompany him,
that with some show of attendance he might present himself to Schwartz.
The camp was not to be disturbed; two or three men alone among them were
awakened, and ordered to keep guard--in five hours assuredly he must
return. In a brief space of time, the troop who were to accompany him,
Heron, Skelton, O'Water, and Astley, with some forty more, led their
horses to his tent in silence:--there were few lights through all the
camp; their honest hearts which beat within slept, while he was awake to
succour and save them. This was Richard's last thought, as, mounted on
his good steed, he led the way across the dim heath towards Yeovil.
It was such a night as is frequent at the end of September; a warm but
furious west-wind tore along the sky, shaking the dark tresses of the
tress, and chasing the broad shadows of the clouds across the plains.
The moon, at the beginning of her third quarter, sped through the sky
with rapid silvery wings; now cutting the dark, sea-like ether; now
plunging deep amidst the clouds; now buried in utter darkness; anon
spreading a broad halo among the thinner woof of vapours. The guide was
at the prince's side; Heron, upon his short, sturdy pony, was just
behind; Skelton tried to get his tall mare to an even pace with
Richard's horse, but she fell back continually: the rushing, howling
wind and rustling trees drowned the clatter of the hoofs. They reached
the extreme edge of the common; Richard turned his head--the lights of
his little camp burnt dim in the moonshine, its poor apparel of tents
was lost in the distance: they entered a dark lane, and lost sight of
every trace of it; still they rode fleetly on. Night, and the obscure
shapes of night around--holy, blinding, all-seeing night! when we feel
the power of the Omnipotent as if immediately in contact with us; when
religion fills the soul, and our very fears are unearthly; when familiar
images assume an unknown power to thrill our hearts; and the winds and
trees and shapeless clouds have a voice not their own, to speak of all
that we dream or imagine beyond our actual life. Through embowered
lanes, whose darkness seemed thick and palpable--over open, moonshiny
fields, where the airy chase of clouds careered in dimmer shapes upon
the earth--Richard rode forward, fostering newly-awakened hope; glad in
the belief that while he saved all who depended on him, he would not
prove a mere victim led in tame submission, an unrighteous sacrifice to
the Evil Spirit of the World.
CHAPTER XLVI
A PRISONER
Art thou he, traitor! that with treason vile
Hast slain my men in this unmanly manner,
And now triumphest in the piteous spoil
Of these poor folk; whose souls with black dishonour
And foul defame do deck thy bloody banner?
The meed whereof shall shortly be thy shame,
And wretched end which still attendeth on her.
With that himself to battle he did frame;
So did his forty yeomen which there with him came.
SPENSER.
Some miles to the east of Yeovil there was a deep stream, whose
precipitous banks were covered by a thick underwood that almost
concealed the turbid waters, which undermined and bared the twisted and
gnarled roots of the various overhanging trees or shrubs. The left side
of the stream was bounded by an abrupt hill, at the foot of which was a
narrow pathway; on the green acclivity flourished a beech grove, whose
roots were spread in many directions to catch the soil, while their
trunks, some almost horizontal, were all fantastically grown, and the
fairy tracery of the foliage shed such soft, mellowed, chequered light
as must incline the heart of the wanderer beneath the leafy bower to
delicious musings.
Now the moon silvered the trees, and sometimes glimmered on the waters,
whose murmurs contended with the wind that sung among the boughs: and
was this all? A straggling moonbeam fell on something bright amid the
bushes, and a deep voice cried, "Jack of the Wynd, if thou can'st not
get to thicker cover, pluck darnels to cover that cursed steel cap of
thine."
"Hush!" repeated another lower voice, "your bawling is worse than his
head-piece; you outroar the wind. How high the moon is, and our friends
not come;--he will be here before them."
"Hark! a bell!"
"Matins, by the Fiend! may he seize that double-tongued knave! I much
suspect Master Frion; I know him of old."
"He cannot mar us now, though it be he who made this ambushment."
"Oh, by your leave! he has the trick of it, and could spring a mine in
the broadest way; he can turn and twist, and show more faces than a die.
He this morn--I know the laugh--there is mischief in 't."
"But, your worship, now, what can he do?"
"Do! darken the moon; set these trees alive and dancing; do! so play the
Will o' the Wisp that the king shall be on Pendennis and the duke at
Greenwich, and each fancy he is within bow-shot of the other; do! ask
the devil what is in his compact, for he is but the Merry Andrew of
Doctor Frion. Hush!"
"It is he," said the other speaker.
A breathless pause ensued; the wind swept through the trees--another
sound--its monotonous recurrence showed that it was a dashing
waterfall--and yet again it grew louder.
"It is he."
"No, Gad's mercy, it comes westward--close, my merry fellows, close,
and mind the word! close, for we have but half our number, and yet he
may escape."
Again the scene sank into silence and darkness: such silence as is
nature's own, whose voice is ever musical: such darkness as the
embowering trees and vast island-clouds made, dimming and drinking up
the radiance of the moon.
The stillness was broken by the tramp of horses drawing near, men's
voices mingled with the clatter, and now several cavaliers entered the
defile; they rode in some disorder, and so straggling, that it was
probable that many of their party lagged far behind: the principal
horseman had reached midway the ravine, when suddenly a tree, with all
its growth of green and tangled boughs, fell right across the path; the
clatter of the fall deafened the screech which accompanied it, for one
rider was overthrown; it was succeeded by a flight of arrows from
concealed archers. "Ride for your lives," cried Richard: but his path
was crossed by six horsemen, while, starting from the coppice, a band of
near forty men engaged with the van of his troop, who tried to wheel
about: some escaped, most fell. With his sword drawn, the prince rushed
at his foremost enemy; it was a mortal struggle for life and liberty,
for hatred and revenge. Richard was the better swordsman, but his horse
was blown, and half sunk upon his haunches, when pressed closely by the
adversary. Richard saw his danger, and yet his advantage, for his foe,
over-eager to press him down, forgot the ward; he rose on his stirrups,
and grasped his sword with both hands, when a blow from behind, a
coward's blow, from a battle-axe, struck him; it was repeated, and he
fell lifeless on the earth.
Sickness, and faintness, and throbbing pain were the first tokens of
life that visited his still failing sense; sight and the power of motion
seemed to have deserted him, but memory reviving told him that he was a
prisoner. Moments were stretched to ages while he strove to collect his
sensations; still it was night; the view of fields and uplands and of
the varied moon-lit sky grew upon his languid senses; he was still on
horseback, bound to the animal, and supported on either side by men. As
his movements communicated his returning strength, one of these fellows
rode to impart the tidings to their leader, while the other stayed to
guide his horse; the word "gallop!" was called aloud, and he was urged
along at full speed, while the sudden motion almost threw him back into
his swoon.
Dawn, which at first seemed to add to the dimness and indistinctness of
the landscape, struggling through the clouds, and paling the moon,
slowly stole upon them. The prince became sufficiently alive to make
observations; he and his fellow-prisoners were five in number only,
their guards were ten; foremost among them was one whom, in whatever
guise, he could not mistake. Each feeling in Richard's heart stimulated
him to abhor that man, yet he pitied him more. Gallant, bold Robin, the
frolicksome page, the merry-witted sharer of a thousand pleasures. Time,
thou art a thief; how base a thief--when thou stealest not only our
friends, our youth, our hopes, but, besides, our innocence; giving us in
the place of light-hearted confidence--guile, distrust, the
consciousness of evil deeds. In these thoughts, Richard drew the
colouring of the picture, from the fresh and vivid tints that painted
his own soul. Clifford's breast had perhaps never been free from the
cares of guilt: he had desired honour; he had loved renown; but the
early development of passion and of talent had rendered him, even in
boyhood, less single-hearted than Richard now.
Clifford was triumphant; he possessed Monina's beloved--the cause of
his disgrace--bound, a prisoner, and wounded. Why then did pain distort
his features, and passion flush his brow? No triumph laughed in his eye,
or sat upon his lip. He hated the prince; but he hated and despised
himself. He played a dastardly and a villain's part; and shame awaited
even success. The notoriety and infamy that attended on him (exaggerated
as those things usually are, in his own eyes), made him fear to meet, in
the neighbouring villages or towns, any noble cavalier who might
recognise him; even if he saw a party of horsemen on the road he turned
out of it, and thus got entangled among by-paths in an unfrequented part
of the country. They continued the same fast career for several hours,
till they entered a wild dark forest, where the interminable branches of
the old oaks met high-arched overhead, and the paths were beset with
fern and underwood. The road they took was at first a clear and open
glade, but it quickly narrowed, and branched off in various directions;
they followed one of its windings till it abruptly closed: the leader
then reined in, and Clifford's voice was heard. Years had elapsed since
it had met Richard's ear; the mere, as it were, abstract idea of
Clifford was mingled with crime and hate; his voice, his manner, his
look were associated with protestations of fidelity; or, dearer still,
the intercourse of friendship and youthful gaiety; no wonder that it
seemed a voice from the grave to betrayed York. "Halloo!" cried
Clifford, "Clym of the Lyn, my merry man, thou art to track us through
the New Forest to Southampton."
"Please your knightship," said a shaggy-headed fellow, "our way is
clear, I am at home now: but, by Saint George, we must halt; a thirty
miles' ride since matins, his fast unbroken, would have made Robin Hood
a laggard."
"What would you eat here?" cried Clifford; "a stoup of canary and beef
were blessings for the nonce; but we must get out of this accursed
wilderness into more Christian neighbourhood before we find our
hostelry."
Clym of the Lyn grinned. "To a poor forester," said he, "the green-wood
is a royal inn; vert and venison, your worship, sound more savoury than
four smoky walls, and a platter of beef brought in mine host's left
hand, while his right already says--'Pay!'"
"They would feed me with mine own venison in way of courtesy, even as
the Lion Heart, my namesake and ancestor, was feasted of old;
mine--each acre, each rood, and every noble stag that pastures thereon;
but I am not so free as they; and, mine though this wild wood be, I must
thank an outlaw ere I dine upon my own."
Thus thought Richard; and at that moment, with his limbs aching through
their bondage, and with throbbing temples, liberty in the free forest
seemed worth more than a kingdom. The bright sun was high--the sky
serene--the merry birds were carolling in the brake--the forest basked
in noon-day, while the party wound along the shady path beneath. The
languid frame of York revived; at first to pain alone, for memory was
serpent-fanged. What bird-lime was this to ensnare the royal eagle! but
soon Despair, which had flapped her harpy wings across his face,
blinding him, fled away; Hope awoke, and in her train, schemes of
escape, freedom, and a renewal of the struggle.
Meanwhile they threaded many a green pathway, and, after another hour's
ride, arrived at the opening of a wide grassy dell; a deer, "a stag of
ten," leaped from his ferny bed and bounded away; a herd of timid fawns,
just visible in the distance, hurried into the thicket; while many a
bird flew from the near sprays. Here the party halted; first they
unbitted their steeds, and then dismounted the prisoners, binding them
for security's sake to a tree. Richard was spared this degradation, for
still he was a prince in Clifford's eyes; and his extreme physical
weakness, caused by his blow, made even the close watching him
superfluous. He was lifted from his horse, and placed upon the turf, and
there left. While some of his guards went to seek and slay their repast,
others led their animals to a brook which murmured near; all were
variously and busily employed. Clifford alone remained; he called for
water; evidently he was more weary than he chose to own; he took off his
casque: his features were ghastly: there was a red streak upon his brow,
which was knit as if to endurance, and his lips were white and
quivering. Never had crime visited with such torment ill-fated man; he
looked a Cain after the murder; the Abel he had killed was his own fair
fame--the ancestral honour of his race. How changed from when Richard
last saw him, but two years before; his hair was nearly grey, his eyes
hollow, his cheeks fallen in; yet, though thin to emaciation, he had
lost that delicacy and elegance of feature that had characterized him.
Almost without reflection, forgetting his own position in painful
compassion, the prince exclaimed, "Thou art an unhappy man. Sir Robert?"
The knight replied with a ghastly smile, which he meant to be
disdainful. "But now," continued Richard, "while thy visor screened thy
face, I was on the point of taunting thee as a coward, of defying thee
to mortal combat; but thou art miserable, and broken-hearted, and no
match for me."
Clifford's eyes glared, his hand was upon his sword's hilt: he
recollected himself, replying, "You cannot provoke me, sir, you are my
prisoner."
"Thy victim, Robin; though once saved by thee: but that is past, and
there is no return. The blood of Stanley, and of a hundred other
martyrs, rolls between us: I conquer my own nature, when even for a
moment I look upon their murderer."
The weakness of the prince gave a melancholy softness to his voice and
manner; the deep pity he felt for his fallen friend imparted a seraphic
expression to his clear open countenance. Clifford writhed with pain.
Clifford, who, though not quick to feel for others, was all sense and
sensitiveness for himself: and how often in the world do we see
sensibility attributed to individuals, whose show of feeling arises from
excessive susceptibility to their own sorrows and injuries! Clifford
wished to answer--to go away--he was spell-bound; his cowering look
first animated Richard to an effort, which a moment before he would have
ridiculed. "Wherefore," said he, "have you earned all men's hate, and
your own to boot? Are you more honoured and loved than in Brussels?
Scorn tracks you in your new career, and worst of all, you despise
yourself."
"By St. Sathanas and his brood!" fiercely burst from the knight. Then he
bit his lip, and was silent.
"Yet, Clifford, son of a noble father, spare yourself this crowning sin.
I have heard from travelled men, that in Heathenesse the unbaptized
miscreant is true to him whose hospitality he has shared. There was a
time when my eyes brightened when I saw you; when the name of Robin was
a benediction to be. You have changed it for the direst curse. Yours are
no common crimes. Foremost in the chronicles, your name will stand as a
type and symbol of ingratitude and treason, written with the blood of
Fitzwater and Stanley. But this is not all. The young and defenceless
you destroy: you have stood with uplifted dagger over the couch of a
sleeping man."
Clifford had fostered the belief that this vilest act of his life, to
which he had been driven rather by fierce revenge than hope of reward,
was a secret. A moment before he had advanced with hasty and furious
glances towards his enemy. Scarcely had the words passed York's lips,
than a kind of paralysis came over him. His knees knocked together: his
arms fell nerveless to his side.
"O, man!" continued York, "arouse thy sleeping faculties. Bid the fiend
who tortures thee avaunt! Even now, at the word, he feels his power over
thy miserable soul waver. By Him who died on the Cross, I conjure him to
leave thee. Say thou 'amen' to my adjuration, and he departs. Cast off
the huge burthen of guilt: deliver thy soul into the care of holy men.
As thy first act, depart this spot: leave me. It is I who
command--Richard of York, thy sovereign. Begone; or kneeling at my
feet, seek the grace thou hast so dearly forfeited."
For a moment it almost seemed as if the wretched man were about to obey;
but at the moment his groom came from the spring, where he had been
watering his horse. The sight of another human being, to witness his
degradation, awoke him to frenzy. He called aloud, "How now, sirrah!
Why, unbit Dragon? Bring him here. I must begone."
"He can't carry your honour a mile," said the fellow.
"A miracle," cried Richard; "you repent, Sir Robert."
"As Lucifer in hell! Look to the prisoner." Clifford vaulted on his
horse: his head was bare, his eyes wild and bloodshot. Clapping spurs to
the jaded animal's side, he put him to his speed, and was gone.
"His fit is on him!" cried his attendant, "and what are we to do? He
rides a race with the fiend, leaving us to do both their works." More
whisperingly he muttered, "Hold Duke Richard in bonds against his will
may I not. He gave me gold in Flanders; he is a king's son and a belted
knight, and I a poor servitor."
Richard had conceived a faint hope of working on Clifford's manifest
remorse, and enlisting him again under the banner of the White Rose. His
wonder was great when he saw him flying through the forest with
uncovered head and dishevelled hair; the bridle of his horse in the
groom's hand, while the wearied animal, spurred to speed, threw up his
head, snorting with fear. Not a moment was to be lost, the prince flew
to his comrades in captivity. Already Heron and O'Water had their bonds
cut by the sword of which he possessed himself. Heron, in whose two arms
lay his chief strength, and O'Water, at home in a fray, fired with the
desire of liberty and life, got speedy hold of battle-axes, and stood at
bay. Skelton, the next made free, began to run; but finding his flight
was solitary, he secured a bow and arrows, and betook himself to a
short, sure aim from behind a tree, while he offered up another sigh to
the memory of Trereife. Astley threw himself foremost before his master,
unarmed. The weapons of their guard were chiefly in a heap, and these,
defended by the enfranchised prisoners, were useless to them. Headed by
Clifford's groom, who stood in salutary awe of shedding royal blood, a
parley commenced. He entreated Richard to submit; he told him that the
whole country was in arms against him, his way back to his army beset,
the sea-coasts strictly guarded. What then could he do?
"Die, in arms and at liberty. Stand back, sirs; what would you do with
me? Your guilty captain has deserted you; is there one of your number
who will raise his accursed weapon against a king and a knight?"
Clym of the Lyn, and another outlawed forester (Clifford in mustering a
troop had gathered together all manner of wild companions), now appeared
dragging in a fat buck. Clym grinned when he saw the altered state of
things: "Come, my men," he said, "it is not for us to fight King Henry's
battles; the more majesties there be in England, the merrier for us, I
trow; and the wider and freer the range of the king of the New Forest.
Put up your rapiers, and let us feast like brethren; ye may fall to with
your weapons afterwards. Or, if it please your grace to trust to me, I
will lead you where none of the king's men will follow."
"Wilt thou guide me back to Taunton?" asked the prince.
"Not for my cap full of rose nobles," replied the outlaw; "the way is
beset: and trust me your worship's men are scattered far and wide ere
this. You are a tall fellow, and I should ill like to see you in their
gripe. Be one of us; you shall be king of the Greenwood-shade; and a
merrier, freer monarch than he who lives at Westminster."
"Hark!" the word, spoken in a voice of alarm, made the party all ear.
There was a distant tramp--every now and then a breaking of
bushes--and a whole herd of deer came bounding up the glade in flight.
A forester who had rambled further than the rest, rushed back, saying,
"Sixty yeomen of the royal guard! They are coming hitherward. Sir Harry
de Vere leads them--I know his bright bay horse."
"Away!"
CHAPTER XLVII
A DILEMMA
He might have dwelt in green forest,
Under the shadows green;
And have kept both him and us at rest,
Out of all trouble and teen.
OLD BALLAD.
It had been the policy of Richard's captors to have remained to deliver
up their prisoners to a stronger force. But most of them were outlaws by
profession, who held the king's men in instinctive horror: these were
the first to fly; the panic spread; those who had no cause to fear fled
because they saw others do so. In a moment the sward was cleared of all
save the prisoners, who hastily bridled their horses, and followed York
down a narrow path into a glen, in an opposite direction from the
approaching troop. With what speed they might they made their way
through the forest, penetrating its depths, till they got completely
entangled in its intricacies. They proceeded for several hours, but
their jaded horses one by one foundered: they were in the most savage
part of the wood: there was no beginning nor end to the prospect of
knotted trunks, which lifted their vast leafy burthen into the air; here
was safety and needful repose. Richard, animated to a sudden effort,
could now hardly keep his seat: the state of their animals was
imperative for a halt; so here, in a wild brake, they alighted near a
running brook; and here O'Water slew a buck, while Astley and Skelton
unbridled their horses, and all set about preparing a most needful
repast. Evening stole upon them before it was concluded; the slant
sun-beams lay in golden glory on the twisted ivy-grown trunks, and
bathed the higher foliage in radiance. By the time their appetites were
satisfied, Heron and Skelton were discovered to be in a sound sleep; it
were as well to follow their example; neither men nor horses could
proceed without repose; darkness also afforded best safety for
travelling. It was agreed that they should pursue their way at midnight;
and so, stretched on the grassy soil, peace and the beauty of nature
around them, each gave himself up to a slumber which, at that extremity
of fatigue, needed no courting.
All slept, save the prince; he lay in a state of feverish disquietude,
looking at the sky through the leafy tracery overhead, till night massed
and confused every object. Darkest thoughts thronged his mind; loss of
honour, desertion of friends, the fate of his poor men: he was to have
devoted himself to them, but a stream, driven by a thundering avalanche
from its course, had as much power as he to oppose the circumstances
that had brought him from his camp near Taunton, to this secluded spot.
For an interval he gave himself up to a tumult of miserable ideas, till
from the grim troop some assumed a milder aspect, some a brighter hue;
and, after long and painful consideration, he arranged such a plan as
promised at least to vindicate his own name, and to save the lives of
his adherents. Calmed by these thoughts, soothed to repose by the gentle
influence of a south wind, and the sweet monotony of rustling leaves and
running-water, he sank at last into a dreamless sleep.
A whispering of voices was the first thing that struck his wakening
sense: it was quite dark. "Is Master O'Water come back?" asked Heron.
"I am here," replied the Irishman.
"Hast discovered aught?"
"That the night is dark, and the forest wide," replied O'Water; "had we
a planet to guide us we might hope to reach its skirts. We are worse off
than the Spanish Admiral on the western sea, for the compass was a star
without a cloud to him."
"Saint Mary save us!" said, or rather whined poor Skelton, "our fortunes
are slit from top to toe, and no patch-work will make them whole."
"There is hope at the mouth of a culverin," said O'Water, "or at the
foot of the gallows, so that a man be true to himself. I have weathered
a worse day, when the Macarthys swore to revenge themselves on the
Roches."
"And by our Lady's grace," interrupted Richard, "shall again, worthy
mayor. My good fellows, fear nothing, I will save you; the ocean cannot
be many miles off, for the sun set at our right hand, and blinded our
eyes through the day; the wind by its mildness is southerly; we will
face it. When once we reach the seaside, the shore of the free, wide
ocean, Tudor's power stops short, and ye are safe; of myself there will
then be time to think. Say, shall we proceed now, or give another hour
to repose?"
All were eager to start, slowly leading their horses through the tangled
paths they could find, the quarter whence the wind blew, their only
guide; morning found them toiling on, but morning diminished half their
labours; and, as the birds twittered, and the east gleamed, their
spirits rose to meet and conquer danger. O'Water was in his native
element, that of hair-breadth escape and peril. As to Heron and Skelton,
they might have flagged, but for Richard; he flattered their pride,
raised their hopes, making weariness and danger a plaything and a jest.
As the sun mounted in the sky, their horses showed many a sign of
weariness; and in spite of a store of venison, which the careful Skelton
had brought away with him, they needed refreshment; each mile lengthened
to ten; each glade grew interminable in their eyes; and the wide forest
seemed to possess all England in its extent. Could the prince's body
have conquered his mind, the White Rose had indeed drooped; he was
parched with fever, and this, preying on his brain, made him the victim
of conflicting thoughts: his heart, his imagination, were in his
deserted camp; even fair Katherine, awaiting tidings of him in her far
retreat, had not such power to awaken anguish in his heart, as the idea
of Henry's vengeance exercised on his faithful, humble friends, whose
father and protector he had called himself. There was disease in the
fire and rapidity with which these ideas coursed through his mind; with
a strong will he overcame them, bent on accomplishing his present
purpose, and rescuing these chief rebels, whose lives were most
endangered, before he occupied himself with the safety of the rest.
At length, at noon, his quick ear caught a heavy, distant roar. The
trees had begun to be more scattered: they reached the verge of the
forest; they were too weary to congratulate each other; before them was
a rising ground which bounded their view; some straggling cottages
crowned the height; slowly they reached the hill-top, and there beheld
stormy ocean, clipping in the circular coast with watery girdle; at a
crow's flight it might be a mile distant. A few huts and a single black
boat spotted in one place the else desert beach; a south wind swept the
sea, and vast surges broke upon the sands; all looked bleak and
deserted.
They stopped at a cottage-door, inquiring the road; they heard there was
one, which went three miles about, but that the plain at their feet was
intersected by wide ditches, which their fagged animals could not leap.
Moreover, what hope of putting out to sea, in opposition to the big
noisy waves which the wind was hurrying towards shore! It were safest
and best to take a short repose in this obscure village. Heron and
Skelton entered the poor inn, while Richard waited on his horse,
striving to win him by caresses to taste the food he at first refused.
Heron, who was warm-hearted with all his bluster, brought the prince out
a flagon of excellent wine, such as by some chance--it might be a
wreck--the tide had wafted from the opposite coast: Richard was too ill
to drink; but, as he stood, his arm on his poor steed's neck, the
creature looked wistfully up in his face, averting his mouth from the
proffered grain; half-play fully his master held out to him the
wide-mouthed flagon, and he drank with such eagerness, that Richard
vowed he should have another bottle, and, buying the host's consent with
gold, filled a large can from the wine-cask; the beast drank, and, had
he been a Christian man, could not have appeared more refreshed. The
prince, forgetful of his pains, was amusing himself thus, when Skelton,
pale and gasping, came from the house, and voiceless through fear, laid
one hand on his leader's arm, and with the other pointed: too soon the
hapless fugitive saw to what he called his attention. Along the shore of
the sea a moving body was perceptible, approaching towards them from
west to east, which soon showed itself to be a troop of horse soldiers.
Richard gave speedy order that his friends should assemble and mount,
while he continued to watch the proceedings of the enemy.
They were about two hundred strong--they arrived at the huts on the
beach, and the prince perceived that they were making dispositions to
leave a part of their number behind. Fifty men were selected, and posted
as patrol--the rest then, moved forward, still towards the east. By
this time the remaining fugitives had mounted, and gathered in one
spot--the villagers also were collecting--Skelton's teeth
chattered--he asked an old woman if there were any sanctuary near.
"Ay, by our Lady, is there," replied the dame, "sixteen miles along the
coast is the monastery of Beaulieu. A sanctuary for princes; by the same
token that the Lady Margaret, Saint Henry's queen, lived safely therein
spite of the wicked Yorkists, who would have taken her precious life."
Richard turned quickly round as the woman spoke and heard her words, but
again his eyes were attracted to the coast. As the troop were proceeding
along the sands, the little knot of horsemen perched upon the hill
caught the attention of a soldier. He rode along the lines, and spoke to
the commanding officer; a halt ensued, "We are lost," cried Skelton, "we
are taken, Lord! Lord! will they grant us our lives?"
"These trees are tempting, and apt for hanging," said O'Water, with the
air of a connoisseur.
"Oh, for Bewley,--for Bewley, let us ride!" exclaimed Skelton, longing
to go, yet afraid of separating himself from his companions.
Still the prince watched the movements of the adverse party. Ten men
were detached, and began to advance inland--"Oh, dear, my lord," cried
Astley, "betake yourself to the forest--there are a thousand ways of
baffling these men. I will meet them, and put them to fault. Hide, for
my Lady's sake, ride!"
"Master Astley is a cunning gentleman," said Skelton; "our horses are
aweary, and a little craft would help us mightily."
Still Richard's eyes were fixed on the troopers--the men advanced as
far as a broad, deep stream, which intersected the plain; here they
hesitated; one of the best mounted leaped across, the others drew back,
seeking along the steep, shelving banks for a ford, or a narrowing of
the stream. The eyes of the troop on the shore were now turned upon
their comrades. "Our time is come," cried Richard; "back to the forest."
One step took them down the other side of the hill, hiding sea and beach
and enemy from their eyes, and screening them also from observation.
They soon reached the forest, and entered its shade; and then proceeded
along just within its skirts. "Whither?" respectfully O'Water asked,
after Skelton had for some time been muttering many a hint concerning
sanctuary.
"To Beaulieu," said the prince. "We are barred out from the ocean--we
are beset at land--the little island ycleped sanctuary is all that is
left to ye. God speed us safely hither."
Richard's horse was lively and refreshed after his generous draught, but
these of the others flagged. The prince exerted himself to keep up the
spirits of all; he rallied Skelton, spoke comfort to Astley, and good
hope to Heron. The sturdy apprentice of danger, flight, and trouble,
O'Water, treated it all as a matter of course--even hanging, if it so
chanced, was but a likely accident--the others needed more
encouragement. Astley feared for his lord, even to an appearance of
timidity, which, though disinterested, had a bad effect on the others.
Heron complained bitterly that his dinner had been left unfinished;
while the poor tailor, now fancying that he would run away from all, now
fearful of solitary misadventure, kept up a garrulous harangue, of which
terror was the burthen and the sum, Richard's voice was cheerful, his
manner gay; but, placing his hand on Astley, it felt scorching; every
moment it required more energy to throw off the clinging lethargy that
fell upon him. It was again evening--a circumstance that had caused
them to enter deeper into the forest; and it was to be feared they had
lost their way. All were weary--all, save Richard, hungry. The breeze
had died away; the air was oppressive, and more and more it felt like a
load intolerable to the prince's burning brow. Night began to close in
so very dark, that the horses refused to go forward. Suddenly a roaring
sound arose, which was not the sea; and, but that the atmosphere was so
still, the wanderers would have said that it was a fierce wind among the
trees. Such must it be, for now it came nearer; like living things, the
vast giants of the forest tossed their branches furiously; and entire
darkness and sudden pouring rain revealed the tempest, which their leafy
prison had before hidden--all was so instantaneous, that it would seem
that nature was undergoing some great revulsion in her laws. The
prince's horse snorted and reared, while O'Water's dashed furiously on,
striking against a tree, and throwing his rider, from whose lips there
escaped a shriek. What would have been the last overflowing drop in the
bitter cup to a weak mind, restored Richard--lassitude and despondency
vanished. In an instant he was off his horse at O'Water's side, speaking
in his own cheerful, kind voice. "Waste no moment on me," cried the
generous mayor. "My leg is broken--I can go no further--speed you,
your highness, to the sanctuary."
This was the end of hope--the raging storm, the disabled man, dark
night, and Richard's resolve not to desert his follower, all were causes
of terror and of despair.
A voice in the wood was heard calling aloud; no answer could be
returned; it was repeated, and Astley went forward to reconnoitre--even
an enemy were help in such disaster, yet Heron and Skelton implored him
to remain. Another halloo Richard answered; for he recognized Astley's
voice, who in the dark could not find his way back. He came at last,
accompanied by a monk--this was heaven's favour revealed; for the holy
man was a hermit, and his poor cell was near: poor indeed was it, built
with logs, the interstices filled with mud; a bed of dried leaves was
nearly all the furniture. The hermit had gone on first, and lit a torch;
as they might, they bore along poor O'Water, and placed him in his agony
on the low couch. The hermit looked inquisitively on all the party,
neglecting to answer Skelton, who asked for the hundredth time the
distance to Beaulieu.
Richard still occupied himself with the mayor, endeavouring to discover
if the limb were broken. "By your leave, your grace," said the hermit,
"I am somewhat of a chirurgeon; I boast of my cures of horses, and have
saved a Christian man ere now."
Scarcely did the prince remember to wonder at the title by which the
unknown addressed him. By our Lady's love he besought him to attend to
his friend. "Trust me," said the hermit, "I will not fail; but you, my
lord, must not tarry here; the forest is beset with troops; but for
night and storm, you would hardly attain Beaulieu in safety. It is but
two miles distant: I will guide your highness thither; and then return
to your follower. Have faith in me, my lord; I have served your royal
uncle, and was enlisted under your banner last year in Kent. I made a
shift to escape, and took sanctuary; but the stone walls of a monastery
are little better than those of a prison; so I betook me to the woods.
Oh, I beseech you, waste no time: I will return to your follower: he is
safe till then."
"Direct us, and I will thank you," replied Richard; "but you shall not
desert your patient even for a moment."
There was no alternative but to comply: the man gave as clear
instructions as he might, and Richard again set forward with his
diminished party. They were long entangled by trees; and it was now
quite night: the excitement over, the prince had drooped again. Even
this interval was full of peril--a tramp of steeds was heard: they drew
up among the trees; a party of horsemen passed; one--could it be the
voice of the subtle Frion?--said, "At the end of this glade we shall
see the abbey spires. Well I know the same; for when Queen
Margaret----"
This speaker was succeeded by a woman's voice: yet greater wonder, she
spoke in Spanish, in unforgotten accents--Richard's heart stood still,
as he heard them; but soon both voice and tramp of steeds grew faint;
and his brain, becoming more and more bewildered, allowed no thought to
enter, save the one fixed there even in delirium. The fugitives
continued to linger in this spot until it was probable that the
travellers should have arrived. True to the information they had
overheard, the forest opened at the end of the glade into a leafy
amphitheatre; an avenue was opposite, which led to the abbey gates,
whose Gothic spires, buttresses and carved arches, rose above the tufted
trees in dark masses. One end of the building was illuminated--that was
the church, and the pealing organ stole mournfully on the night,
sounding a Miserere; the chaunting of the monks mingled with the
harmonious swell, adding that pathos, that touch of solemn, unutterable
sentiment, which perhaps no music, save that of the human voice,
possesses. Richard's companions were rough-suited, vulgar-minded; but
they were Catholic and religious men, and were awe-struck by this voice
from heaven reaching them thus in their desolation; a voice promising
safety and repose to their harassed, wearied bodies.
A few steps carried them to the very spot; the bell was rung, the gate
was opened, sanctuary was claimed and afforded. Skelton sprang forward;
the other two hung back; but, on a sign from Richard, they also passed
the sacred threshold "Farewell, my friends," he said, "a short farewell.
Astley, I charge you wait for me. Sir priest, close the gate."
The word was said, the order obeyed, Richard was left alone in darkness.
"Now for my task--for my poor trusty fellows. The work of murder cannot
yet have begun: my life pays for all. Yet awhile bear me up, thou
fainting spirit; desert not Richard's breast till his honour be
redeemed!"
Vain prayer!--"I must repose," he thought; "it is of no avail to urge
nature beyond herself; a few minutes, and I am strong." He dismounted,
and, with a sensation of delicious relief, threw himself at his length
on the wet grass, pressing the dank herbage to his fevered brow. At
first he felt recovered; but in a few minutes strong spasms shot through
his frame; and these yielded to a feebleness, that forced him to sink to
the ground, when he endeavoured to rise: he forgot his situation, the
near abbey, his friends; he forgot wherefore, but he remembered that his
presence was required somewhere, and with a resolved effort he rose and
staggered towards his horse--he fell. "A little sleep, and I shall be
well." This was his last thought, and he lay in a state between slumber
and stupor upon the earth.
CHAPTER XLVIII
CAPTURE OF KATHERINE
If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,
Injurious distance should not stop my way;
For then, despite of space, I would be brought
To limits far remote, where thou dost stay.
SHAKSPEARE.
There is a terror whose cause is unrevealed even to its victim, which
makes the heart beat wildly, and we ask the voiceless thing wherefore;
when the beauty of the visible universe sickens the aching sense; when
we beseech the winds to comfort us, and we implore the Invisible for
relief, which is to speed to us from afar. We endeavour, in our impotent
struggle with the sense of coming evil, to soar beyond the imprisoning
atmosphere of our own identity; we call upon the stars to speak to us,
and would fain believe that mother earth, with inorganic voice,
prophesies. Driven on by the mad imaginings of a heart hovering between
life and death, we fancy that the visible frame of things is replete
with oracles. Or is it true; and do air and earth, divined by the
sorrow-tutored spirit, possess true auguries? At such dread hour we are
forced to listen and believe: nor can we ever afterwards, in common
life, forget our miserable initiation into the mysteries of the
unexplained laws of our nature. To one thus aware of the misfortune that
awaits her, the voice of consolation is a mockery. Yet, even while she
knows that the die is cast, she will not acknowledge her intimate
persuasion of ill; but sits smiling on any hope brought to her, as a
mother on the physician who talks of recovery while her child dies.
The Lady Katherine had yielded to Richard's wishes, because she saw that
he really desired her absence. Alone in a monastery, in a distant part
of Cornwall, she awaited the fatal tidings, which she knew must come at
last She was too clear-sighted not to be aware, that the armed power of
a mighty kingdom, such as England, must crush at once his ill-organized
revolt. She was prepared for, and ready to meet, all the disasters and
humiliations of defeat; but not to be absent from her husband at this
crisis. She ordered horses to be kept perpetually in readiness, that she
might proceed towards him on the first intimation of change and
downfall. She watched from the highest tower of her abode, the arrival
of messengers: before she dared open her letters, she read in their
faces, what news of Richard? It was a bitter pang to hear that
Plantagenet was dangerously wounded; that the prince had advanced
further forward, at the head of his rabble soldiers.
She had no friends, save humble ones, and very few of these: they
borrowed their looks from her, yet hoped more than she did. Quickly she
was aware of a change in them: they spoke in a low, subdued voice, as if
awe-struck by some visitation of destiny. That very day letters arrived
from the prince: they were of ancient date, nor could she lay his terms
of endearment and cheering to her heart and be consoled. In the
afternoon a torn, soiled billet was brought her from Edmund. In spite of
his wound, he had dragged himself as far as Launceston, on his way to
her. Forced to stop, he sent her tidings of all he knew--Richard's
mysterious flight, Henry's bloodless victory, the eagerness the king
expressed to learn where she was, and the despatching of troops in
search of her. He besought her to fly. It might be hoped that the prince
had escaped beyond sea, whither she must hasten; or falling into his
enemy's hands, she would never see him more.
Perplexed and agitated, knowing that dishonour would result from
Richard's strange disappearance, yet persuaded that he had some ulterior
view which it behoved her not to thwart, she hesitated what step to
take.
An incident occurred to end her uncertainty. Suddenly, in the evening,
Monina stood before her. Monina came with the safety-laden Adalid, to
bear her to the shores of Burgundy. She brought the history of the fraud
practised upon York, of the ambush laid for his life, of his escape, and
the arrival, immediately succeeding to hers, of his followers at the
Abbey of Beaulieu; how the pawing and trampling of a horse at the gates
had brought out the monks, who discovered the hapless prince senseless
on the dark sod. He was carried in, and through her care his name was
entered in the sanctuary. She had attended on his sick couch two days
and nights, when his first return to reason was to implore her to seek
Katherine, to carry her beyond Tudor's power, out of the island prison.
Her father's caravel was hovering on the coast. A favouring south-east
wind bore her to these shores: she came at his desire: the Adalid was
there, and she might sail, not to Burgundy, but even to the spot which
harboured Richard. She also could take sanctuary in Beaulieu.
The monastery in which the duchess of York had taken refuge was situated
on St. Michael's Mount, not far from the Land's End. The land projects
romantically into the sea, forming a little harbour called Mount's Bay.
Towards the land the acclivity is at first gradual, becoming precipitous
towards the summit: now, at high water, the tide flows between the rock
and the land, but it was in those days connected by a kind of natural,
rocky causeway. Towards the sea it is nearly perpendicular. A strong
fortress was connected with the church; and a stone lantern was attached
to one of the towers of the church. Not far from the castle, in a craggy
and almost inaccessible part of the cliff, is situated Saint Michael's
Chair, which, on account of its dangerous approach, and the traditions
attached to it, became the resort of the pious. Many a legend belonged
to this spot. Its thick woods, the hoar appearance of the crags, the
wide-spread sea, for ever warring against the land, which had thrust
itself out into the watery space, usurping a part of its empire, made it
singularly grand; while the placid beauty of the little bay formed by
the rock, and the picturesque grouping of the trees, the straggling
paths, and numerous birds, added every softer beauty to the scene.
Often did Katherine watch the changeful ocean, or turn her eyes to the
more grateful spectacle of umbrageous woods, and rifted rock, and seek
for peace in the sight of earth's loveliness. All weighed with tenfold
heaviness on her foreboding soul. For the first time, they wore to her
the aspect of beauty, when now she hoped to leave them. Hopes so soon to
fail. A south wind had borne the caravel swiftly into the bay, but the
breeze increased to a gale, and even while the ladies were making a few
hasty preparations, De Faro had been obliged to slip his moorings, and
run out to sea, to escape the danger of being wrecked on a lee shore.
With a pang of intense misery, Katherine saw its little hull hurry over
the blackening waters, and its single sail lose itself amidst the
sea-foam. The mariner had even, on anchoring, anticipated a storm; he
had informed his daughter of the probability there was, that he should
be driven to seek for safety in the open sea; but he promised with the
first favourable change of wind to return. When would this come? Fate
was in the hour, nor could even Katherine school herself to patience.
Evening shades gathering round them; the princess, growing each minute
more unquiet and miserable, sought in some kind of activity for relief
to her sufferings. "I will go to Saint Michael's Chair," she said; "good
spirits for ever hover near the sainted spot; they will hear and carry a
fond wife's prayer to the throne of the Eternal."
In silence Monina followed the lady. They were both mountain-bred, and
trod lightly along paths which seemed scarcely to afford footing to a
goat. They reached the seat of the rock; they looked over the sea, whose
dark surface was made visible by the sheets of foam that covered it; the
roar of waves was at their feet. The sun went down blood-red, and, in
its dying glories, the crescent moon showed first pale, then glowing;
the thousand stars rushed from among the vast clouds that blotted the
sky; and the wind tore fiercely round the crag, and howled among the
trees. O earth, and sea, and sky! strange mysteries! that look and are
so beautiful even in tumult and in storm; did ye feel pain then, when
the elements of which ye are composed battled together? Were ye tortured
by the strife of wind and wave, even as the soul of man when it is the
prey of passion? Or were ye unmoved, pain only being the portion of the
hearts of the two human beings, who, looking on the commotion, found
your wildest rage calm in comparison with the tempest of fear and grief
which had mastery over them.
Sickened by disappointment, impatient of despair, each remained,
brooding mutely over their several thoughts.
Poor Katherine; her dearest wish was set upon sharing in all its drear
minuti the fortune of her lord, her gallant knight, her most sweet
Richard. He was her husband; he had taken her, timid yet confiding,
from the shelter of her father's roof; they had entered the young
world of hope and hazard together. Custom, the gentle weaver
of soft woman's tenderness, had thrown its silken net over her;
his disasters became hers; his wishes, and their defeat, were
also hers. She only existed as a part of him; while enthusiastic
love made her fondly cling even to the worst that betided, as
better in its direst shape than any misnamed good fortune that
unlinked them.
"My love, my altar-plighted love! must I then wake and say no good day
to thee; and sleep, my rest unbenisoned by thy good night! The simple
word, the we, that symbolized our common fate, cut in two, each half a
nothing so disjoined."
While Katherine thus struggled with necessity, Monina was given up to
patience. The present hour had fulfilled its fear; her busy thoughts
fashioned a thousand plans for his escape, or tremblingly painted a dark
futurity. He was a part of her being, though no portion of herself was
claimed by him. She was not his, as a lover or a wife, but as a sister
might be; if in this ill world such heart's concord could exist: a
sharing of fate and of affection, combined with angelic purity. As
easily might she fancy animal life to survive in her body after the soul
had fled, as soon imagine that the beating of her heart could continue
when the living impulse which quickened its palpitations was still, as
that he, her childhood's playfellow, the golden dream of her youth, the
shrine at which she had sacrificed that youth, should die, and she live
on in the widowed world without him.
The stars glittered over their gentle heads, and the moon went down in
the west; fitful, thread-like rays were shed upon the raging sea, whose
heady billows foamed and roared at their feet: both these fair, gentle
creatures remained, careless of the wild wind that swept their limbs, or
the spray which, high as they stood, besprent their hair: both young,
both lovely, both devoted to one, yet confiding in the reality of virtue
and purity, trusting fully each other, the one accepting the heart's
sacrifice which the other unreservedly made, they watched for the
Adalid, which, a plaything of the waves, was carried afar. Day dawned
before they could resolve to quit this spot; then they took refuge in
the near monastery, and from its towers looked out over the sea.
A few anxious hours brought the dreaded consummation of their fears. The
ascent of a troop of horse up the steep, told Katherine that she was
discovered. Their sudden appearance before her proved that she was a
prisoner. For the first time she saw the White and Red Rose entwined;
the earl of Oxford was announced to her as their leader, and he soon
appeared to claim his prize.
Katherine received him with dignified sweetness; she conquered her ill
fate by smiling at its blows, and looked a queen, as she yielded herself
a slave. The watching of the night had all disordered her dress, and
deranged her golden tresses; but her wondrous fairness, the soft
moulding of her face, her regal throat, and arched open brow, bending
over her intelligent, yet soft, blue eyes; her person majestic, even in
its slim beauty, were tokens of a spirit, that in destitution must reign
over all who approached it.
Her first words, to ease the awe-struck earl, were an entreaty to be
conducted to the king. She showed more earnest desire than he to present
herself to her royal victor. In a very few hours they had descended the
Mount, and hastened out of hearing of the roar of the ocean, which had
so cruelly deceived her hopes. In her eyes could only be read the
mastery she had obtained over her thoughts; no lurking weakness betrayed
fear, or even disappointment, Surely yet she cherished some dear
expectation; yet how, lost to liberty, could she hope to attain it?
But thus we are, while untamed by years. Youth, elastic and bright,
disdains to be compelled. When conquered, from its very chains it forges
implements for freedom; it alights from one baffled flight, only again
to soar on untired wing towards some other aim. Previous defeat is made
the bridge to pass the tide to another shore; and, if that break down,
its fragments become stepping-stones. It will feed upon despair, and
call it a medicine which is to renovate its dying hopes.
CHAPTER XLIX
RICHARD SURRENDERS
For, when Cymocles saw the foul reproach
Which him appeached, prick'd with noble shame
And inward grief, he fiercely 'gan approach;
Resolved to put away that loathly blame,
Or die with honour and desert of fame.
SPENSER.
After the prince, by the voyage of Monina, had, as he hoped, provided
for the escape and safety of the Lady Katherine, he could not, all weak
as he was, remain in repose.
From his early childhood he had been nurtured in the idea that it was
his first, chief duty to regain his kingdom; his friends lived for that
single object; all other occupation was regarded as impertinent or
trifling. On the table of his ductile boyish mind, that sole intent was
deeply engraved by every hand or circumstance. The base-minded
disposition of his rival king adorned his cause with a show of use and
the name of virtue.
Those were days when every noble-born youth carved honour for himself
with his sword; when passes at arms where resorted to whenever real wars
did not put weapons in their hands, and men exposed their breasts to
sharp-biting steel in wanton sport. Often during his green and budding
youth Richard had gloried in the very obstacles set before him; to be
cast out and forced to redeem his state, was a brighter destiny than to
be lapped in the bosom of guarded royalty. The treason of Clifford and
the sacrifice of devoted friends but whetted his ambition; vengeance,
the religion of that age, being a sacred duty in his eyes. He had been
shaken by Lord Surrey's appeal, but cast the awakened pity off as a
debasing weakness.
The painted veil of life was torn. His name had not armed the nobles of
his native land, his cause had not been trumpeted with praise nor
crowned by victory; deserted by foreign allies, unsuccessful in Ireland,
he had appeared at the head of a rabble army strong only in wrongs and
in revenge. Even these he had abandoned, and with nameless hinds taken
sanctuary; his story was a fable, his name a jeer; he no longer, so it
seemed, existed; for the appellation of duke of York was to be lost and
merged in the disgraceful misnomer affixed to him by the Usurper.
Richard was no whining monk to lament the inevitable, and tamely to
await the result. To see an evil was to spur him to seek a remedy: he
had given up every expectation of reigning, except such as sprung from
his right, and faith in the justice of God. But honour was a more valued
treasure; and to his warm heart dearer still was the safety of the poor
fellows abandoned by him. On the third day after his arrival at
Beaulieu, he arose from his sick couch, donned his armour, and, yet pale
and feeble, sent to speak with the cavalier who commanded the party that
guarded all egress from the abbey. With him he held long parley, in
conclusion of which Sir Hugh Luttrel directed three of his followers to
be in readiness, and two of his chosen horses to be led to the abbey
gates. Richard took leave of the abbot; he recommended his poor
followers to him, and lightly answered the remonstrance of the holy man,
who thought that delirium alone could urge the fugitive to quit the
tranquil, sacred spot, where he himself passed his days in quiet, and
which held out so secure a protection to the vanquished. His
remonstrance was vain; one word weighed more with Richard than a
paradise of peace. Infamy, dishonour! No; even if his people were
safe--by throwing himself in the self-same peril to which he had
apparently exposed them, that stain were effaced. The very gentleman to
whom he had surrendered himself had trespassed on his allegiance to
Henry to dissuade him from the fool-hardihood of his adventure. It was a
sight of pity to see one so very young walk voluntarily to the
sacrifice; and the princely mien and youthful appearance of the
self-constituted prisoner wrought all to compassion and respect. For
still this fair White Rose was in the very opening flower of manhood: he
looked, after such variety of fortune, as if evil not only never had,
but never could tarnish the brightness of his spirit or of his aspect;
illness had a little enfeebled him, without detracting from his youthful
beauty, giving rather that softness which made it loveliness, yet
painted fairer by his self-immolating resolve.
"A sweet regard and amiable grace,
Mixed with manly sternness did appear,"
and eagerness withal: for eager he was, even to almost foolish haste, to
redeem the lost hours, and establish himself again no runaway.
With fresh joy he addressed himself to retrace his steps to Taunton.
Sanctuary and refuge from death--oh! how he trampled on the slavish
thought. Death was to him a word, a shadow, a phantom to deride and
scorn, not an enemy to grapple with; disgrace was his abhorred foe, and
him he thus overthrew. His resolves, inspired by disdain of permitting
one taint to blemish his career, were not the expedients of prudence,
but the headlong exploit of daring youth. The iron must indeed have
entered our souls, and we be tamed from dear, youthful freedom to age's
humble concessions to necessity, before we can bow our head to calumny,
smile at the shafts as they rankle in our flesh, and calmly feel that,
among the many visitations of evil we undergo, this is one we are
compelled to endure.
Thus he, his gentle guide and followers, travelled towards Taunton. In
all prudence, from the moment they left sanctuary, Sir Hugh Luttrel
ought to have guarded him closely. But even the staid Sir Hugh forgot
this duty; rather was Richard the enforcer of this journey, than his
guard, Richard it was who at night halted unwillingly; Richard who first
cried to horse at morning's dawn; who, in spite of ill-weather, resisted
every delay. As they drew near their bourne, the appellation of Perkin
first met the prince's ear; he was unaware that it had ever been applied
to him except by Henry's written proclamations. It acted as a galling
spur; for he believed, with youth's incapacity of understanding
systematized falsehood, that his presence would put to flight the
many-coloured web of invention, which his rival had cast over him to mar
his truth and obscure his nobility.
After three days they drew near Taunton. The stubble fields, the flowery
hedges, the plenteous orchards were passed. From a rising ground they
looked upon the walls of the town, and the vacant moor where his camp
had stood. Richard halted, saying--"Sir knight, I will await you
here--do you seek your king: say, I come a voluntary sacrifice, to
purchase with drops of my royal blood the baser tide of my poor
followers. I demand no more--bid him rear the scaffold; let the
headsman sharpen the axe, to lop off the topmost bough of Plantagenet.
The price I ask, is the despised lives of men, who, but that they loved
me, were incapable of merit or of crime in his eyes. For their humble
sakes, like my grandfather York, I am prepared to die. If pledge of this
be denied me, I still am free. I wear a sword and will sell my life
dearly, though alone."
Sir Hugh Luttrel was perplexed. He knew the stern nature of his royal
master, and how heavily he would visit on him any disappointment in his
dearest wish of obtaining possession of his rival's person. The prince
had, during their three days' companionship, gained great power over
him: he felt that he was in truth the son of Edward the Fourth, a man he
had never loved (for Sir Hugh was a Lancastrian), but one whom he had
feared and obeyed as his sovereign. How could he put slavish
force upon his gallant offspring? He hesitated, till the prince
demanded--"Wherefore delay--is there aught else that you desire?"
"You pledge your knightly word," said Sir Hugh, "not to desert this
spot?"
"Else wherefore am I here?--this is idle. Yet, so to content you, I
swear by my vow made under the walls of Granada, by our Lady, and by the
blessed saints, I will abide here."
The knight rode into the town with his followers, leaving young Richard
impatient for the hour that was to deliver him to servitude.
Sir Hugh first sought Lord Dawbeny, requesting him to obtain for him
instant audience of the king. "His grace," said the noble, "is at
vespers, or about to attend them."
"I dare not wait till they are said," replied Luttrel, who every minute
felt the burthen of responsibility weighing heavier on him.
"Nor I interrupt his majesty--even now he enters the church."
In haste Sir Hugh crossed the street; and, as the king took the holy
water from the chalice, he knelt before him. The few words he spoke
painted Henry's face with exulting gladness. "We thank thee, good Sir
Hugh," he said, "and will make our thanks apparent. By the mass, thou
hast deserved well of us this day! Where hast thou bestowed our
counterfeit?"
"Please your majesty, he awaits your highness's acceptance of his
conditions without the eastern gate."
"You have placed strong guard over him?"
"He pledged his oath to await my return. He is alone."
A dark, angry frown chased all glee from Tudor's brow; bending a stern
glance on his erewhile welcome messenger, he commanded Lord Wells, his
cousin, to take a strong force and to seize this duke of Runaways. Sir
Hugh, timid as he was, interfered: driven by respect for his prisoner,
and fear of what might ensue, he tried to enforce York's stipulation.
Henry looked on him with scorn, then said, "Truly, cousin, I have
vaunted of a bloodless conquest; so let not the blood of the misborn
traitor stain our laurels, nor Sir Luttrel's Duke Perkin shed one
precious ruby drop. Say ay to all he asks; for, as it seems, his demands
are as foolish as himself, and need no chaffering. Tell him that his
life is safe, but bring him here; set him within our ward and
limitation: do this, while we with a Te Deum thank our Heavenly Father
for his watchful mercies. Sir Hugh, accompany our cousin, and then wend
your way whither it please you. We have no pleasure in your presence."
Thus duped, even by his own generous, proud spirit, the duke of York
became a prisoner--delivering up his sword, and yielding himself an
easy prey to his glad victor. Once, twice, thrice, as he waited the
return of Luttrel, it had crossed his mind, not to fly, his vow being
pledged, but to remember that he was now free and unconstrained, and
would soon be in other's thrall--when farewell to the aspiring thought,
the deed of arms, and to the star of his life, to whose idea, now his
purpose was accomplished, he fondly turned!--"Poor Katherine," he
whispered, "this is the crown, the fated, fallen youth, the seer
foretold." In after-times that scene dwelt on his memory; he called to
mind the evening-tide, for the sun was down, and the clouds, lately gold
besprent, waxing dun, as the town walls grew high and dark, and the few
trees about him waved fitfully in a soft breeze; that wind was free, and
could career over the plain; what spell bound the noble knight and
stalwart steed, that they coursed not also free as it?
In a few minutes he was a prisoner--and led within those darksome
walls. At first, treated with some observance, he was unaware, as is the
case in any new position, with whose circumstances and adjuncts we are
unacquainted, how utterly he had fallen. He was led to no barred prison;
and, for a time, the nobles and knights who flocked, to see him were no
bad exchange for the motley crew he had quitted. But, as if in a dream,
he felt gather round him impalpable but adamantine walls--chains hung
upon his limbs, not the less heavy, because the iron pierced his soul
rather than his flesh. He had been a free man; his name was attended
with love and respect, and his aspect commanded the obedience of men.
Now, the very appellation given to him was a mortal insult; a stranger
seemed to be spoken to when he was addressed, and yet he must answer. He
was never alone; and night was the sole suspension from the insulting
curiosity of the crowd. He must forego himself; grow an impostor in his
own eyes; take on him the shameful name of Perkin: all which native
honour, and memory of his princess bride, made trebly stinging.
To barb the dart came intelligence that the Lady Katherine was a
prisoner. King Henry had quitted Taunton, and gone towards Exeter, when,
on his arrival there, the earl of Oxford presented the Scottish princess
to him. Praises of her wondrous beauty became rife, brought by some of
the king's train, returned to Taunton; praises so excessive and warm as
could not have been inspired by celestial beauty in adversity, if not
egged on by some adventitious stimulant. It was the fashion to speak of
her as the Queen of Loveliness; as (for beauty's sake the name belonged
to her) the fairest White Rose that ever grew on thorny bush. By this
name she was mentioned to York; and it visited his heart as the first
gleam of sunshine on his enshadowed misery; dear was the name of the
White Rose to the fallen one. It had been his own in fresh and happy
days, when first he showed his prowess among the knights of France and
Burgundy. Still louder grew the echo of some mighty voice, that gave
forth encomium of the prisoner's bride; and the smiles with which some
spoke, smiles half of wonder half of mockery, told of some secret charm,
which at last was openly commented upon. "Again the king saw the fair
one yestermorn; and dallied ere he granted the earnest suit she made, as
if he loved to be entreated."
"The grave King Henry caught in the net of the wanton boy! Oh, this were
subject for a ballad for the nonce."
"Blythe news for gentle Perkin; his wife thrives at court. She takes
occasion by too slender a hold, if she raise not her husband from the
kitchen to a higher place at court."
"Now we shall see our the lady the queen jealous of her liege."
"Our queen? what midsummer's dream is this? The White Rose will never
flower in our court garden."
To falsify this assertion came the next day a messenger, with command to
convey the noble prisoner with all speed to London; and for the
attendance of the Lady Cheney, and the Lady Howard, two noble matrons,
to wait on the Lady Katherine, who was about to proceed to Westminster.
Smiles and whispers were interchanged; and, when to this was added, that
as much courtesy should be shown the counterfeit youth as might not
endanger his safe keeping, the light laugh followed; though, as if to
meet and overthrow the raillery, it was added, this was ordered for his
royal wife's sake, who was cousin to England's dear ally, the king of
Scotland. These idle tales did not reach York's ear: wherever he showed
himself, he enforced such personal respect, that there was no likelihood
that any conjecture, linked with his lady's name, would be hazarded
before him. He was told that the king entertained her royally; and when
he heard that she was to be presented to his sister, the Queen
Elizabeth, a thrill of joy passed into his heart. His sister! as a boy,
he remembered the fair, kind girl, whom he had called his loved and most
sweet sister: he knew that she was conscious of his truth, and, though
wedded to his rival, loved not her lord. It was a pleasing dream, to
fancy these gentle ladies together; to know that, while the one spoke
her affection and praise, the other must feel the kindred blood warm in
her heart, and proudly, though sadly, acknowledge him her worthy
brother.
CHAPTER L
A PROCESSION
They are noble sufferers. I marvel
How they'd have looked, had they been victors, that
With such a constant nobility enforce
A freedom out of bondage.
TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.
The vulgar rabble, fond of any sort of show, were greedy of this new
one. In all parts the name of the duke of York, of the counterfeit
Perkin, drew a concourse of gazers. The appetite was keenest in London;
and many a tawdry masque and mime was put in motion, to deck the streets
through which the defeated youth was to pass. Vainly; he entered London
at night, and was conducted privately to Westminster. What strange thing
was this? What mark of reality did his very forehead wear, that Henry,
so prodigal of contumely on his foes, dared not bring him forward for
the public gaze? One man was put in the stocks for a similar remark; and
on the following day it was suddenly proclaimed, that Perkin would go in
procession from Westminster to Saint Paul's, and back again. A troop of
horse at the appointed hour left the palace: in the midst of them rode a
fair young gentleman, whose noble mien and gallant bearing gave lustre
to his escort: his sweet aspect, his frank soft smile and lively but
calm manner, had no trace of constraint or debasement, "He is
unarmed--is that Perkin? No, the earl of Warwick--he is a prince
sure--yet that is he!" Such murmurs sped around; at some little
distance followed another burlesque procession; a poor fellow, a
Cornishman, was tied to an ass, his face to the tail, and the beast now
proceeding lazily, now driven by sticks, now kicking, now galloping,
made an ill-fashioned mirth for the multitude. Whether, as York was not
to be disgraced in his own person, the contumely was to reach him
through this poor rogue, or whether the eyes of men were to be drawn
from him to the rude mummery which followed, could only be guessed: the
last was the effect produced. Richard heard mass at Saint Paul's, and
returned to Westminster unmolested by insult. It seemed but as if some
young noble made short pilgrimage from one city to the other, to
accomplish a vow. The visit of ill-fated Warwick to the cathedral,
before the battle of Stoke, had more in it of humiliating ostentation.
He returned to the palace of Westminster. A few weeks he spent in
mingled curiosity and anxiety concerning his future destiny. It was
already accomplished. Modern times could not present anything more
regular and monotonous than the way of life imposed upon him. It was
like the keeping of a lunatic, who, though now sane, might be
momentarily expected to break out in some dangerous explosion, rather
than the confining of a state-prisoner. Four armed attendants, changed
every eight hours, constantly guarded him, never moving, according to
the emphatic language of the old chroniclers, the breadth of a nail from
his side. He attended early mass each morning: he was permitted to take
one hour's ride on every evening that was not a festival. Two large
gloomy chambers, with barred windows, were allotted him. Among his
guards, he quickly perceived that the same faces seldom appeared; and
the most rigorous silence, or monosyllabic discourse, was imposed upon
them. Harsher measures were perhaps spared, from respect to his real
birth, or his alliance with the king of Scotland: yet greater severity
had been less tantalizing. As it was, the corpse in the grass-grown
grave was not more bereft of intercourse with the sunny world, than the
caged duke of York. From his windows, he looked upon a deserted
court-yard; in his rides, purposely directed to unfrequented spots, he
now and then saw a few human beings--such name could be hardly bestowed
on his stony-faced, stony-hearted guards.
Richard was the very soul of sympathy; he could muse for hours in
solitude, but it must be upon dear argument, that had for its subject
the pleasures, interests or affections of others. He could not entertain
a heartless intercourse. Wherever he saw the human countenance, he
beheld a fellow-creature; and, duped a thousand times, and a thousand
times deceived, "still he must love." To spend the hour in sportive
talk; fondly to interchange the gentle offices of domestic life; to meet
peril and endure misery with others; to give away himself, and then
return to his inner being, laden like a bee with gathered sweets: to
pile up in his store-house, memory, the treasured honey of friendship
and love, and then away to nestle in the bosom of his own dear flower,
and drink up more, or gaily to career the golden fields; such was his
nature: and now--this was worse loneliness; this commune with the mutes
of office; to be checked by low-born men; to feel that he must obey the
beck of an hireling. A month, interspersed with hopes of change, he had
endured the degradation; now he began to meditate escape. Yet he paused.
Where was Katherine? where his many zealous friends?
The Lady Katherine was in an apartment of the palace, whose arched and
fretted roof, and thick buttresses, were well adapted to impart a
feeling of comfortable seclusion from the rough elements without. The
dulness of dark November was gladdened by a huge wood fire. The little
prince of Wales was narrating some strange story of fairyland; and bluff
Harry was setting two dogs to quarrel, and then beating his favourite
for not conquering, which seeing, his sister Margaret drew the animal
from him to console and caress it. The gentle queen bent over her
embroidery. Listening she was to her favourite Arthur, interrupting him
with playful questions and exclamations, while Katherine now kindly
attended to the boy, now turned anxiously at every sound. She rose at
last: "Surely vespers are ringing from the abbey. My lord the king
promised to see me before vespers."
"My lord the king is very gracious to you, sweet one," said Elizabeth.
"Methinks by nature he is gracious," replied the princess; "at least, I
have ever found him so. Surely the shackles of state are very heavy, or
ere this he would have granted my prayer, which he has listened to so
oft indulgently."
The queen smiled faintly, and again pursued her work with seeming
earnestness. Was it jealousy that dimmed the silk of her growing rosebud
by a tear--or what name shall we give to the feeling?--envy we may not
call it, she was too sweetly good--which now whispered, "Even he, the
cold, the stern, is kind to her; my brother loves her passionately; and
many a lance has been broken for her. Happy girl; happy in adversity;
while I, England's miserable queen, am forgotten even by my
fellow-prisoner of Sheriff Hutton, poor Warwick! he might have been my
refuge: for the rest, how hard and rocky seem all human hearts to me."
Her tears now flowed fast. Katherine saw them: she approached her,
saying, "Dear and royal lady, none should weep, methinks, but only I,
whose mate is caged and kept away; none sigh but poor Kate, whose more
than life hangs on state policy; or is it for him these tears are shed?"
Still Elizabeth wept. Accustomed to the excess of self-restraint, timid,
schooled to patience, but with the proud, fiery spirit of a Plantagenet,
tamed, not dead within her, she could be silent, but not speak by
halves. The very natural vivacity of her nature made her disdain not to
have her will, when once it was awaked. She struggled against her rising
feeling; she strove to suppress her emotion; but at last she spoke; and
once again, after the ten years that had elapsed since her mother's
imprisonment, truth was imaged by her words. To none could she have
addressed herself better. The life of the Scottish princess had been
spent in administering balm to wounded minds: the same soft eloquence,
the same persuasive counsels, that took the sting of remorse from her
royal cousin's conscience, was spent upon the long-hidden sorrows of the
neglected wife, the humbled woman. From her own sensitive mind she
culled the knowledge which taught her where and how peace and
resignation were to be found. The piety that mingled with her talk was
the religion of love; her philosophy was mere love; and it was the
spirit of love, now kindling the balmy atmosphere of charity to many,
now concentred in one point, but ever ready to soothe human suffering
with its soft influence, that dwelt upon her lips, and modulated her
silver voice. Elizabeth felt as if she had wandered long in a
wolf-haunted wild, now suddenly changed to a fairy demesne, fresh and
beautiful as poet's dream. Timidly she feared to set her untaught feet
within the angel-guarded precincts. The first effect of her new friend's
eloquence was to make her speak. After years of silence, to utter her
very inner thoughts, her woman's fears, her repinings, her aversions,
her lost hopes and affections crushed: she spent her bitterest words;
but thus it was as if she emptied a silver chalice of its gall, to be
refilled by Katherine with heavenly dew.
The weeks of baffled expectation grew into months. It is a dreary
portion of our existence, when we set our hearts upon an object which
recedes as we approach, and yet entices us on. The kings courtesy and
smiles, and evident pleasure in her society, gave birth to warm hopes in
the bosom of the princess. She had asked to share her husband's prison;
she had besought to be permitted to see him; it seemed, from Henry's
vague but consolatory answers, that to-morrow she would receive even
more than her desires. The disappointment of the morrow, which she
lamented bitterly at first, then grew into the root whence fresh hopes
sprang again, to be felled by the cruel axe, again to shoot forth: the
sickening sensation of despair crept over her sometimes; her very
struggles to master it enfeebled her; and yet she did conquer all but
the hard purposes of the tyrant. Now a messenger was to be despatched to
Scotland; now he expected one thence; now an embassy from Burgundy: he
implored her patience, and talked back the smiles into her saddened
countenance. He was almost sincere at first, not in his excuses, but in
his desire to please her at any sacrifice; but this disinterested wish
grew soon into a mere grasping at self-gratification. In a little while
he hoped she would be persuaded how vain it was to expect that he should
set free so dangerous a rival: and yet he did not choose to extinguish
all her anticipations; for perhaps then she would desire to return to
her native country; and Henry would have sacrificed much to keep her
where he could command her society. Thus he encouraged her friendship
with the queen, though he wondered how one so wise, so full of
reflection and reason as Katherine, could love his feeble-minded wife.
The king underrated the talents of Elizabeth. This hapless woman had
perceived that contention was useless; she therefore conceded everything
without a struggle. Her energies, spent upon endurance, made her real
strength of mind seem tameness; but Katherine read with clearer eyes. We
are all and each of us riddles, when unknown one to the other. The plain
map of human powers and purposes, helps us not at all to thread the
labyrinth each individual presents in his involution of feelings,
desires, and capacities; and we must resemble, in quickness of feeling,
instinctive sympathy, and warm benevolence, the lovely daughter of
Huntley, before we can hope to judge rightly of the good and virtuous
among our fellow-creatures.
The strangest sight of all was to see Henry act a lover's part. At first
he was wholly subdued,
"So easy is t' appease the stormy wind
Of malice, in the calm of pleasant womankind."
Even generosity and magnanimity, disguises he sometimes wore the better
to conceal his inborn littleness of soul, almost possessed him; for a
moment he forgot his base exultation in crushing a foe, and for a moment
dwelt with genuine pleasure on the reflection, that it was in his power
to gratify her every wish, and to heap benefits on one so lovely and so
true. When first she was presented to him, in all the calm majesty of
her self-conquering mood, her stainless loveliness had such effect, that
surely he could deny her nothing; and when she asked that no foul
dishonour should be put upon her lord, he granted almost before she
asked: his expressions of service and care were heartfelt; and she lost
every fear as she listened. When custom, which, with man, is the
devourer of holy enthusiasm, changed his purer feelings into something
he dared not name, he continued to manifest the same feelings, which had
bested him so well at first, and to angle with his prey. Though he
scarcely knew what he wished, for a thousand worldly motives sufficed to
check any dishonourable approach, it was enough that she was there;
that, when she saw him, her countenance lighted up with pleasure; that
with the sweetest grace she addressed her entreaties to his ear; not in
abrupt demands, but in such earnest prayer, such yielding again, to
return with another and another argument; that often he thought, even if
he had wished to concede, he would hold out a little longer, that still
her sweet voice might address him, still her stately neck be bent
imploring as she fixed her blue eyes on him.
It was very long before the artless girl suspected that he had any other
intent but to consent at last to her supplications. As it was as easy to
him to lure her on with a greater as a lesser hope, she even fancied
that, under certain restrictions, York's freedom might be restored; and
that with him, in some remote country, she might bless Tudor as a
generous adversary. Elizabeth was afraid to discover the truth to her,
for she also dreaded to lose her, and was afraid that, on the failure of
her hopes, she would seek to return to Scotland; or at least seclude
herself from her husband's jailor. Monina first awoke her to the truth.
Monina, who had been to Brussels, to consult with the Duchess Margaret
and Lady Brampton, and who came back full of projects for her friend's
escape, heard with amazement and scorn the false lures held out by
Henry; she impatiently put aside every inducement for delay, and with
rash, but determined zeal, framed many a scheme for communicating with
him, and contriving means for his flight.
He himself--the chained eagle--was sick at heart. No word--no
breath--no hope! Had all forgotten him? Was he, yet living, erased from
the lists of memory? Cut off from the beloved beings in whom he had
confided, through their own act--no longer a part of their thoughts,
their lives, themselves? Stood he alone in this miserable world,
allied to it by hate only--the hate borne to him by his foe?
Such gloomy misgivings were so alien to his nature, that they
visited him as cruel iron torture visits soft human flesh. That
she--the life of his life, should be false and cold! Each friend
forgetful--Monina--Plantagenet--all--all! Oh, to stretch his
quivering frame upon burning coals, had been to slumber on a bed of
roses, in comparison with the agony these thoughts administered. His
calmer moods, when he believed that, though tardy, they were true, were
scarcely less painful. Then the real state of things grew more galling:
the bluntness or silence of his keepers; their imperturbable or rude
resistance to his questions; the certainty that if one answered
graciously--that one he should see no more. Often he felt as if he
could not endure his present position one hour longer. Fits of hope,
meditations on escape, chequered his days; so that all was not so
dark--but the transition from one emotion to another, each to end in
blank despair, tasked his mercurial soul. Patience died within him--he
might perish in the attempt, but he would be free.
Urged by Monina, by her own awakening fears, and above all by the keen
burning desire of her heart, the Lady Katherine became very importunate
with the crafty monarch to be permitted an interview with her lord.
Henry was in no mood to grant her request: the thousand designs he had
meditated to disgrace his victim, he had given up for her sake, because
he would not refuse himself the pleasure of seeing her, and feared to
behold aversion and horror mark an aspect hitherto all smiles towards
him. The same fear, nurtured by the expressions of her tender affection,
made him hesitate, ere he should endeavour to convince her that she had
misallied herself to an impostor. Indeed, when at last he ventured to
frame a speech bearing such a meaning, her answer told him, that if he
could have changed the Royal York into base-born Perkin, the young and
innocent wife would still cling to him to whom she had pledged her rows;
to whom she had given himself; whose own, in Heaven's and her own eyes,
she unalienably was. But now Henry, grown more callous as time elapsed,
coined a new scheme, vile as his own soul: he resolved, by acting on her
woman's fears, tenderness, and weakness, to make her the instrument of
persuading her lord to some damning confession, that must stamp him as a
deceiver for ever. This bright project animated him to fresh endeavours
to please, and her with fresh hopes; yet he paused a little before he
sought to execute it.
Winter crept on into spring, and spring ripened into summer, and still
the various actors in this tragic drama were spending their lives, their
every thought and heart's pulsation on one object. Richard had latterly
received intimation that he would be permitted an interview with his
beloved White Rose; and a week or two more were patiently endured with
this expectation. Katherine each day believed, that on the morrow she
should see him, whom now she conversed with only in her nightly dreams,
and woke each morning to find him fled with them. Some change
approached: Henry's promises became more clear in their expression; his
assertions more peremptory: he would at last name his conditions, which
she was to communicate to her lord; even Elizabeth almost dared to hope.
Monina alone, deeply impressed with a belief in the malice of Tudor, was
incredulous, and reluctantly yielded to Katherine's request to suspend
yet a little while her plots.
Whitsuntide arrived, and Henry at last would decide. This estival was to
be spent at Shene: thither the royal family went, accompanied by the
princess, who vanquished her disappointment at further delay, not to
appear an ingrate to the fair-promising king. Indeed, in the secure hope
she cherished of again seeing him who was her earthly paradise, she
smiled through the very heart-gushing tears expectation caused to flow.
On Whit Sunday she awoke, resolving to discard the heavy load of
anticipated evil that involuntarily weighed at her heart. She knelt at
mass, and fervently strove to resign her dearest wishes to the direction
of her God; and yet that she should see him again soon--oh! how very
soon,--filled her with such dizzy rapture, that her orisons were forgot
midway--remembered, and turned to thanksgivings--till she recollected
that still her hope was unfulfilled; and fear awoke, and with tears and
prayer she again strove to ease her agitated heart.
That very night a thunder-storm roused her from slumber: with those
unexplained emotions, which, in fateful periods, make so large a portion
of our lives, she felt as if every clap spoke audibly some annunciation
which she could not interpret: as if every lurid flash were sent to
disclose a sight which yet she could not see. At length the rain ceased,
the thunder grew distant, the lightning faint; a load was lifted from
her soul; she slept, with the firm belief that on the morrow tidings,
not all evil, would be brought from London.
Some tidings surely came. What they were she was not permitted to know.
For the first time Henry made her a real prisoner; she was carefully
guarded, and none were allowed to speak to her. Overwrought by her
expectations, this seemed a frightful cruelty; and yet, where caution
was used, there must be fear: her--his enemy feared--then good had
occurred. She dared not permit her imagination to picture forth the
thing which yet was for ever present to it; and, while all else were
amazed to hear that York had escaped and fled, his lovely, anxious wife,
cut off from communication with all, knew only that she alone was
ignorant of what she would have given her life to learn.
CHAPTER LI
AN ESCAPE
Thou, God of winds, that reignest in the seas,
That reignest also in the continent,
At last blow up some gentle gale of ease,
The which may bring my ship, ere it be rent,
Unto the gladsome port of her intent.
SPENSER.
During the winter and the untoward late spring, Richard had endured his
captivity. The warm happy summer season, calling all nature to a
jubilee, at first saddened, then animated him to contrive new projects
of escape. The promised interview with his White Rose tempted him to
delay; while an inner spirit rebelled even against this dear enticement,
and bade him fly.
On the evening of the ninth of June, he was permitted to attend vespers
in a secluded chapel of Westminster Abbey. During the short passage from
the palace to the cathedral, it seemed to him as if a new life were
awake everywhere; an unknown power, on the eve of liberating him. Never
before had he prayed so fervently for freedom: the pealing organ, the
dim arched venerable vault above, acted as stimulants to his roused and
eager soul; he stood tiptoe, as on the eve of the accomplishment of his
desire.
A deep and awful sound suddenly shook the building; a glaring, lurid
flash, filled with strange brilliancy the long, dark aisle. A clap of
thunder, loud, and swiftly repeated, reverberated along the heavens;
the shrill scream of women answered the mighty voice. The priest who
read the service, saw his sacred book glared on by so keen a flash, as
blinded him to the dimmer light that succeeded. Every being in the
church sank on their knees, crossing themselves, and striving to repeat
their Paternosters and Aves; while Richard stood fearless, enjoying the
elemental roar, exulting in the peal, the flash, the tempestuous havock,
as powers yet rebellious to his conqueror. Freedom was victorious in the
skyey plains; there was freedom in the careering clouds, freedom in the
sheeted lightning, freedom in the cataract of sound that tore its way
along. On his poor heart, sick of captivity, and enforced obedience, the
sweet word liberty hung as a spell: every bird and tiny fly he had
envied as being free; how much more things more powerful, the chainless
destructions of nature. The voice of God speaking in his own consecrated
abode was terrible to all; soothing to himself alone. He walked to the
southern entrance of the edifice to mark the splashing shower, as it
ploughed the stones: two of his keepers remained on their knees,
paralyzed by terror; the two others followed trembling. At that moment a
louder, a far, far louder clap burst right above them, succeeding so
instantaneously the blinding flash, that, while every object was wrapped
inflame, the pavement and fretted roof of the abbey shook with the
sound. A bolt had fallen; the priest at the altar was struck; with
mingled horror and curiosity one of York's remaining guards rushed
towards the spot; the only remaining one was kneeling in an agony of
terror. York stood on the threshold of the porch; he advanced a few
steps beyond; a new fear possessed the fellow. "He will
escape!--halloo!--James!--Martin!" The very words imparted the
thought to the prince, who filled erewhile with wonder and religious
awe, had forgotten his own sad plight. He turned to the man, who was
doubtful whether to rush into the chapel for his comrades, or singly to
seize his prisoner--his dagger was drawn. "Put up that foolish steel,"
said York, "it cannot harm one whom God calls to freedom--listen, he
speaks;--farewell!" The lightning again flashed; with blue and forked
flame it ran along the blade of the weapon raised against him; with a
shriek the man dashed it to the earth. Richard was already out of sight.
The rain poured in torrents: it came down in continuous cataracts from
the eaves of the houses. On this sunny festival few had remained at
home; and those, terror-stricken now, were on their knees; no creature
was in the streets as the fugitive sped on, ignorant whither he should
go. London was a vast, unknown labyrinth to him: as well as he could
divine, he directed his flight eastward, and that with such velocity,
that he might compete with a horse in full career. If any saw him, as
thus with winged heels he flew along, they did not wonder that a person
should hasten to shelter out of the storm. It was of slight regard to
him that rain and hail ploughed the earth, and continued thunder echoed
through the sky; that alone and friendless he fled through the streets
of his victor's chief city. His exulting heart, his light, glad spirit
told him that he was free; if for a few minutes only, he would joyfully
purchase with his life those few minutes' emancipation from his
frightful thraldom. No words could speak, no thought image the supreme
gladness of that moment.
Meanwhile, dark night, aided by the thick clouds which still poured down
torrents of rain, had crept over the dim twilight, and began to
imbarrier with doubt the path of the rejoicing fugitive. He found at
last that the lines of houses receded, and that he was in an open space,
in the midst of which rose a gigantic shadow, stretching itself in
stillness and vastness on the summit of the rising ground before
him;--it was the cathedral of St. Paul's. Now, cloaked by the dark and
inclement night, he began to reflect on his actual situation: London
might swarm with his partizans, but he knew not where to find one.
Probably all those who were occupied by his fate resided in Westminster,
whence he had precipitately fled; whither assuredly he would not return.
These reflections perplexed him, but in no way allayed his transport at
finding himself free; he felt that if he wandered to the wide fields,
and died of hunger there, it were bliss enough to see the sky "unclouded
by his dungeon roof;" to behold the woods, the flowers, and the dancing
waves; nor be mocked with man's shape, when those who wore it had sold
man's dearest privilege--that of allowing his actions to wait upon the
free impulses of his heart.
Still, therefore, he hurried along, and finally became completely
bewildered in some swampy, low fields, intersected by wide ditches. The
night was pitchy dark; nor was there any clue afforded him by which he
could even guess whether he might not be returning on his path. Suddenly
a small ray of light threaded the gloom; it went and came, and at last
remained stationary. With wavering will and irregular steps the prince
proceeded towards it; for he would rather have died where he stood, than
discover himself, so to fall again into captivity. Once or twice he lost
sight of this tiny earth-star, which evidently shone through some low
casement; and, as at last he caught sight of the solitary miserable hut
where it was sphered, the recollection of his former asylum, of
ill-fated Jane Shore's penurious dwelling, flashed across him: with
speedy, reassured pace he hurried on, leaping a ditch that obstructed
his path, careless of every physical obstacle, when the malice of man
was no longer to be apprehended. "Poor Jane!" he ejaculated: and again
he reflected with some wonder that, in every adversity, women had been
his resource and support; their energies, their undying devotion and
enthusiasm, were the armour and weapons with which he had defended
himself from and attacked fortune. Even one so fallen and so low as poor
Jane Shore, was, through the might of fidelity and affection, of more
avail than all his doughty partizans, who, in the hour of need, were
scattered and forgetful.
The low-roofed cot was before him unmistaken. The crevice whence the
light emanated was too small to admit his inquiring glance; amid the
driving, pattering rain he fancied that he distinguished voices within;
but, with a boldness which bade him fear nothing, he lifted the latch,
and beheld in truth a sight of wonder;--Monina, with a shriek started
from her seat; she folded him with wild joy in her fair arms, and then,
blushing and trembling, threw herself on the neck of Lady Brampton; and
Jane herself rose from her couch of straw, more wan, more emaciated than
ever;--yet even over her sad pale face a smile wandered, showing in yet
more ghastly hues the ruin it illumined.
Questions, ejaculations, wonder and delight, burst from every lip: "He
is here to our wish; the means of escape are secured, and he is here!
Oh, dearest Lady Brampton, do not the blessed angels guard him?" Monina
spoke, and her soft luminous eyes were fixed on him, as if not daring to
believe the vision; it was not the chastened delight of age, but the
burning, ardent joy of a young heart, who had but one thought, one
desire, and that about to be accomplished; her flushed cheeks betokened
her rapture: "I have repined, despaired, almost blasphemed; yet he is
here: how good is Almighty God! Listen, dear my lord, how wondrously
opportune your arrival is: Lady Brampton will tell you all. Oh, this new
miracle is the blessed Virgin's own achievement--you are free!"
Scarcely less animated, the zealous lady detailed the circumstances that
united so favourably for him. She had been for some time at Brussels
with the Duchess Margaret, who was more grieved than could be imagined
at the capture of her beloved nephew. She lived in a state of terror on
his account. That his life was awhile spared, availed little to pacify
her; the midnight murders and prison-assassinations, so rife during the
wars of York and Lancaster were present to her imagination. She
exhausted every device, every bribe, to gain partizans for him to
achieve his freedom. Among others, most liberal of promises, was the
false Clifford. After Richard had escaped from him in the New Forest, he
fell in with Frion, whose double plot being defeated, he strove to
capture and accuse the accomplice whom, in fact, he had deceived. The
knight fled; he escaped to the Low Countries; and by a glozing tale
easily gained the ear of the duchess. Lost in England, perhaps he wished
to rebuild his fallen fortunes; aided by her munificence, perhaps he
prepared some new treachery; however it might be, he was trusted, and
was the soul of the present enterprise. De Faro's vessel, refitted and
well manned, was now anchored in the mouth of the Thames. Clifford
undertook the task of foisting some creature of his own, or even
himself, disguised, of undertaking the part of one of Richard's keepers,
when he doubted not to be able to secure his flight.
With her usual vivacity Lady Brampton gave this account; but no
explanations on her part could dissipate the horror York felt at the
name of Clifford, or inspire him with anything but distrust of his
intentions. Monina, before silenced by her sanguine associates, now gave
expression to the terror and abhorrence his interference occasioned; she
had come, exposing herself to a thousand perils and pains, merely that
she might watch over his acts, and awaken her too credulous friends to a
knowledge of his duplicity. But the danger was past; before Clifford
could know that he had escaped, York might reach the Adalid.
Almost as an answering echo to these words there was a sound of hurrying
steps. "It is he: the traitor comes. Oh, bar the door!" There was no
bar, no mode of securing this dwelling of penury; three women alone were
his guard: Monina, pale and trembling; Lady Brampton, endeavouring to
reassure her; while Richard stood forward, his gaze fixed on the opening
door, whose latch was already touched, resolved to meet, with perfect
show of frank reliance and intrepidity, the intruders.
Sir Robert Clifford entered. Confusion, attempted boldness, and, last,
sullen malice painted his aspect when he beheld the prince. He was much
changed, and looked almost an old man; his dark and profuse hair was
grizzled; his grey eyes hollow: and his dress, though that of a
cavalier, exhibited signs of habitual neglect. His person, always
slight, had been redeemed from insignificance by its exquisite grace and
elegance; every trace of this was flown; and his haggard countenance and
diminutive size made even York scarcely credit that this was indeed the
gay, reckless Robin. His resolve had been already made; he addressed him
kindly, saying, "Sir Robert, I hear that you are willing to renew to me
your broken vows: may you hereafter keep them more faithfully."
Clifford muttered a few words; he looked towards the door, as if
desirous of escape; he struggled with shame, guilt, and some other
emotion. As soon as a consultation began as to the means to be adopted
for the prince to reach the sea in safety, he conquered himself,
entering; into it with spirit and zeal. The plan he proposed was crafty,
his own part in it the principal. He spoke of disguising the prince as a
female attendant on Monina; of his and O'Water's accompanying them along
the river banks as soon as daylight.
"And wherefore not now? Or rather, wherefore even now do we not hasten
to the Thames, and seize a boat?"
"Because," said Clifford, interrupting Monina, "his highness's flight is
already known; a line of boats intersects the Thames below London
Bridge; and lower still every craft is on the alert."
Each one exchanged looks; the knight continued: "You all distrust me,
and I wonder not. I am in your power now; here are my unarmed hands;
even a woman may bind them. Go forth yourselves: seek the path to the
sea: before an hour elapses the duke will be again a prisoner. You may
in this wild spot plant your daggers in my heart to avenge, but that
will not save him; for I have no power here. But set me free, confide to
my care, and, by the God that made me, he walks the deck of the Adalid
ere the setting sun. I could tell you how this can be, and ye would not
the more trust me, if I spoke of such alliance with, such power over,
the rogues and vagabonds of this saintly city, as enables me to move
strange engines to execute my will; even if you credited me you would
disdain that your hero should owe his life to such base means. Be it as
you will: believe me; and I pledge my life that his grace will ride the
dancing waves beyond King Henry's reach to-morrow night."
"I accept the pledge," replied York, who had eyed him earnestly as he
spoke. "I commit myself to your care; act speedily, without fear of balk
or suspicion on my part."
Clifford's lips curled into a triumphant smile; because again he was
trusted, or because again he would betray, it was hard to divine. "I
must beseech your patience in the first place," said Sir Robert: "I
cannot get the fitting disguises during the night."
"Night is no more," replied Richard, throwing open the casement; and the
dusky room was illuminated by the day. In the east there was a very
fountain of light, which, welling up, flooded the flecked and broken
clouds with rosy hues: the stars were gone; a soft azure peeped between
the breaking vapours; the morning air was deliciously fresh; the birds
chirped; a distant watch-dog barked. Otherwise all was silent; and
security seemed to walk the earth.
"I will go seek the needful dresses," said Clifford. "Your Grace will
await my return, even though my stay, lengthened beyond my expectation,
give some reason for the distrust I read in every eye."
"It is but too natural," said the prince, "that my kind friends should
suspect you; for myself, I have said the word; I place myself in your
hands: half measures were of no avail. If indeed you are a traitor,
bring Tudor's hirelings here to seize their prey. I cannot fear; I will
not doubt; and, if in my soul any suspicion lurk, my actions shall not
be guided by it. Go; let your return be speedy or otherwise, I await you
here."
Scarcely had the door closed, when Monina, whose eyes had been fixed on
Clifford's countenance during the whole scene, exclaimed:--"This moment
is our own! Fly, my prince; trust me--I know that bad man; if he find
you here when he returns, you are lost."
"Hist!" Jane spoke the word, and a dead silence fell upon the anxious
band. The steps of a horse were heard: Monina flew to the casement. "It
is our faithful Irish friend, my lord; it is O'Water." The door was
opened; and each one crowded round the visitant. He uttered a "By the
mischief!" which sounded like a benediction, when he saw the duke of
York, adding, "All is well, all in readiness; I left the Adalid, after
the storm yester evening, in safe anchorage."
"Oh yes, safety," cried the enthusiastic Spaniard; "safety or
death! Trust not false Clifford--seize the fleeting, precious
opportunity,--O'Water's horse----"
"Is blown," said Richard; "he cannot carry me."
"And the ways strangely beset," said the mayor. "Just now I saw a young
gentleman seized, much to his annoyance, by some patrol. He bribed
dearly, but they would not listen--the whole country is alarmed."
"I will wait for Clifford," continued York; "and trust in Providence.
Some kind friend only bestow a dagger on me: I would not be taken like
an unarmed girl."
"A tramp of steeds--they are coming, Clifford guides them hither; we
are lost!" cried Lady Brampton.
"Oh, fly--fly--my liege," said O'Water, "expose not these women to the
assault. Poor Rose Blanche can yet bear you fast and far."
The sound as of a troop of horse neared. The prince saw O'Water blocking
up the casement, and then draw his sword. Monina, wild with agony, fell
at his feet:--"Fly, my lord, fly for the Lady Katherine's sake: fly for
mine own: must I see you die? I, who have lived--alas! how vainly. Lady
Brampton--beseech--command--he must fly. O, they will be here--to
seize, to murder him!"
"Here is my dagger, my lord," said O'Water, coolly!--"Defend
yourself--meanwhile--now at our last hour--for surely it is come, Our
Lady recommend us to God's holy grace."
The gallop of a troop grew yet more distinct; Richard looked round: Jane
was kneeling, her face buried in her hands: Lady Brampton pale, but
resolved, was ready to sacrifice the life she had spent for him. O'Water
had resigned himself to the final act of a life of peril, sealed in his
blood. The lovely Spaniard alone lost all her self-possession; tears
streaming from her uplifted eyes; her arms twined round his knees: to
fly--fly! was the only thought she could express. "I yield," said York;
"throw open the door." O'Water's horse had been led within the hut; he
vaulted on his back; he placed the dagger in his belt. "That way," Lady
Brampton cried, "it leads to the river's side below."
A scream from Monina followed his swift departure. "He perishes--he
betrays us!" cried O'Water. Richard galloped on not across the field
away from town, but right into danger; there, whence the troop was
certainly approaching. He was lost to view on the instant, in a
straggling lane which stretched out half across the field. A moment
after coming from the other side, unobserved till in the hut, Clifford
entered alone. He bore a large bundle; his steps were cautious and
swift; his look told that he was intent only on the object of his
errand. "I have succeeded beyond my hope. My life on it all is safe.
Where have ye hid the prince? Oh, prithee, fear not, nor trifle: each
second is precious."
The confused wondering looks of all present replied to him. Clifford
laughed, a short, sarcastic, bitter laugh: and then, with a fiendlike
expression of face, he said, "The prince has done well; and ye have all
done well: and his Grace will thank you anon. Ye grudge me, maybe, the
Duchess Margaret's bounty. She promised largely; 'twere pity to share
the boon among so many. Now mark the event!"
These words displayed the baseness of his motive, yet vouched for his
sincerity. He threw a menacing glance around, and then quitted the hut;
and with hurried pace hastened across the field towards the town.
CHAPTER LII
TREASON
Full many a glorious morning: have I seen,
Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green;
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Anon, permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face.
SHAKSPEARE.
The duke of York, urged so earnestly to fly, felt that to do so was to
save himself at the expense of his friends, on whom Henry's vengeance
would severely fall, when he found himself balked of his victim. He
consented to leave Jane Shore's abode, with the resolve not of effecting
his escape, but of securing, by surrendering himself, the safety of his
defenceless adherents united under her lowly roof. He directed his
course as he believed into the very centre of danger, entering the
narrow straggling street whence the sound of the advance of the troop of
horse had been heard. He entered the lane; it was empty. The ominous
sounds were still sharp and near; it seemed as if they were in some
street parallel to the one which he threaded. He turned at right angles
into another, to reach the spot: again he turned, led by the baffling
noise, in another direction. It was just four in the morning; there were
but few abroad so early: he saw a monk gliding stealthily from under a
dark archway, and a poor fellow, who looked as if he had slept beneath
heaven's roof, and had not wherewithal to break his fast. True to the
kindly instincts of his nature, Richard felt at his girdle for his
purse; it was long since he had possessed the smallest coin of his
adversary's realm. "I, a prince!" his feeling had been more bitter, but
that his fingers came in contact with his dagger's hilt, and the
conviction of freedom burst with fresh delight upon him. Free, even in
spite of its intents; for the tramp which had gradually grown fainter,
was dying absolutely away.
They had probably reached the hut: thither he must return. It was no
easy thing to find his way to it, he had so entangled himself in the
narrow lanes, and wretched assemblages of dwellings huddled together on
the outskirts of London. At length they opened before him: there was the
dingy field, there the hut, standing in quiet beneath the rays of the
morning sun, of the opening, summer, soft, sweet day. He was quickly at
its threshold; he entered. Jane was within, alone, seated in her wooden
chair; her hands clasped; her pale face sunk on her bosom: big tears
were gathering in her eyes, and rolling down her faded cheeks unheeded.
Jane's aspect was usually so marble (a miraculous chiselling of resigned
hopelessness), her mien so unbending, that these signs of emotion struck
the prince with wonder and compassion.
He knelt at her feet and pressed her thin, but little hand to his lips,
saying, "Mother, where are my friends? Mother, bless me before I go."
She dried the drops raining from her eyes, saying in a voice that
expressed how occupied she was by her own emotion, "I am a sinful woman;
well do these tones remind me of the same: those days are quite, quite
gone, even from the memory of all; but once they were as the present
hour, when so he spoke, and I was lost, and still am lost; for, through
hunger and cold and shame, I love, and cannot quite repent. Will the
hour ever come when I can regret that once I was happy?"
Many, many sad years had passed since words like these had dropped from
poor Jane's lips; her feelings fed on her, possessed her, but she had
been mute; overflowing now, her accent was calm; she spoke as if she was
unaware that her thoughts framed speech, and that she had an auditor.
"You have paid a dear penalty, and are surely forgiven," said York,
striving in his compassion to find the words that might be balm to her.
"Prince," she continued, "some time ago,--I have lost all date; now the
chasm seems nought, now a long eternity; it was when my poor heart knew
nothing of love, save its strong necessity and its delight; methought I
would see your father's fair offspring, for I loved them for his sake.
At the festival of Easter I placed myself near the gate of the royal
chapel: I thought to be unseen. The happy queen held her sons each by
the hand; you were then, as now, his image, a little sportive blue-eyed
cherub. The prince of Wales had his mother's look: her large, dark eye,
her soft, rosy mouth, her queenlike brow; her beauty which had won
Edward, her chaste sweetness, which had made her his wife; my
presence--I thought to conceal it better--was revealed. The queen
turned her face away; there was anguish surely written there, for the
prince darted on me a look of such withering scorn--yes, even he--his
stainless, fair brow was knit, his bright angel's face clouded: the look
sank in my heart. Edward's beautiful, pure child reproved me, hated me:
for three days I felt that I would never see the deluder more: you do
not share his abhorrence; you do not hate the pale ghost of Shore's
wife?"
Such clinging to the past, such living memory of what was so absolutely
dead to all except herself, awe-struck the prince: "We are all sinners
in the eye of God," he said, "but thy faults are surely forgiven thee,
gentle one: thy tears have washed every trace away, and my brother, my
poor murdered Edward, now blesses thee. Alas! would that I could soften
this last stage of your suffering earthly life."
"'Tis better as it is," she answered hastily, "once I felt disgrace and
privation keenly; perhaps that may atone. Now, would it were more
bitter, that so I might wean myself from him whose very memory will lose
my soul. You are good, and Our Lady will requite you. Now, listen: the
damsel Monina and Master O'Water have gone towards Southend: your
remaining friends watch for you here. I shall see them again to-night:
meanwhile it is to be feared that Clifford plots vengeance, and you must
fly; you must at every hazard go towards Southend. Beyond the town, on
the lone sands, there is a wooden cross, telling where one escaped
dreadful peril through the might of Him who died on it for us; the
smallest sign, the waving of your cap, will be watched for by the
Adalid, they will send a boat to take you on board. Now swiftly depart:
your life hangs on the hour; this purse will furnish you with means Lady
Brampton left it for you."
"Bless me, mother, ere I go."
"Can a sinner's blessing avail? fear rather that God punish me through
you, where my heart is garnered. Oh, may He indeed bless and save you;
and I shall die in peace."
He kissed her withered hand and was gone; she dragged her failing limbs
to the casement; he was already lost among the straggling tenements that
bounded her field.
Again York was flying from his foe; again studying to elude pursuit,
with how different feelings. Before, his flight was peremptory, for the
preservation of others, while he blindly longed to deliver himself to
slavery. Now liberty, for its own dear sake, was worth the world to him.
He had tasted to its dregs the misery of captivity, and loathed the very
name; whatever might betide, he would never submit willingly again to
one hour's thraldom. He felt his dagger's hilt; he drew it from the
sheath, and eyed its polished blade with gladness; for eight months he
had been living unarmed, under the perpetual keeping of armed jailors;
what wonder that he looked on this sharp steel as the key to set him
free from every ill.
He got clear of the town: the open sky, the expanse of summer--adorned
earth was before him. It was the "leafy month of June;" the far-spread
corn-fields were getting yellow; and on their weltering surface played
the shadows of a few clouds, relics of the last night's storm: the sun
was bright, the breeze balmy, already the very foot-paths were dry, and
scarcely from its inmost leaves did any tree shake moisture: yet there
was a freshness in the scene, a lightness in the air, the gift of
tempest. The dazzling sun rose higher, and each island-vapour sank on
the horizon; the garish light clothed all things; the lazy shadows crept
up around the objects which occasioned them, while both object and its
shade seemed to bask in the sunshine. Now overhead the meeting boughs of
trees scarce sufficed to shield him from the penetrating glare; now in
the open path he was wholly exposed to it, as his diminished shadow
clung almost to the horse's hoofs. The birds twittered above; the lazy
mare was stretched basking, while her colt gambolled around; each slight
thing spoke of the voluptuous indolence of summer, and the wafted scent
of hay, or gummy exhalation of evergreens, distilled by the warm noon,
fed with languid sweets every delighted sense. If paradise be ever of
this world it now embowered Richard. All was yet insecure; his White
Rose was far: but nature showered such ecstasy on him that his whole
being was given up to her influence. Latterly the form of man had been
ever before his aching sight under the aspect of an enemy; the absence
of every fellow-creature he hailed with gladness--free and alone, alone
and free! With the pertinacious dwelling on one idea, which is
characteristic of overpowering feeling, this combination of words and
ideas haunted his thoughts, fell from his lips, and made a part of the
soul-subduing rapture now his portion.
May it be added--we must address the unhappy and imaginative, who know
that the future is so linked with the present as to have an influence
over that present, when we add--that the intensity of the liberated
prince's feelings was wrought even to pain, by its being the last time
that unalloyed delight would ever be his--the last when he might feel
himself the nursling of nature, allied by the bond of enjoyment to all
her offspring. He knew not this himself. Immersed in the sense of all
that he now possessed, he did not pause to reflect whether this were the
last time, that he, the victim of chance and change, might ever see the
waving corn or shadowy trees, or hear the carolling birds, or the
murmurs of the fresh free brooks gurgling round some pendant bough or
jutting stone; but that so it was to be, gave poignancy to his pleasure,
a dreamy halo to the whole scene.
It would appear, in spite of the precautions taken by his enemy, that
the north bank of the Thames had been neglected. Richard met with no
impediment in his progress. Whenever he caught a sight of the river, he
perceived unusual signs of activity. Little wherries shot hither and
thither on its surface, revealing to him that keen and vigilant search
was being made. Meanwhile he rode on, the broad stream for his guide,
avoiding towns and villages. He ventured to purchase bread at a lone
farm-house--he alighted in a little grove beside a rivulet, to rest his
tired horse, and to refresh himself. The summer heat recalled Andalusia
to his mind; and scenes and objects, quite forgotten, wandered from
their oblivious recesses back into his recollection. "My happy boyhood!
My beloved Spain! Why did I leave the land of beauty, where with
Monina----?" The idea of her whose fate was so inextricably linked
with his, of his bride, who had quitted her palace home to share his
adversity, reproached him. But his imagination could not fix itself on
bleak Scotland, its wild haunts, its capricious king: it could only
build another bower among the folds of the mountains of Andalusia, and
place his White Rose therein.
Again he pursued his way. The slant beams of the descending sun were yet
more sultry, but it sank swiftly down; now casting gigantic shadows,
bathing the tree-tops in golden dew, and flooding the clouds with
splendour; now it was gone, and the landscape faded into a brown mellow
tint. The birds' last chirp was given, the beetle winged her noisy
flight, the congregated rooks had flown to the belfry of the church, or
to their nests in the churchyard trees; silence and twilight crept up
from the sedgy banks of the river, leaving the pale water alone to
reflect the struggling farewell of day. In a little time the banks
shelved away, giving place to broad yellow sand. Richard ventured to
bend his course along the beach. There was a bark upon the dim tide,
whose progress he had watched since noon, whose flapping or full sails
were the signs by which he foretold the prosperity of his destined
voyage. Now with swelling canvas it walked swiftly over the water.
He passed Southend. He perceived the tall rough-hewn cross. Two figures
were seated at its foot. He hesitated, but quickly perceiving that one
was a woman, he proceeded onwards. The stars were out; the very west was
dim; in the offing there was a vessel, whose build and tall slender
masts he thought he recognized. The broad expanse of calm ocean was
there, whose waves broke in tiny ripplets on the beach. He reached the
cross. O'Water and Monina saw his approach. The Irishman welcomed him
boisterously, in his own language. Monina uttered a benediction in
Spanish. The scene was solitary and secure. Every danger was past. There
floated the caravel which insured escape, and the stars alone witnessed
their flight. Monina gave her white veil to O'Water, who contrived to
elevate it on the cross. In a few moments the splash of oars was heard,
and a dark speck floated towards them on the waves, from the direction
of the Adalid. "They come; you are safe," murmured his lovely friend;
"this hour repays for all." The boat was already on the beach: a seaman
leaped on shore. "The White English Rose," he said: such was the word
agreed upon; and, hailing it, Monina hurried to embark with her
companions. The little boat was pushed from shore. O'Water gave vent to
his delight in a shout that resembled a yell. Monina crept close to the
duke of York: that he was safe was a truth so dear, so new, that she
forgot everything, save her wish to assure herself again and again that
so it was. At that moment of triumph, something like sadness invaded
Richard: he had quitted the land for which his friends had bled, and he
had suffered--for ever: he had left his Katherine there, where all was
arrayed against him for his destruction. This was safety; but it was the
overthrow of every childish dream, every youthful vision; it put the
seal of ineffectual nothingness on his every manhood's act.
While each, occupied by their peculiar reveries, were aware only that
they were being borne onwards on the waves, a smaller boat shot athwart
their bows, and a voice exclaimed in Spanish, "Desdichados, estais
all?"
"My father--we are betrayed," Monina cried: and she threw her arms
round Richard, as if by such frail guard to shelter him--another
stronger grasp was upon his arm as he endeavoured to rise--a voice,
husky from passion, yet still Clifford's voice, muttered, "The day is
mine--you--she--all are mine!"
"Thou fell traitor! What ho! De Faro, to the rescue!" already the
mariner had thrown a grappling iron--already the Adalid was in motion
towards them. Clifford strove to draw his sword. York was upon him in
mortal struggle; his keen dagger, unsheathed, uplifted; the boat
lurched--his arm descended, but half the force of the intended blow was
lost, while both fell overboard. The crew rushed to the boat's side to
loosen the grappling iron, which concluded its upset. De Faro, who stood
high on the bows of his own boat, had seized Monina. Now another larger
skiff was seen approaching, "To your oars!" cried the Moor: they shot
swiftly towards the Adalid, and while the sea became alive with craft,
they reached the little caravel, who, turning her canvas to the wind,
dropped down the tide.
CHAPTER LIII
DEATH OF CLIFFORD
Your love and pity doth the impression fill,
Which vulgar scandal stamp'd upon my brow;
For what care I who calls me well or ill,
So you o'erskreen my bad--my good allow?
SHAKSPEARE.
On the fourth day of her restraint, imprisonment it could hardly be
called. Lady Katherine was brought up to Westminster; she was carried in
a close litter, and no familiar face or accustomed attendant came near.
Her anxiety, her anguish weighed intolerably upon her--sleep had not
visited her eyes; she lived in perpetual terror that each sound was
freighted with fatal tidings. It was in vain that even reason bade her
nourish hope--a stronger power than reason dwelt in her heart, turning
all its yearnings to despair.
As she approached the city, she thought each step must reveal the truth
of what she was to suffer. Lo! the palace was entered--her habitual
chamber--silence and solitude alone manifested that some change was
even now in its effect; she had no tear? to spend upon her grief; her
changing colour, her quickened respiration showed that every faculty was
possessed by terror. Two hours, each minute stretched to a long, long
century,--two hours passed, when a little scroll was delivered to her;
it came from the queen, and contained these words, "My White Rose! the
tempest has past--leaving, alas! devastation: we yet remain to each
other--come----"
These expressions spoke the worst to her fear-stricken mind--no
subsequent agony might ever compare to the pang that made her very
life-blood pause in her failing heart at that moment. Had the present
and the future become void for him, to whom she was wedded heart and
soul?--wedded in youth, when our hopes stretch themselves not merely to
to-day and to-morrow, but even to eternity. In this state of human woe,
we do not describe the disheartening and carking sorrows of those who
lag on life's highway--but the swift, poignant, intolerable agonies of
the young, to whom the aspiration for happiness is a condition of being.
The queen had been accustomed to witness and admire Katherine's
self-command and quiet fortitude; she was awe-struck on beholding the
devastation of the last four days, and the expression of wild horror on
her soft features. With feminine instinct she read her heart, her first
words were, "Sweet love, he lives--and he will live--his life is
spared, and we may still hope."
Tears at last flowed from the mourner's eyes, as she asked, "What then
will be his fate?--Shall I ever see him more?"
"How can we guess the hidden purposes of the king? By your enforced
solitude you have escaped his scowling brow, his violence, his sarcasms;
again he smiles. My gentle Kate, my sweet, courageous sufferer, hitherto
we have played with the lion's fangs--they are unsheathed in anger
now--let us prepare: he will be here anon."
The princess desired not to exhibit too humiliating a spectacle of
misery to her cruel foe--she checked her weeping--she endeavoured to
forget the burning agony that tortured her beating heart. "Let him but
live; let me but once more see him;" and the unbidden tears flowed
again. The king soon broke in upon them; his look was haughty even to
insolence: an expression of vulgar triumph was in his eyes, that baffled
the eager scanning gaze of the hapless princess. He said, scoffingly
(and was it in man's nature, or only in Henry's, to look on the sad, but
lovely countenance of his victim, and to mock her woe?), "We
congratulate you, lady, on the return of the gentle Perkin to our good
city of Westminster--do not weep--he is in safe keeping now, very
safe--it is no feathered shoe our Mercury wears this day."
"Holy Virgin!" cried Katherine, "your grace does not surely mean----"
"Fear not--he lives," continued Henry, his scorn growing more bitter as
he spoke; "he lives, and shall live, till the White Rose acknowledge on
what base stock she is grafted, or he twist the rope by some new
sleight. Is Perkin's honoured dame satisfied?"
"Oh, no, no, no; some covert meaning you have; in pity for a woman,
speak." The agony her countenance expressed was the mute echo of the
frightful idea that convulsed her frame. "Oh, let me see him! you have
tormented me too cruelly; even if my worst fears prove true, he suffers
not more than I; and can it be that the young limbs of my own loved
Richard are put to torture!"
Elizabeth, grew ashy white; the king listened with a sarcastic smile,
saying, "I had not thought of that; you are a silly girl to mention such
things."
"I do not believe you," exclaimed the princess, "your looks belie your
words; let me but see him afar off, let me catch a glimpse of my
princely love--is he in the Tower?"
"Neither the Tower, nor any royal palace, detains your lord; he is
taking the air, pleasantly I hope, in the high places of our town. To
finish this war of words, and your incredulity, will you visit your
prince of plotters, and behold him on whom the king of Scotland bestowed
your virgin hand?"
"See him! Oh, even in death to clasp his decaying limbs were better than
this absence!"
An indefinable expression passed over Henry's countenance as he replied,
"Be it as you wish; you must hasten, for in an hour the occasion will be
past; it is but a few steps; you shall be attended."
At last she was to see him; this assurance filled and satisfied her;
there was no place in her heart for any other thought, sinister as were
her torturer's looks. Her eyes grew bright, her cheek resumed its
vermeil tint, never had she looked more lovely; it was a dazzling
beauty; one of those ineffable expressions, which, unless language could
express music, or painting image fire, it is in vain to attempt to
describe: an irradiation of love passed over her countenance; her form;
something like it dwells in Raphael's Madonnas and Guido's Angel of
Annunciation,--Henry was awe-struck, yet did not falter in his purpose;
he let the bright angel go forth on her mission of good and love, to
meet on her way a sight fiends might rejoice over. Human life and human
nature are, alas! a dread, inexplicable web of suffering and of
infliction.
In Westminster, in sight of the abbey where his ancestors had been
crowned kings, the spectacle, intended to be so opprobrious, was set
forth. Henry, in his angry fear on his escape, in his exultation at his
re-capture, forgot the soft tyranny of Katherine's looks; or rather he
despised himself for the obedience he had yielded to them; and, in the
true spirit of baseness, was glad to revenge on her the ill effects that
had resulted to him through his involuntary enslavement. It was a
triumph to him to disgrace the object of her care, for he was ill-read,
his understanding affording him no key to the unknown language, in that
illuminated page of the history of feminine excellence, which tells the
delight she feels in exhausting her treasures of devoted love on the
fallen, because they need it most: he believed, that to present her
husband to her, under the very infliction of ignominy, would turn her
affection to cold disdain--he permitted her to go. Attended by some of
the body-guard and a gentleman usher, she hastened through the courts of
the palace into the open square: there was assembled a crowd of common
people, hushed to universal silence: at a distance from the centre some
were talking aloud, and the name of "Perkin" was the burthen of their
speech; but pity stilled those nearest to the spot, towards which, to
the surprise and horror of all, she hastened. The crowd instinctively
closed to bar her advance; and, when forced to make way, in spite of the
despotism of the times, the word "Shame" burst from the lips of many,
especially the women. She was agitated by the obstacles, by the numerous
uncourtly eyes turned on her; still she went on, and soon saw--
She understood not what--a kind of wooden machine, in which the lord of
her heart sat. There had been a time when pride and royal majesty of
soul had shed such grandeur over York, that, when exposed as a show, he
had excited reverence, not scoffing. Now he was evidently labouring
under great physical suffering; his brow was streaked with mortal
paleness, his cheeks were colourless; his fair hair fell in disordered
ringlets round his youthful but wan countenance; he leaned his head
against the side of the machine: his eyes were half shut; it was not
shame, but suffering, that weighed upon their lids, and diffused an air
of languor and pain over his whole person. Katherine hastened towards
him, she knelt on the unworthy earth at his side, she kissed his chained
hands. "You are ill, my love; my ever dear Richard, what has happened?
for you are very ill."
Roused by such music from the lethargy that oppressed him, yet still
overcome, he replied, "Yes; and I do believe that all will soon end, and
that I am stricken to the death."
She grew pale; she called him cruel; asking him how he could dream of
leaving her, who was a part of him, alone in the desolate world.
"Because," he answered with a faint smile, "the world is kind to all,
save me. No taint, dear love, attaches itself to your name; no ill will
mark your fate, when you are no longer linked to such a thing as I. God
has spoken, and told me that this earth is no dwelling for one, who,
from his cradle to this last shame, has been fortune's step-child, and
her despised toy. How often have I been dragged to the utmost verge of
life: I have felt indignation, anger, despair; now I am resigned; I feel
the hand of the Mighty One on me, and I bow to it. In very truth, I am
subdued; I sleep away the weary hours, and death will end them all."
With every expression of tenderness, Katherine endeavoured to recall him
to life and to herself. She spoke of another escape, which it would be
her care to achieve, of the solitude, of the paradise of love they would
enjoy together. "My poor girl," he replied, "teach your young heart to
seek these blessings apart from me; I were the very wretch Tudor
stigmatises me, could I live under a memory like this. Forget me, my
White Rose; paint with gaudier colours the sickly emblem of my fortunes;
forget that, duped by some strange forgery, you were wedded to--Perkin
Warbeck."
In spite of himself, large drops gathered in his eyes, swelling the
downcast lids, and then stealing down. Catherine kissed them from his
cheek; a thousand times more noble, royal, godlike, she called him; had
not the best and worthiest suffered ignominious punishment; even our
blessed Lord himself? His own acknowledgment alone could disgrace him;
he must recall the false words wrung from his agony; this last vile act
of his enemy must awaken each sovereign on his throne to indignation;
each would see in him a mirror of what might befall themselves, if
fallen. James, her royal cousin, roused by her, should resent the stigma
affixed to his kinsman.
"For your own sake, sweet, do so; my soul dying within me is alive again
with indignation, to think that your plighted wedded love is he, who is
exposed to contumely; but for that, methinks I would call myself by that
wretched name I dared pronounce, so that the annals of the House of York
escaped this stain: yet even thus I seem more closely allied to them;
for violent death, treachery, and ill have waited on each descendant of
Mortimer; my grandfather bore a paper crown in shame upon his kingly
brow."
He was interrupted by the officer, who unclosed the instrument of
disgrace. Richard, weak and failing, was assisted to rise; Katherine
supported him as a young mother her feeble offspring; she twined her
arms round him as his prop, and, in spite of misery, was enraptured once
again to see, to hear, to touch him from whom she had been absent so
long. "This is not well; it must not be; his majesty will be much
displeased," said the chief of the guard, witnessing the compassion her
tender care inspired. "You must return to the palace, lady."
"One little step," pleaded Katherine; "if I should never see him more,
how should I curse your cruelty! I will not speak, as I half thought I
would to these good people, to tell them that they may well honour him a
princess loves: drag me not away yet--one more good-bye!--farewell,
noble York, Kate's only love;--we meet again; this parting is but
mockery."
She wept on his bosom; the sound of wailing arose in the crowd; the
prince's eyes alone were dry; he whispered comfort to her; he promised
to live, to baffle his foe again for her sake; the words revived her,
and she saw him depart with hope, with new joy kindled in her bosom.
There had been another, the public gaze, till Katherine came to draw all
eyes to a newer wonder. An emaciated, pale woman, in a garb of penury,
who knelt, telling her beads, beside York's prison; her face was hid;
but her hands were thin and white to ghastliness; during the last scene
she had sobbed to agony, and now, as the place cleared, went her way
silently, with slow, feeble steps. Many marked her with surprise and
curiosity; few knew that she was the Jane Shore, whose broken heart
whispered misery, as she thought that she beheld King Edward's guilt, in
which she had shared, visited on his son. This cruel lesson of religion
was a canker in her heart, and most true it was, as far as regarded her
royal lover, that his light loves, and careless playing with sacred
ties, had caused the blot of base birth to be affixed to his legitimate
offspring, and so strewed the sad way that led them to untimely death.
Henry, cruel as he was, had not the courage to encounter his insulted
prisoner on her return. Katherine's feelings were wrought too high for
any display of passion; her anxiety was spent on how she could sooth
York's wounded feelings, and restore his health: it were vain to ask,
she feared; yet, if the king would permit her to attend on him, under
whatever restrictions, they should be obeyed; and this while poor
Elizabeth besought her pardon with tears, for being the wife of her
insolent adversary. She, a proud Plantagenet, was more sorely stung than
the White Rose, by the indignity offered to her house; and she entreated
her not to love her brother less because of this foul disgrace. "So
doing," said the quick-sighted queen, "you fulfil his dearest wish.
While you are Richard's loving wife, he, even he, the fallen and
humiliated, is an object of envy to his majesty, who sought, by making
you witness his ignominy, to detach you from him."
"How strange a mistake," replied Katherine, "for one so sage as the
king: the lower my sweet Richard falls, the more need he surely has of
me. But that love, such as ours, knits us too indivisibly to admit a
reciprocity of benefit, I should say that it is to make me rich indeed,
to enable me to bestow, to lavish good on my lord; but we are one, and I
but give to myself, and myself receive, if my weakness is of any
strength to him. Dear sister mine, your liege, wise as he may be, is a
tyro in our woman's lore--in the mysteries of devoted love; he never
felt one inspiration of the mighty sprite."
This was not quite true. For some few days Henry had been so inspired;
but love, an exotic in his heart, degenerated from being a fair,
fragrant flower, into a wild, poisonous weed. Love, whose essence is the
excess of sympathy, and consequently of self-abandonment and generosity,
when it alights on an unworthy soil, appears there at first in all its
native bloom, a very wonder even to the heart in which it has taken
root. The cold, selfish, narrow-hearted Richmond was lulled to some
slight forgetfulness of self, when first he was fascinated by Katherine,
and he decked himself with ill-assorted virtues to merit her
approbation. This lasted but a brief interval; the uncongenial clime in
which the new plant grew, impregnated it with its own poison. Envy,
arrogance, base desire to crush the fallen, were his natural
propensities; and, when love refused to minister to these, it changed to
something like hate in his bosom; it excited his desire to have power
over her, if not for her good, then for her bane.
The duke of York was imprisoned in the Tower. No further measures were
apparently in action against him. Katherine no longer hoped anything
from her foe; and day and night there lay beneath her eyelids the image
of Richard, wasting and dying in captivity. Something must be done, some
aid afforded him; she was anxious also to learn the details of his
flight, and how again he fell into the hands of his foe. Monina, who in
a thousand disguises had been used to penetrate everywhere, was seen no
more. Still public report informed her of many things.
It was known, that Sir Robert Clifford, the old spy and traitor of the
White Rose, had become aware of the measures taken by York's adherents
to insure his escape from England. He had followed him down the river,
and by a knowledge of the signs and countersigns of the party, decoyed
him into a boat that was to convey his victim back to his prison-house.
The deceit was discovered, and a mortal struggle ensued on board the
tiny bark; it sunk, and many perished, Clifford among the rest. On the
morrow his body was found upon the beach, stiff and stark; a gaping
wound in his neck showed that the waters alone had not been his foe; in
his clenched hand he grasped a mass of golden hairs, severed by some
sharp implement from the head to which they grew: as if nought else
could liberate his enemy from his hold. There he lay, bold Robin
Clifford, the dauntless, wily boy, hunted through life by his own fell
passions, envy, cupidity, and libertinism; they had tracked him to this
death; his falsehoods were now mute, his deceptions passed away; he
could never more win by his smiles, or stab by his lying words; death
alone had a share in him, death and the cold sands beneath which he was
interred, leaving a name, the mark of scorn, the symbol of treachery.
They had struggled beneath the strangling waves, Richard and his
adversary. The prince was wounded in the scuffle, and became enfeebled
almost to insensibility before he could sever from his enemy's grasp the
fair locks he clutched--he swam away, as well as he might, and, with
the instinct of self-preservation, made for the shore--he forgot that
England was a wide prison--he only strove to master the fate which beat
him to the ground. He reached the sands--he sought the covert of some
near underwood, and threw himself upon the earth in blind thankfulness;
exhausted, almost inanimate, he lay there, given up only to the sense of
repose, and safety from death, which visited his failing heart with a
strange sense of pleasure.
The following morning was far advanced, before he could rouse himself
from this lethargy. He looked upon the waters; but the Adalid was no
more to be seen--he was quite alone; he needed succour, and none was
afforded him. Well he knew that every field, lane, dingle, and copse
swarmed with enemies, and he shuddered at the likelihood that unarmed,
and weak as he was, he should fall into their hands. He desired to reach
London again as his sole refuge; and he journeyed, as he hoped, towards
it, all unknowing of the route. No way-worn traveller in savage lands,
pursued by barbarous enemies, ever suffered more than the offspring of
Edward the Fourth amidst the alienated fields of his paternal kingdom.
Cold and rain succeeded to the pleasant summer weather:--during night
he lay exposed to the tempests--during day he toiled on, his limbs
benumbed, his heart wasted by hunger and fatigue; yet never, at the head
of the Scottish chivalry, never in Burgundy or in England, did he feel
more resolute not to submit, but, baffling fortune and his enemy's
power, to save himself in spite of fate. He had wandered far inland, and
knew not where he was--he had indeed passed beyond London, and got up
as high as Barnes. It was the fourth day from that of his escape--he
had tasted little food, and no strength remained in him, except that
which gave energy to his purpose. He found himself on a wide, heathy
common, studded with trees, or desolately open--the rainy day closed,
and a bleak east wind swept over the plain, and curled the
leaden-coloured waters of the river--his love of life, his
determination not to yield, quailed before the physical miseries of his
lot; for some few moments, he thought that he would lie down and die.
At this time another human figure appeared upon the scene. A Benedictine
lay-brother, who, in the freedom of solitude, in defiance of wind and
rain, trolled a ditty, fitter for a ruffling swaggerer's bonnet, than a
monk's cowl. He started not a little, on perceiving our wanderer leaning
against the scathed trunk of a solitary tree; nor less did he wonder
when he recognized the fallen prince. It was Heron himself, the
magnanimous mercer, who having effected his escape with a well-hoarded
purse, contrived to introduce himself into the house of Bethlem, at
Shene, which was called the Priory. He was a little frightened to
perceive his ancient leader; but pity succeeded to fear; and with many
fair words and persuasions he induced him to permit himself to be
conducted to the Priory. There, since he believed himself to be dying,
he might receive the last sacraments--there perhaps, for, some few
minutes, he might again behold his Katherine.
Thus was the fugitive again led within the pale of his enemy's power.
The prior, a man esteemed for holiness, did not delay to make his
sovereign acquainted with the capture of his rival. His awe of Katherine
having vanished, Henry was left at liberty to follow the ungenerous
dictates of his grovelling spirit. Many a courtier, true man or false,
counselled the death of the aspiring youth; and they praised their
master's magnanimity, when he rejected this advice, and in lieu exposed
him, whom he knew to be the descendant of a line of kings, to beggarly
disgrace. Thus worn and weak, the ill-fated son of York was made a
public spectacle of infamy. But Henry went a step too far; and, when he
thrust the Scottish princess forward on the scene, he turned defeat to
triumph.
He was not to die--but rather to pine out a miserable existence--or
had the sage monarch any other scheme? The high-spirited prince was to
be cooped up within the Tower--there, where the earl of Warwick wasted
his wretched life. Did he imagine that the resolved and ardent soul of
Richard would, on its revival, communicate a part of its energy to the
son of Clarence, and that ere long they would be enveloped in one ruin?
Some words had transpired that appeared to reveal such an intention; and
his order to the lieutenant of the Tower, that, without permitting, he
should connive at any covert intercourse between the two--his
recommendation of a noted spy and hireling to a high trust, and the
order this fellow had to bring each day intelligence to the palace from
the prison--spoke loudly of some design; for Henry never did aught in
vain. It was in circulation also among the lower officers in the
fortress, that an attempt to escape was expected on the part of the
prisoners, and that rich reward would attend its discovery.
CHAPTER LIV
IMPRISONMENT IN THE TOWER
And bare, at once, Captivity displayed,
Stands scoffing through the never-opened gate;
Which nothing through its bars admits, save day
And tasteless food.
BYRON.
The Lady Katherine, no longer trusting the good intentions of the
insolent tyrant, was eager to communicate with her royal cousin of
Scotland, to urge him to save from death or disgrace, if not to effect
the liberation of him to whom he had given her hand. The difficulty of
finding a messenger was great. The queen, all amiable and sorrowing as
she was, shrunk from any act, which, if discovered, would enrage the
king. Where did Monina tarry while her friend was in this strait? Of all
his sometime associates was there not one who would risk all to retard
the last steps of fate. Since York's escape she had been so vigilantly
guarded, that a thousand schemes she had formed for her own evasion
proved abortive at their very outset.
Help was at length afforded her unexpectedly, when most despairing.
Edmund Plantagenet stood before her--changed indeed from what he had
been; she had not seen him since the siege of Exeter, where he was
wounded; but slight was his bodily hurt in comparison to the death-blow
his mind received.
Plantagenet was one of those concentrated characters, whose very outward
show of softness and gentleness serves the more to force the texture of
their souls to receive one indelible impression. He had passed a boyhood
of visions, given up to mighty aspirations and engrossing reverie. His
thoughts were stirring as the acts of others; his forest-school had so
tutored him, that he could live in bodily repose, while his mind
ruminated: he could be quickened to hope and fear, to lofty ambition, to
generosity, and devoted courage, feeling in his heart the keenest
impulses--while around him were the mute trees of the wild wood and
pathless glades. He could be satisfied with such dreamy illusions; so
that action with him was never the result of physical restlessness, nor
of youthful emulation, nor of that stirring spirit of life which forces
us to abhor repose. It flowed from an imperious sense of duty; it welled
up from the very sources of his soul. Other men perform the various
parts allotted to them, and yet are something else the while; as is the
actor, even while he struts in the garb of royalty: but Edmund yielded
himself wholly up, and was the mere creature of the thought within.
To be great and good--great from the good he should effect, was his
boyhood's aspiration. It is probable that, if he had not been subjected
to extraneous influence, he would have devoted himself to religion, and
become a saint or martyr; for his all, his understanding, heart, and
person, would have been given up to the holy cause he espoused. His
being led to King Richard's tent, the night before the battle of
Bosworth Field, gave a new and inextinguishable law to his life. Unknown
duties were imposed. The first and dearest was, to redeem his father's
soul from the guilt of murderous ambition, by elevating his injured
nephew to his original greatness. He devoted himself to his cousin. Soon
he learned to love Richard as the work of his own hands. He had reared
his tender infancy; he had been his tutor in martial exercises, teaching
him to curb the fiery steed, to wield the lance, and, more than all, to
meet danger in the field fearlessly: to be honourable, brave, and kind.
He had led him to war, and shielded him with his own body from the cruel
Moor. If ever they were divided, his thoughts dwelt only the more
carefully with him. Last, he had brought him from glorious combats in
Spain, to conquer his ancestral kingdom, and set him up the rival of a
powerful king--the mark of his vengeance.
It was all over. Edmund possessed no innate strength to rise from the
blow; he was a mariner on the wide ocean, without compass or rudder. The
universe had one central point for him; that was destroyed, and a total
blank remained. York's first surrender visited him as a death-stroke; he
struggled against it. Enfeebled by his wound, more by despair, he passed
over to Ireland; there he expected to find friends of the White Rose; he
found only enemies of Duke Perkin: men eager to exculpate themselves
from the charges of ill faith or ingratitude, gladly adopted a
phraseology, or a belief, that reduced to dust the golden glories of
poor Edmund's idol. Perkin Warbeck! Oh thou flower of York! thou
nursling of love, though child of calamity, is even thy bright name so
to be tainted? Not by those immediately arrayed by self-interest against
thee; but by, the vulgar crew, ever eager to crush the fallen. There was
no hope in Ireland. Keating, the Prior of Kilmainham, was dead. The earl
of Desmond was reconciled to the English government. Lord Barry had fled
to Spain. The citizens of Cork were busy redeeming, by eager servility,
their mayor's disloyalty.
Overcome by these sad changes, a malignant fever seized on Edmund: in
addition to every other disappointment, he had the consciousness that
his aid was necessary to his cousin: that his absence was probably
misinterpreted by his friends as cowardly dereliction. York was calling
on him in vain. Monina perhaps suspected his truth. Next to the sun of
his life, the noble Richard, Monina lay nearest his heart. It was a
mixture of many feelings; and even love, subdued by hopelessness,
quickened them to greater intensity. As soon as he could rise from his
couch, he directed his course to England. He arrived in London on the
day of the duke of York's worst disgrace. It was reported to him as the
gossip of the town: at the fatal word a mortal change seized upon his
frame: his limbs were as if struck by palsy; his cheeks fell in; his
hair grew white. On his arrival he had taken up his abode in a monastery
in the habit of a poor pilgrim: the sage monks, who beheld his state,
possessed no leech-craft to administer his cure: he lay with beating
pulses and open eyes, while the work of the grave appeared already in
operation against him: he wasted into a fleshless skeleton. And then
another secret change came over him; he conquered death, and crawled
forth, the ghost of what he was, into the hopeless world.
He contrived to gain admission to the princess. She did not recognize
him, such was the pale disguise disease had put upon him. His voice,
hollow as from a tomb, was altered; his dark, melancholy eyes, occupying
too large a portion of his face, gleamed from under his streaked and wan
brow. Yet his was a visit of comfort, for he could do her mission to
Scotland, and invite the forgetful James to succour his friend and
kinsman. Edmund listened eagerly to this proposal: a draught of soothing
balm descended into his frame, with the thought that yet all was not
lost. His physical energy almost returned: he hurried to depart--"How
will you traverse this wide kingdom?" asked the lady. "Cannot the Adalid
come as before, to aid and speed you on your way?"
"The Adalid is sailing on the far ocean sea," replied Plantagenet; "we
are all as dead, in the eyes of De Faro and our Monina."
"Faithless girl!"
With a trace of his ancient warmth and sweetness, Edmund entered upon
the gentle maiden's exculpation. He related that a poor fellow lay on
the bed next his in the convent hospital, whom he recognized to be an
Irishman, who had escaped from Waterford, and sailed with them in the
Adalid to Cornwall. From him he heard the tale of what had befallen De
Faro and his child. He heard how the mariner had long haunted the
English coast waiting for an opportunity to carry off the prince; of the
fatal night, when snatching his daughter from the watery peril, he saw
Richard, as he believed, perish in the waves. What more had the Moorish
mariner and his daughter to do with this miserable, guilty island? He
called his men together; he told them his resolve finally to quit the
eastern world for the golden islands of the west, inviting those who
were averse to the voyage to go on shore at once, before the fair wind
that was rising should hurry them into the open sea. The poor Irishman
alone desired to land: before he went he saw the Spanish damsel; he
described her as calm and mild, though there was something unearthly in
her gleaming eyes and in the solemn tone of her voice. "If," she said,
"you meet any of our friends, any who ask for De Faro and his daughter,
if you see Lady Brampton, Lord Barry, or Sir Edmund Plantagenet, tell
them that Monina lives, that she tarries with her father, and tasks
herself to be his comfort and support. We seek the Western Indies; well
may it betide us that we never reach the unknown strand; or we may be
cast away in an uninhabited solitude, where my care and companionship
may stead my dear father much; or I may teach the sacred truths of our
religion to the wild Indians, and speak the dear name of Christ to the
unbaptized of those wilds; or soften, as best I may, the cruel Spaniard,
and save the devoted people from their barbarity. Tell them, whichever
way I look, I perceive a thousand duties to which our great Taskmaster
calls me, and these I live to fulfil, if so my feeble body will permit;
tell them that my only hope is death; that, and that by my obedience to
the Almighty will, I may partly merit to join in Paradise the earthly
angel who now survives there."
Tears choked further speech; she imprinted her words by a gift of gold.
The boat which had been hailed, came alongside. The man on board, the
sails of the Adalid swelled proudly in the gale; the little caravel ran
lightly along on the top of the roughening waters. In less than two
hours she was out of sight, speeding swiftly over the sea towards the
wild western ocean.
Plantagenet departed; and the princess was yet more cheered when she
found that no further injury 'was meditated against her lord.
Imprisonment in the Tower was his sole punishment. Her pure, gentle mind
could not divine the full extent of King Henry's villany, nor guess how
he undermined the edifice he claimed praise for not levelling with the
ground.
Nor could her resigned, patient, feminine spirit conceive the cruel,
biting impatience of his lot that York endured. He had yielded at first
to the overwhelming sense of disgrace, and felt that last, worst emotion
of the injured, which answers the internal question, "What have I done
so to be visited?" in the poet's words,--
"I cannot charge
My memory with much save sorrow--but
I have been so beyond the common lot
Chastened and visited, I needs must think
That I was wicked."
But soon his eager, eagle spirit spurned the tame debasing thought: he
resolved again to struggle, and at last to conquer; the fire burned
brighter for its short smouldering; almost with a light heart he
laughed, as he resolved again to endeavour.
His prison life was more than irksome; it was unendurable. No change,
which is the soul of enjoyment, varied it. No sympathy, the parent of
content, came anear. In his young days he had trod on the verge of
life's wave, watching it recede, and fancying that it would discover
glittering treasures as it retreated into the ocean of eternity: now the
tide ebbed sullenly; the barren sands grew dark; and the expanse before
afforded no hope--what was to be done?
He was in the Tower, whence he had twice escaped; where the earl of
Warwick was immured, pining in fruitless vegetation, rather than living.
Should he do as he had done, and become a cipher, a forgotten prisoner,
a mere thing to wake and sleep, and be as nothing? The very dog that
guards a cottage-door from nightly harm had more dignity and purpose in
his life than this victim of ambition. The bird that alighted on the
sill of his iron-barred casement, and carried off a crumb for her
nestlings, was an emblem of utility and freedom in comparison, which
Warwick, cut off from all, must weep to mark. How different was
Richard's fate; he had dear friends ready to risk all for him, whose
life's sacrifice he could repay only by being true to himself; he had a
wife, wedded to him in youth's early flower, whose happiness was
unalterably linked to his. He had courage, fortitude, energy; he would
not cast these gifts away, a thankless boon: he valued them at their
price: if death crowned his efforts, it were well; he was a mere toy in
the hands of God, and he submitted; but as a man, he was ready to cope
with men, and though defeated never to be vanquished. Not a month after
his removal to the Tower he had observed his facilities, marked his
instruments, and resolved to enter on his schemes: they were quickened
by other circumstances.
Warwick heard of his cousin's arrival; and he believed this to be the
signal of his own deliverance. His first chief desire was to have
communication with him. Among his attendants there was one to whom he
could apply; he was a lank, tall fellow, with little understanding and
but one idea--gratitude to the duke of Clarence. This man, called
Roger, and nicknamed Long Roger, his length being his chief distinction,
had been very poor, and burthened besides with several infant children:
accidents and a bad season brought them to the verge of starvation, when
a chance threw him in the way of the duke of Clarence, who got him made
servitor in the Tower. When this unfortunate prince was imprisoned
within its fatal walls. Long Roger underwent a thousand perils to wait
on him by stealth, and to do what service he might. Long Roger had a
prodigious appetite, and his chief delight was to smuggle dainties,
cooked by his Madge, into the prison chamber of the duke. The manner of
Clarence's death, which Roger affirmed to accord with the popular
tradition, alone consoled the faithful sympathizing fellow. Now he had
turned the key for thirteen years on the duke's hapless son: in spite of
his watchful care and proffered cates, he had seen the poor youth
dwindle to a skeleton, when suddenly the progress of delay was checked
by Our Lady: it was a miracle to see Lord Edward grow fat and comely to
look upon, changing his woe-begone looks into gracious smiles: by the
mass, there was witchcraft in it! Warwick often thanked Long Roger, and
told him what he would do when restored to freedom and rank: which will
never be, Roger said, except among the saints in Paradise; unless it
pleased God to remove his majesty, when my lady the queen should fully
know how fervently her cousin prayed for her; and, forsooth, with sweet
prince Arthur, his royal mother would be all-powerful. Long Roger's
visions went not beyond. He never imagined the possibility of effecting
the earl's escape; his limited understanding suggested no relief, save a
bottle of Canary, or bunches of white roses in June, which in fact was
Dame Madge's feminine idea; and often had the simple flowers soothed
Warwick's care. To this man the poor prisoner applied, to enable him to
see and converse with the newly-arrived Richard: two are better than one
to a feast; and, the next time Roger meditated a dainty supper for his
lord, he resolved to endeavour that York should partake it with him as a
guest.
In his own guileless way, the simple-hearted man began to practise on
and bribe one of his fellows, without whom it had been difficult to
accomplish his desire. Abel Blewet had lately been appointed to his
service: he was nearly a dwarf, with bushy eyebrows and red hair: there
was something of ill omen in his physiognomy, but as the tall yeoman
looked over the head of his comrade, his courage rose: "The
whipper-snapper could not rebuff me," he thought, as he drew himself up
to his full height, and began to propound the mighty deed of conducting
Perkin by mistake to the Lord Edward's chamber, on his return from
vespers. Roger paused suddenly; for, in spite of his stature, he was
appalled by the glance Blewet shot up from under his penthouses of
brows: still he gave a willing assent, and even took upon himself the
chief risk of the undertaking.
The following evening, while Richard was yet pondering how to commence
his machinations, undecided, though resolved; and while he made up his
mind not to betray his thoughts to the sinister-looking being before
him, he was surprised to find that he was led through an unaccustomed
gallery; and still more on entering the chamber into which he was
introduced, to recognise it as that where he had unexpectedly found
refuge during his last visit to the Tower, and to perceive that Warwick
himself was there expecting him.
Was this the thin, wasted being he had seen three years before? Had
Warwick been then set free to hunt upon the hills, he had not regained
more flesh and bloom than now that hope had been his only medicine. His
cousin York had inspired him with marvellous confidence; his last
entrance into the formidable Tower, and his speedy exit, had appeared a
miracle to the poor earl, to whom these high walls and sad chambers
formed a world, from which, as from the larger one, death only promised
egress. He had pined and wasted in his appetite to be free, to be
without those gates, beyond that fosse and giant battlements that girded
him in: these portentous, insuperable obstacles were mere cobweb chains
to Richard. He had come in, he had departed, and all as easily, so
Warwick thought, as the unregarded fly, that had perhaps flown from
Westminster, from Elizabeth's chamber, to light upon his cheek. In all
the subsequent tales of York's checks and overthrow, he smiled at the
idea that one born to victory could be thus overcome. He laughed at the
chains Henry had thrown over him; and his transfer to the Tower elated
him with a firm belief that liberty was at hand. Dwelling on these
thoughts, Warwick ceased to be the dead alive; he was cheerful, erect,
elastic in his gait, his complexion glowed with health, while sickness
lingered still on the cheek of the younger Plantagenet, and a more
subdued spirit dwelt in his heart.
Long Roger beheld the cousins embrace: he heard the earl call him, named
Perkin, his liege, and most dear kinsman: from that moment the
opprobrious name was banished from Roger's lips: he was convinced of
York's truth, and the Lord Edward's friend became an object of reverence
and of love.
CHAPTER LV
ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE
Gentle cousin,
If you be seen, you perish instantly
For breaking prison.
No, no, cousin,
I will no more be hidden, nor put off
This great adventure to a second trial.
TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.
Quick on the first greeting followed Warwick's question. "And, noble
cousin, what have you projected? when shall we escape?"
Richard's being in durance with him, seemed sufficient pledge, that
without delay they should both be free. While York, wearied by
opposition to his mighty foe, just foiled in his endeavours to preserve
his freedom, even when he had attained it, saw giant obstacles in his
path; and, although resolved to endeavour all, was fully conscious of
the fatal end that must wait upon his too probable failure. His reply
was dictated by these feelings; he was averse to drag one so
inexperienced, and so unhappy, into the pit he believed that he was
digging for himself. He besought the earl well to weigh the value he set
upon life; to place the fatal scaffold in prospect; to teach himself to
know what death was, and to be ready to meet it, before he planned
escape from the wily Tudor. Warwick listened with impatient wonder; but
when Richard concluded with affirming, that he himself, in sober
sadness, preferred hazarding all to the remaining in prison, and that he
would be free, the earl's countenance again grew light and gladsome.
"But when, coz--when?" was still his eager question.
Thus they had changed characters. Warwick, so many years secluded from
the world, was in total ignorance of its ways. Had the Tower-gates been
opened to him, he had trembled to walk forth alone; but restraint had
made him feminine; and with his cousin he would have rushed upon an army
of spears, in sure belief that some unseen aegis would protect him. His
position rendered him timid, indolent, and dependent; but he relied on
Richard, as a woman on her lover. York beheld all things in their clear,
true light; he was aware of every difficulty; of the means he possessed
for overcoming them, and of the hazards he ran in using these means. A
sentiment, born of the highest generosity made him hesitate before he
concerted any plan with Warwick. It was not alone that he was averse to
risking another life; but he felt that his cause would receive advantage
from this link with an undoubted Plantagenet; nay, that, in the prison
itself, the attachment and respect felt towards the son of Clarence, by
some of the very men he meant to use, would serve him. That he should
reap benefit from exposing the ill-fated prince to untried dangers,
revolted his high and independent nature. Warwick had recourse to many
an entreaty and persuasion, ere he brought Richard to consent that their
fortunes should be joined, and that, last of the White Rose, they would
rise or fall together. Still York was obliged to check his cousin's
impatience, and to show that they must slowly work out the end they had
in view.
To gratify the earl's greedy curiosity, York related his adventures;
they afforded him an inexhaustible fund of surprise and delight. He
sighed over his tale of wedded happiness; and half wondered that angelic
woman, seated high on the throne of loveliness and love, should deign to
devote herself for man. A pang, not of envy, but of regret, on comparing
their fates, shot across him; soon the usual current of feeling
returned; and when he heard that his idolized, lost Elizabeth, was the
friend and companion of the devoted wife of York, his affection for
Richard was increased. Night was far advanced before they separated, and
then only in certain expectation of meeting again.
York's hopes grew brighter, and he indulged in visions of the future,
which lately had been so blank. He verily believed that he might escape,
though still he doubted whether he should. He remembered the fondness of
the duchess of Burgundy for her brother Clarence, and how she had
deplored the hard destiny of his offspring; he would present that son,
liberated by him, to her. His junction with the prince must revive the
old Yorkists in his favour; this worst blast of fortune might be the
gale to speed him to the harbour of his hopes. The royal cousins met
again and again; nor was it long before their own desires, and Henry's
craft, began to weave that fatal web which entangled them even in the
very mode the hard-hearted king devised.
Summer was gone: quicker than he was wont, the sun withdrew his
embattled array of light and heat; and cold and tempest, erewhile driven
to mountain fastnesses, or to their own frozen kingdoms in the north,
took courage and force, and broke with wild fury upon the defenceless
world: the bleak winds were their coursers; savagely they yelled and
howled over the land they desolated. First, the growth of flowers was
their prey; the fruits, and then the verdure of the earth, while the
sun, each day retreating, afforded further scope to their inroads. York
resolved not to pass another winter in prison. He had quickly perceived
that his purpose could only be effected by corrupting their guards, and
then all would depend upon the fidelity of these men. His first attempts
were followed by an almost too easy success: good-hearted, dull-headed
Long Roger heard with unreplying credulity the assertions of Warwick,
that Richard must succeed in all he undertook, and readily promised his
aid. Abel Blewet, in spite of his dogged, sinister aspects yielded at
once to the seduction of a promised bribe. Two others, by his advice,
were associated as necessary to their success. Strangeways, a ruffling
drunken fellow, who had been thrice dismissed, but whose pretty wife
each time procured his reappointment; and Astwood, a saving miser, who
lent money to his fellow-servitors on usury. With these instruments the
cousins went to work. Warwick in full belief of success: York,
perceiving treason and discovery close to them, but ready to defy these
bloodhounds to their worst.
"And now, coz," said Warwick, "in very truth there needs no further
delay. Methinks were the drawbridge down, you would mistrust some gin,
and wait to throw an arch of your own across the moat. Sooth, my lord, I
am a weary of your sloth."
There was a caressing sweetness in Warwick's voice and manner: an
ignorant, indolent, confiding enthusiasm, so unlike quick-witted
Clifford, or any of Duke Richard's former friends, that he felt a new
emotion towards him--hitherto he had been the protected, served, and
waited on, of his associates, now he played the protector and the
guardian.
"My gentle cousin," he replied, "even as you trust, so you shall find
me--wait but a little, and all will be past. Yet I grieve to say, where
you see escape, I perceive an ambushment of death; and, though ready to
face the grim skeleton, we must arm ourselves against him. I wish I
could show you even as I see, the dangers that environ us--perhaps you
would shrink; and it is yet time. What do you do? Not only plan escape,
but ally yourself, and give the sanction of your untarnished name, to
one whom Tudor brands as an impostor, and abhors as a rival. His
vengeance will fall heavily for this deed, if he reach you. While a few
years, like the many already gone by, may lead him to his grave, and you
to liberty. I have too often met danger to be frightened by him: and I
endure worse than death, each day I pass of youth, apart my sweet White
Rose. You have no lady-love to beckon you across the path of peril.
Bethink you well, my ever dear lord, will you not regret this prison,
when the cruel axe glitters before your eyes?"
"Do you refuse then to take me with you?" said Warwick, mournfully.
"Be the choice yours; to go with me is fraught with danger--to stay--"
"Hush, cousin!" cried the earl, eagerly, "speak not the ill-omened word.
Stay,--to endure days and nights of guarded doors; to eat viands served
up poisoned by the jailor's touch; to see the sky but through those iron
bars; alas! in my dreams, when heaven and its stars are before me, they
are crossed and paled by those accursed lines. Give me but an hour to
tread earth a free man--or, mark, cousin; sometimes I win good Roger to
lead me to the roof of the White Tower; it is high, and overhangs the
deep, dangerous river--the day you quit my side, I seek that tower, I
leap from its height, and the cold waters shall drink up my being,
rather than I endure another hour my prison-life."
"My dear, dear cousin," said York, "it is written by the Fates, and I
yield--our fortunes shall be one. A few days now brings the hour; it
will move along the dial; it will become a portion of past time--what
it will leave us, is in the hands of God."
That hour came--full soon it came--the evening hour which preceded
their escape. Long Roger served supper to the kinsmen, the last they
were to partake within the fated walls. The poor fellow heaved a bitter
sigh, as he waited by his lord's chair. "Thou art downcast, good Roger,"
said the earl, "pledge me, my man, in this ruby wine of Burgundy--think
of to-morrow, not of to-night--to-morrow the deed will be done."
Roger quaffed the proffered bowl--he set it down with another sigh,
almost a groan, adding, "Better drown reason than life in the vat!" Then
recollecting to what he alluded, and before whom, he blushed scarlet to
his very ears, and like a bashful man he made it worse by going on
blunderingly, "I was never handy at these sort of things; it is for all
the world like turning out of a warm bed on a cold snowy morning, only
to think of them--and when they are about,--by the Cross, I thought no
hole far enough or dark enough, when my lord your father--"
"Roger!" exclaimed Warwick.
The wine had not decreased the man's terror, but it had opened his
mouth, and taken away his discretion; he continued: "It was an awful
night. We all knew what was going to be done. I am sure, as Thomas
Paulet said, we heard our very hearts beat. Then there was grim-faced
Hobler, who at the judgment might be taken for the born twin of Master
Abel, only he was taller by a span--even he looked uglier, nor spoke
above his breath--'Is he at his prayers?' asked he, and Sir Brakenbury
was as white as the earth itself--it was the beginning of Lent; and the
snow lay three feet deep on it."
By no uncommon law of our nature, the dread design of the present night
awoke keen recollection in the usually drowsy mind of this man. At
first, with thrilling horror, Warwick interrupted him, but now the very
terrors of the theme he chose assumed an awful charm--he was fascinated
to listen, while his knees knocked together. Richard felt also the magic
of such perilous excitement.
"Oh, Lord Edward," continued Roger, "these walls have seen fiendly
sights--the blood of many a Plantagenet, York, or Lancaster, is on its
pavement. Was it not in this room that the pious king Saint Henry, as
Father Piers calls him--you will not sleep another night in it, so
there is no harm now, telling you that his poor ghost has been seen on
the battlements coming from this very chamber, where he was murthered."
The night wind rushed round the massy walls, the autumnal wind, fierce
and howling--York started up. "No more of this unreason, while we need
all our strength, and God's grace to boot, to nerve us to our task. Oh,
ghost of Lancaster! if indeed thou hauntest this spot, where those akin
to me did the foul deed, be thy pious soul propitiated now; many a mass
shall be told for thy repose?"
Roger crossed himself, and said an Ave; then in his usual voice he
rejoined, Would the thing did not require blood. Master Abel vows by
the saints--'twere better when men make bad oaths to swear by the
fiends--that Sir John must die; old wrinkled Astwood squeaks out, "By'r
Lady, it were not worth while, with only promises for reward, if we have
not the rifling of the lieutenant's private chamber. They are
bloody-minded men, my lord; Mat Strangeways, when he is sober, and I,
fasting or feasting, hold out that we might bind him, and get the keys.'
'Blockhead,' says Master Blewet, saving your presence, 'thou goest the
way to hang us all.'"
Another goblet had set Roger talking. Warwick had quitted the table. He
threw open the casement: it was very dark, and the wind howled
fearfully--"Oh, iron bars of my prison-house," cried the ill-fated
prince, "can only midnight-murder wrench ye asunder? It is a dread act
to disobey God's word, and lay the soul under mortal sin--must it be
done?"
"My dear cousin," said York, "do not mistake--a month ago the choice
was yours; now there is no going back. We have no right to draw these
poor men into peril, and then to quarrel at the precaution they take for
their safeties. We said, ay, when the matter was proposed. Again I
repeat the word; they must look to it, who so savagely have driven us to
the fatal pass. When Digby undertook the ungentle task of jailor, he
knew that he must hold it at the hazard of his life."
"Sir John has ever been kind tome," said Warwick, "forgive the word, my
lord, I am firm now--away with mercy! To win an easy egress from these
murderous walls, I could myself plant the dagger."
"We are not executioners," interrupted the duke, who felt none of
Warwick's vacillations, now sinking beneath the required tone, now wound
up far above it, and was perfectly calm, though his heart, he scarce
knew why, entertained no hope of success. Warwick believed that he
should win, and mourned the losers in the frightful game. Richard knew
that he might fail, and assuredly would, did he not meet each necessity
and hazard with a dauntless spirit.
The sound of a bell from a neighbouring convent was brought fitfully by
the wind--"They are ringing matins--there is our signal," cried Roger.
"And Digby's knell." The door of the chamber opened as Warwick said
these words, and Blewet, with his usual catlike pace, slid in; he walked
straight up to Roger, and casting on him a glance from under his brows,
said only, "Come."
"Are all at rest?" asked the earl.
"Two hours agone," said Master Abel, "I have kept myself awake
sharpening my steel:" he touched the handle of a huge butcher's knife
stuck in his girdle, whose glittering blade did credit to his care.
Warwick turned pale and sick. "It will be dulled anon," continued
Blewet.
"Where are thy comrades?" Richard asked.
"They wait at the end of the corridor--Master Astwood is counting his
gains. Come, Long Roger."
Poor Roger followed him to the door, then turning to the princes; "My
royal masters," said he, "if this deed goes ill, and I never see ye
more, by Christ and his Cross, I pray a blessing on ye; if I may pray,
but by the mass I fear I shall never pray, nor sup more."
They were gone--Warwick strove to look, to be firm, but he grew ashy
white--a door clapped to at a distance made him almost faint. Richard
was pale also; but his hand shook not in the least, as he presented a
cup of wine to his cousin. "Give me water rather," said the earl,
shuddering, "that cup is red--hark--it is his groans!"
"It is the wind around the turret, where my liege and brother died,"
said York, endeavouring to give other thoughts to the poor prince, who
cried,--
"It is the hell-born laugh of fiends viewing the deed." With the breeze
indeed came a sound of laughter. "Are we betrayed!" cried York: but the
sound passed away in wailing. Warwick was on his knees--"I cannot
pray," he cried, "a sea of blood is before me."
"Hush!"
Steps now approached along the corridor, and Blewet, his stained,
half-wiped knife in his hand, appeared--Again the monosyllable "Come,"
was pronounced--fraught with how different a meaning. A life had been
torn from an innocent breast since then by that fell instrument. The
princes, awe-struck, one trembling with dread, the other striving to
quell his horror for a murderer, followed him, as he led through the
gallery--at the end stood Astwood with a bunch of keys--there were no
stains on his hands; he looked anxious, but brightened up when he saw
the prisoners.
They trod stealthily along. Warwick's faltering steps scarce kept pace
with their conductor's. After passing through many narrow high passages,
they reached a low postern door. Astwood put the key in the lock--the
sound was magical to the fearful earl. "Farewell, old frightful walls,"
he cried; "farewell, dark murderous prison-house, the Foul Fiend possess
thee! such is my benison."
Blewet looked at him--York marked the sarcasm, the scorn of his
glance--the gate meanwhile was opened; at that moment a clash of arms
was heard. "The sentinels at the eastern gate," remarked Abel.
"God grant it!" cried Warwick, "God grant--yet can it be! and am I
free?"
He rushed through the open door, intent to seize upon liberty, as
Tantalus on his forbidden feast--his first step beyond the threshold of
his prison was followed by a shriek--almost a woman's shriek, it was so
shrill and piercing. What he quailed before, gave presence of mind to
York--experienced in ills. Whatever the new evil might be, he went out
to meet it calmly. A party of archers and yeomen were drawn up in the
courtyard. "This truly is a mime," he said, "in which one at least wins.
Our good lieutenant is safe; we are lost."
Grim Sir John had much disliked even this masque of murder. He saw their
seizure with a grin of delight. He abhorred Richard, as the prime mover
of the meditated assassination; but he hated Warwick more, who thus
could lay in ambush for the life of one, who he believed had been a most
courteous and soft-hearted jailor to him--he commanded his myrmidons to
lead the royal kinsmen to the strongest ward-rooms of the Tower, with
dogged, savage joy.
In dark and separate cells, in solitude and night, these ill-fated
victims of craft and ambition were consigned to biting reflection and
sinister anticipation. Warwick, worn out by the unusual excitement of
the last weeks, by his eager hopes, and overwhelming despair, had no one
thought, but ten thousand thoughts, making a chaos and hell of his poor
heart. Richard felt more for his cousin than for himself. "But for me,"
he repeated internally, "he had still been a patient prisoner. Yet to
break prison is not crime capital--he may yet be saved. Elizabeth will
intercede; Tudor, for very shame, cannot do further wrong to one so near
akin, so powerless and unfortunate. For myself:--I am dead already: the
duke of York died, when first I became a slave. So that my memory
survive in my own White Rose's heart--let the victor dispose at his
pleasure of this mere shell of Richard."
CHAPTER LVI
THE TRIAL
Tempestuous Fortune hath spent all her spite,
And thrilling sorrow thrown his utmost dart
Thy sad tongue cannot tell more heavy plight
Than that I feel and harbour in my heart.
SPENSER.
The morning of the first of November dawned: a cheery day. Men went to
their usual works: the earth, despoiled of her summer garniture, yet
bore the change with sober content; for the sun shone, and soft airs,
despite the coming winter, lightly shook the scant and altered foliage
of the woods:--
All rose to do the task He set to each,
Who shaped us to His ends, and not our own.
And many rose
Whose woe was such, that fear became desire.
Among such fate-hunted victims was the duke of York. Hope had died in
his heart; and his few remaining days were only to be spent in
celebrating her dark funeral. Morning opened its eyes on Prince
Richard's dungeon, showing him vanquished by grievous overthrow and
change. To look back through his tumultuous life, to dwell upon its
chances, to think of the many who had suffered for him, were sad but
fitting thoughts, to which he betook himself, till death became lovely
in his eyes. But intermingled with such retrospection were other
memories: his own sweet love was before him, in her tears or smiles; he
looked into her dear eyes, he closed his own, and thrilling kisses
pressed his burning lips, and soft, white arms were round him; at
thought of such he grew impatient of his chains, and the fearful cutting
off from all that awaited him. He began to calculate on the probability
that his life would be spared, and grew cowardly the while; to feed upon
those roseate lips, to drink life from those eyes, to clasp his
beautiful, fond wife, feeling that beyond the circle of his arms nought
existed worthy his desires, became a fierce, impatient hunger, to
gratify which he would call himself impostor, give up fame and
reputation, and become Perkin Warbeck in all men's eyes.
There was but one refuge from this battle of youth and life with the
grim skeleton. With a strong effort he endeavoured to turn his attention
from earth, its victor woes, and still more tyrant joys, to the heaven
where alone his future lay. The struggle was difficult, but he effected
it: prayer brought resignation, calm; so when his soul, still linked to
his mortal frame, and slave to its instincts, again returned to earth,
it was with milder wishes and subdued regrets. Monina's lovely form
wandered into his mind; she was an angel now, a blessed spirit, he
believed; for, what deceived her, deceived him; and he fancied that he
alone had escaped from the watery perils of that night: she had arrived
there, where he soon should be, in the serene immutability of eternal
life; he began, in the revulsion of his thoughts, to pity those destined
still to exist. Earth was a scathed planet, a roofless, shelterless
home; a wild where the human soul wandered a little interval, tortured
by sharp, cruel storms; lost in thorny, entangled brakes; weary
repining, till the hour came when it could soar to its native
birthplace, and find refuge from its ills in promised Paradise.
His cell was indeed the haven of peace, compared to the turbid,
frightful atmosphere in which his Katherine lived. Edmund had not
returned; every attempt she made to communicate with Scotland or
Burgundy failed. She had passed a summer of wretchedness, nor could the
tender attention of Elizabeth soothe her. In spite of all, the poor
queen was almost happier than she had ever been; for many years she had
been "the cannibal of her own heart," devouring her griefs in voiceless,
friendless, solitude; her very joys, and they were those of maternity,
were locked up in her own bosom. It was the birth of happiness to share
her griefs with another; that other being so gentle, so wise, and yet so
sensitive, as the fair White Rose, who concealed her own worst pains, to
soothe those of one possessing less fortitude and fewer internal
resources than herself. Yet, while thus she forgot herself, she never
quitted in thought her Richard's side; since the day she had seen him
delivered over to ignominious punishment, pale and ill, he was as it
were stamped on every outward object, an image placed between her and
her thoughts; for, while those were employed apparently on many things,
he, in truth, was their first, last, all-possessing idea, more
engrossing than her own identity. At one time she spent every effort to
obtain an interview with him in prison; and then she learned, through
covert means, of the plots carrying on in the Tower for his escape,
while the name of Warwick, mingling in the tale, roused the latent
feelings of Elizabeth. When the last, worst hour came, it was less
replete with pain than these miserable, unquiet days, and sleepless,
tearful nights; the never-ending, still-beginning round of hours, spent
in fear, doubt, and agonizing prayer.
After a restless night, the princess opened her eyes upon the day, and
felt even the usual weight at her heavy foreboding heart increased. The
tale was soon told of Richard's attempted escape and failure: "What can
be done?" "Nothing; God has delivered the innocent into the hands of the
cruel; the cruel, to whom mercy is as unknown as, methinks, it is even
to the awful Power who rules our miserable lives." Such words, with a
passionate burst of tears, burst from the timid Elizabeth, whose crushed
and burning heart even arraigned the Deity for the agony she endured.
Katherine looked on her with sweet compassion, "Gentle one," she said,
"what new spirit puts such strange speech into your mouth, whose
murmurings heretofore were those of piety?"
"It is a bad world," continued the queen; "and, if I become bad in it,
perchance I shall prosper, and have power to save: I have been too mild,
too self-communing and self-condemning; and the frightful result is,
that the sole being that ever loved me, perishes on the scaffold. Both
will perish, my White Rose, doubt it not. Your own York, and my devoted
only loved Edward. In his prison I have been his dream; he breaks it,
not to find liberty again, but Elizabeth. Wretched boy! knows he not
that he shall never again find her, who roamed with a free spirit the
woodland glades, talking to him of the future, as of a scene painted to
my will; faded, outworn, a degraded slave--I am not Elizabeth."
"Did you know the dearest truth of religion," replied Katherine, "you
would feel that she, who has been tried, and come out pure, is a far
nobler being than--"
"I am not pure, not innocent; much you mistake me," said the queen:
"wicked, impious thoughts harbour in my heart, and pollute my soul, even
beyond the hope of mediation. Sometimes I hate my beautiful children
because they are his; sometimes in the dark hour of night, I renounce my
nuptial vow, and lend ready, willing ear to fiendish whisperings which
borrow Edward's voice. I court sleep, because he wanders into my dreams:
and--what do I say, what am I revealing? Lady, judge me not: you
married him you loved, fulfilling thus the best destiny that can be
given in this hard world to woman, whose life is merely love. Though he
perish in his youth, and you weep for him for ever, hug yourself in the
blessed knowledge that your fate is bright as angels: for we reap
celestial joys, when love and duty, twined in sisterly embrace, take up
their abode together within us: and I--but Katherine, did you hear
me?--They perish even as I speak: his cruel heart knows no touch of
mercy, and they perish."
"They shall not, dearest," said York's White Rose; "it cannot be, that
so foul a blot darken our whole lives. No; there are words and looks and
tones that may persuade. Alas! were we more holy, surely a miracle might
be vouchsafed, nor this Pharaoh harden his heart for ever."
All her love-laden soul beaming in her eyes, with a voice that even
thrilled him, though it moved him not, the White Rose addressed Henry.
She had yet to learn that a tyrant's smile is more fatal than his frown:
he was all courtesy, for he was resolved, implacable; and she gathered
hope from what proved to be the parent of despair. She spoke with so
much energy, yet simplicity, in the cause of goodness, and urged so
sweetly her debt of gratitude; telling him, how from the altar of their
hearts, prayers would rise to the Eternal, fraught with blessings to
him, that he encouraged her to go on, that still he might gaze on
lineaments, which nobility of soul, the softest tenderness, and exalted
belief in good, painted with angelic hues. At length he replied that his
council were examining witnesses, that her cause depended on facts, on
its own justice; that he hoped report had blackened the crimes of these
rash men; for her sake he sincerely hoped their guilt, as it was
detailed to him, had been exaggerated.
For a moment the princess was unaware what all this jargon might mean;
his next words were more perspicuous. "Indeed, fair dame, you must
forget this coil: if I consent, for the welfare of my kingdom, to
sacrifice the queen's nearest relative, you also must resign yourself to
a necessity from which there is no appeal. Hereafter you will perceive
that you gain, instead of losing by an act of justice which you
passionately call cruelty: it is mercy, heaven's mercy doubtless, that
breaks the link between a royal princess and a base-born impostor."
A sudden fear thrilled Katherine: "You cannot mean that he should die,"
she cried; "for your own sake, for your children's sake, on whom your
sins will be visited, you cannot intend such murder: you dare not; for
the whole world would rise against the unchristian king who sheds his
kinsman's blood. All Europe, the secret hearts of those nearest to you,
your own knowledge, all proclaim your victim, your rival--to be your
brother, and will brand you a fratricide. You are Lancaster, your
ancestors were kings, you conquered this realm in their name, and may
reign over it in peace of conscience; but not so may you destroy the
duke of York. His mother avouched him, the duchess of Burgundy
acknowledges him; I was given to him by my royal cousin, as to one of
equal rank, and he upholds him. More than all, his princely self
declares the truth; nor can evil counsellors, nor false chroniclers,
stand between you and heaven and the avenging world. You vainly seek to
heap accusation on him you term Crookback's head: time will affix the
worst indelible stain upon you. You cannot, will not slay him."
What were words to the fixed mind of Henry? A summer breeze, whispering
round a tempest-withstanding watch-towers--he might grow chill at this
echo of the fears his own heart spoke: but still he smiled, and his
purpose was unshaken. It became known that the princes were to be
arraigned for treason: first the unhappy, misnamed Perkin was tried, by
the common courts, in Westminster Hall. When a despot gives up the
execution of his revenge to the course of law, it is only because he
wishes to get rid of passing the sentence of death upon his single
authority, and to make the dread voice of misnamed justice, and its
executors, the abettors of his crime.
When tragedy arrays itself in the formal robes of law, it becomes more
heart-rending, more odious, than in any other guise. When sickness
threatens to deprive us of one, round whom our heart-strings have
twined--we think inextricably--the skill of man is our friend: if
merciless tempest be the murderer, we feel that it obeys One whose ways
are inscrutable, while we strive to believe that they are good. Groping
in darkness, we teach our hearts the bitter lesson of resignation. Nor
do we hate nor blame the wild winds and murderous waves, though they
have drunk up a life more precious and more beloved than words have
power to speak. But that man's authority should destroy the life of his
fellow-man; that he who is powerful, should, for his own security and
benefit, drive into the darksome void of the tomb one united to our
sun-visited earth by ties of tenderness and love--one whose mind was
the abode of honour and virtue; to know that the word of man could still
bind to its earthly tabernacle the being, voice, looks, thoughts,
affections of our all; and yet that the man of power unlocks the secret
chamber, rifles it of all its treasures, and gives us, for the living
mansion of the soul, a low, voiceless grave:--against such tyranny, the
softest heart must rebel; nor scarcely could religion in its most
powerful guise, the Catholic religion, which almost tore aside for its
votaries the veil between time and eternity, teach submission to the
victims.
Days flowed on. However replete with event, the past is but a point to
us; however empty, the present pervades all things. And when that
present is freighted with our whole futurity, it is as an adamantine
chain binding us to the hour; there is no escape from its omnipotence
and omnipresence; it is as the all-covering sky. We shut our eyes; the
monster's hollow breath is on our cheek; we look on all sides: from each
his horrid eyes glare on us; we would sleep; he whispers dreams. Are we
intelligible? Will those possessed by present tell us whether any
bondage, any Bastille, can suggest ideas of more frightful tyranny,
misery, than the cruel present, which clings to us, and cannot be
removed.
"It is so; he attempted to escape, and was discovered; he is low in his
dungeon; his dear eyes are faint from disappointed hope. He will be
tried. Tyranny will go forth in a masque, and with hideous antics fancy
that she mantles with a decorous garb her blood-thirsty acts. He will be
condemned; but he will not die! not die! Oh no, my Richard is
immortal--he cannot die!"
"My royal cousin, when you gave me to my sweet love, and pledged your
word that in weal or woe I should be his; and I promised myself still
dearer things, to be the guardian angel and tutelar genius of his life;
and took pleasure, fond, foolish girl that I was, in the anticipation of
misfortunes that I should rob of all power to hurt; no thought, among
the many that strayed into futurity, told me of this desertion, this
impotence of effecting good. Alas! how deaf and cruel man is: I could
more easily tear asunder his prison-walls with my hands, and break with
my weak fingers his iron chains, than move one, as liable to suffer and
to die as even his victim, to pity!"
Elizabeth listened pale and silent to these complaints--bitter as they
were, they were hushed to more heart-rending silence when the hour of
trial came--she should only pray to die, before the word that spoke his
condemnation met her ear. Accustomed as a princess--a high-born and
respected daughter of one most powerful, to be obeyed and served; to
find herself destitute of all influence, seemed to place her in another
planet--it was not men--not her fellow-creatures that were around her;
but fiends who wore the mask of humanity. An uninhabited desert had not
been more solitary than this populous land, whose language she possessed
not; for what is language, if it reach not the heart and move it?
Richard, the wonder of the time, gathered courage as ill-fortune pressed
more hardly upon him; in the hour of trial he did not quail, but stood
in bold, fearless innocence before the men, whose thoughts were armed
against his life. He was not guilty, he said, for he could not be guilty
of treason. When the indictment was read which treated him as a
foreigner and an alien, the spirit of the Plantagenet flashed from his
eyes, and the very stony-hearted clerk, who read, casting his regards on
him, faltered and stammered, overawed by a blaze of dignity, which, did
we foster antique creeds, we might believe was shed over him by some
such spirit as imparted divine majesty to the person of the king of
Ithaca. Proudly and silently Richard listened to the evidence on his
trial. It touched only on such points as would afterwards be most
material for inculpation of poor Warwick. In the end he was asked what
he had to plead, wherefore judgment should not pass upon him--but he
was bid to be brief, and to beware not to use any language derogatory to
the high and mighty prince Henry king of these realms. A smile curled
his lips at this admonition, and with even a playful air he said, "My
very good lord, I ask for nothing, save that a little mercy be extended
to the memory of my gracious uncle, my lord of Gloucester, who was no
child-murderer."
At the word he was interrupted, and sentence pronounced. As the
ignominious words were said, Richard, who from the beginning had
abstracted himself in prayer, so that his ears might be as little
wounded as possible, by an unconquerable impulse put his hand where his
sword might have been. Its absence and the clanking of his chains
recalled him to the truth, and he muttered the words, "O basely murdered
York!" in recollection of his unhappy grandfather, to whose miserable
fate he often recurred, as an example of suffering and patience.
Thus ended the bitter scene; one he had long expected, for which he had
nerved himself. During nearly the whole, his look was as if he were
absent from it. But who could read the secrets of his heart, while his
impassive eyes and lips were no index to the agonies that tortured it?
CHAPTER LVII
THE PRISON OF LUDGATE
So young to go
Under the obscure, cold, rotting, wormy ground!
To be nailed down into a narrow place;
To see no more sweet sunshine; hear no more
Blithe voice of living thing; muse not again
Upon familiar thoughts, sad, yet thus lost--
How fearful!
SHELLEY.
"Speak to me, lady, sister, speak! your frozen glances frighten me; your
fingers, as I touch them, have no resistance or life. Dearest and best,
do not desert me--speak but one word, my own White Rose."
Katherine raised her blue eyes heavenward: as if the effort were too
great, they fell again on the ground, as she said, in a voice so low
that Elizabeth could hardly catch the sound: "I must see him once again
before he dies."
"And you shall, dearest, I promise you. Cheer up, my love, not to
affright him by looks like these. Indeed you shall see him, and I will
also; he shall know that he has a sister's prayers, a sister's love.
Patience, sweet Kate, but a little patience."
"Would I could sleep till then!" replied the miserable wife: and she
covered her face with her hands, as if to shut out the light of day, and
sighed bitterly.
When our purposes are inflexible, how do insurmountable obstacles break
before our strong will; so that often it seems that we are more
inconstant than fortune, and that with perseverance we might attain the
sum of our desires. The queen, the weak, despised, powerless queen,
resolved to gratify this one last wish of her beloved friend. Many a
motive urged her to it; compassion, love, and even self-interest. At
first she almost despaired; while Richard continued in the Tower it was
impossible; but on the twenty-third of November, two days before the
destined termination of his fatal tragedy, on the day of the trial of
poor Warwick, he was removed to the prison of Ludgate. And here, at dead
of night, Henry, being absent inspecting his new palace at Richmond,
Elizabeth, timid, trembling, shrinking now at the last--and Katherine,
far too absorbed in one thought to dream of fear, took boat at
Westminster, and were rowed along the dark, cold tide to Blackfriars.
They were silent; the queen clasped her friend's hand, which was chill
and deathlike. Elizabeth trembled, accustomed to hope for, to seek
refuge in her stronger mind, she felt deserted, now that she, engrossed
by passion, silent and still, the wife of the near prey of death, could
remember only that yet for a little while he was alive. Their short
voyage seemed endless; still the oars splashed, still the boat glided,
and yet they arrived not. Could it last for ever--with one hope ever in
view, never to know that he was dead? The thought passed into
Katherine's mind with the sluggish but absorbing tenacity of intense
grief, and at last possessed it so wholly, that it was with a scream of
fear that she found herself close to shore.
The necessity of motion restored Katherine to her presence of mind,
while it deprived the queen of the little courage she possessed.
Something was to be said and done: Elizabeth forgot what; but Katherine
spoke in a clear, though unnatural voice, and followed their conductors
with a firm step, supporting the faltering queen. Yet she addressed her
not; her energies were wound up to achieve one thing; more than that it
would have cost her life to attempt. They reached the dark walls of
the prison; a door was unbarred, and they were admitted. The princess
passed the threshold with a quick step, as if overjoyed thus to be
nearer her wish. Elizabeth paused, trembled, and almost wished to turn
back.
They crossed the high-walled court, and passed through several dark
galleries: it seemed as if they would never arrive; and yet both started
when they stopped at the door of a cell.
"Does his grace expect us?" asked Katherine.
The turnkey looked as not understanding; but their guides who was the
chaplain of the jail, answered,--
"He does not. Fearful that some impediment might intervene, unwilling to
disturb by a disappointed hope a soul so near its heavenly home, I have
told him nothing."
"Gently then," said Katherine, "let our speech be low."
The door opened, and displayed the sou of the proud, luxurious Edward,
sleeping on a wretched mattress, chained to the pavement. The ladies
entered alone. Katherine glided noiselessly to his side; her first act
was to bend down her cheek, till his breath disturbed the ringlet that
rested on it; thus to assure herself that life was within his lips.
Elizabeth fixed her earnest gaze on him, to discover if in aught he
reminded her of the blue-eyed, flaxen-haired bridegroom of Anne Mowbray:
he more resembled a picture of her father in his early manhood; and then
again her aunt the duchess of Burgundy, whom she had seen just before
king Edward's death. He lay there in placid sleep; thought and feeling
absent: yet in that form resided the soul of Richard; a bright casket
containing a priceless gem: no flaw--no token of weakness or decay. He
lived--and at a word would come back from oblivion to her world of
love. A few days and that form would still exist in all its fair
proportion. But veil it quick; he is not there; unholy and false is the
philosophy that teaches us that lurid mockery was the thing we
loved.
And now he woke, almost to joy; yet sadness succeeded quickly to
rapture. "My poor girl," he said, "weep not for me; weep for thyself
rather; a rose grafted on a thorn. The degraded and disgraced claims no
such sorrow."
Katherine replied by an embrace; by laying her beautiful head on his
bosom, and listening with forgetful, delicious ecstasy to the throbbings
of his beating heart.
"Be not unjust to thyself," said a soft, unknown voice, breaking the
silence of the lovers; "be not false to thy house. We are a devoted
race, my brother; but we are proud even to the last."
"This is a new miracle," cried the prince. "Who, except this sainted
one, will claim kindred with Tudor's enemy?"
"Tudor's wife; your sister. Do you not remember Elizabeth?"
As these words were said, Katherine, who appeared to have accomplished
her utmost wish, sat beside him, her arms around him, her sweet head
reposing, her eyes closed. Kissing her soft hair and fair brow, York
disentwined her clasped hands, and rose, addressing the trembling
queen:--
"My sister," he said, "you do a deed which calls for blessings from
heaven upon you and yours. Till now, such, was my unmanly spirit, the
stigma affixed to my name, the disgrace of my ignominious death, made me
odious to myself. The weakness of that thought is past; the love of this
sweetest sweet, and your kindness restore me. Indeed, my sister, I am
York--I am Plantagenet."
"As such," replied the queen, "I ask a boon, for which, selfish as I am,
I chiefly came; my brother will not deny me?"
"Trifler, this is vanity. I can give nothing."
"Oh, everything," exclaimed the lady; "years of peace, almost of
happiness, in exchange for a life of bitter loneliness and suffering.
You, my dearest lord, know the celestial goodness of that fair White
Rose; in adversity and peril you have known it;--I, amidst the cold
deceits of a court. She has vowed never to return to her native land, to
bear a questioned name among her peers; or perhaps to be forced by her
father to change it for one abhorred. Though she must hate me as the
wife of her injurer, yet where can she better be than with your sister?
She would leave me, for I am Tudor's queen; bid her stay with, her
lord's nearest kinswoman; tell her that we will beguile the long years
of our too young life with talk of you; tell her that nowhere will she
find one so ready to bless your name as poor Elizabeth; implore her, ah!
on my knees do I implore you to bid her not to leave me, a dead-alive, a
miserable, bereft creature, such, as I was ere I knew her love."
"What say'st thou, sweet?" asked Richard; "am I yet monarch of that soft
heart? Will my single subject obey the crownless Richard?"
Katherine stretched out her hand to the queen, who was at York's feet,
in token of compliance: she could not speak; it was a mighty effort to
press the fingers of Elizabeth slightly; who said,--
"Before heaven and your dear lord, I claim your promise; you are mine
for ever."
"A precious gift, my Bess; was it not thus my infant lips called you? I
trust her to you; and so the sting of death is blunted. Yet let not too
fond a lingering on one passed away, tarnish the bright hours that may
yet be in store for her. Forget me, sweet ones; I am nought; a vapour
which death and darkness inhales--best unremembered. Yet while I live I
would ask one question--our victim-cousin, Edward of Warwick?"
Elizabeth could no longer restrain her tears as she related, that
however weak Warwick might heretofore have seemed, he appeared a
Plantagenet on his trial. He disdained the insulting formalities of law,
where the bitter Lancastrian, Lord Oxford, was the interpreter of
justice; he at once declared himself guilty of plotting to put the
English crown on the head of his cousin, the duke of York. He was
quickly interrupted, and condemned to be beheaded.
"Generous, unhappy Warwick. Ah! is not life a misery, when all of good,
except ye two angelic creatures, die?"
The signal was now given that the interview must end. Elizabeth wept.
Katherine, still voiceless, clung closer to her husband; while he nerved
himself to support these gentle spirits with manly fortitude. One long,
affectionate kiss he pressed on the mouth of Katherine; and as her
roseate lips yet asked another, another and another followed; their
lives mingled with their breath.
"We meet in Paradise, mine only one," whispered York: "through our
Lord's mercy assuredly we meet there."
He unwound her arms; he placed her in those of Elizabeth, "Cherish,
preserve her. Bless thee, my sister; thee, and thy children. They at
least will, by my death, reign rightfully over this kingdom. Farewell."
He kissed her hand, and then again the lifeless hand of his wife, who
stood a breathing statue. She had not spoken; no words could utter her
despair. Another moment, and their fair forms were gone; the door of his
cell was closed; and, but for the presence of the God he worshipped,
Richard was left alone to solitude and night.
CHAPTER LVIII
CONCLUSION
Love is too young to know what conscience is,
Yet who knows not. Conscience is born of Love?
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss,
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove.
SHAKSPEARE.
Time,[2] we are told by all philosophers, is the sole medicine for
grief. Yet there are immortal regrets which must endure while we exist.
Those who have met with one, with whose every feeling and thought their
thoughts and feelings were entwined, who knew of no divided past, nor
could imagine a solitary futurity, to them what balm can time bring?
Time, the giver of hours, months, and years, each one how barren,
contemptible, and heavy to bear to the bereft!
There was no consolation for Katherine, which could make her for a
moment forget that her present existence was but the lees of life, the
spiritless remnants of a nectareous draught. But Katherine was gentle,
good, and resigned; she lived on, dispensing pleasure, adored by all who
approached her, and gladly hailing any visitation of happiness which
might reach one whose affections were too fondly linked to the grave.
Years had passed since the last act of the sad tragedy which destroyed
her dearest hopes. She accompanied the queen of England on a progress
made by her, and they remained one night at Eastwell Place, the seat of
Sir Thomas Moyle. There was a park, and stately pleasure-grounds
belonging to the house, undulating uplands, shady copses, and sweet
running brooks to diversify the scene. A crowd of the noble and the gay
were there, and the royal party was unusually mirthful; fireworks,
masks, and dances were employed; and all joyously gave themselves up to
the spirit of the hour. The chords of a harp, a well-known air, first
awoke in the bosom of the White Rose that languid melancholy, so near
allied to pleasure, so close a neighbour to pain. By degrees memory grew
busy in her brain; she could no longer endure the laughter of her
companions, their sallies, nay, nor their kindness; for Elizabeth
perceived her dear friend's change of countenance, and was approaching,
when Katherine, making her a sign not to remark her, stole away, and
entering a straggling path, wandered on, struggling with the tears,
which the beauty of the evening, and the very hilarity which just before
she had shared, caused to gush warm and fast from her eyes.
She reached a little streamlet, and was passing forward, when she became
aware of the presence of another in the scene. A labouring man, of
middle age (but his hair was grey and flowed on his shoulders) was
seated on the rustic masonry of a rude fountain, reading; he rose when
he saw the lady, and doffed his hat; she, with the cordial sweetness
that accompanied her slightest acts, gave him an evening benison. Her
voice, her look, her cordial manner moved to its depths a heart lately
hardened against her. As she passed on, the man followed hastily,
"Lady!" he cried.
It struck the princess that this poor fellow had some request to prefer
to his master, and that he wished to do it through her medium; she
turned with a benevolent smile: "Can I do aught for you, good friend?"
His voice failed him; he stretched out his hand, which held his book,
she took it: the tiny volume was no stranger to her eyes; as if a ghost
had looked on her lonely watching, she trembled and grew pale, when she
opened it, and saw written in fair characters, by a hand now dust, "La
Rosa Blanca." The rustic knelt before her.
"Lady, queen!" he cried, "Sole relic of the unforgotten! is it thus that
we meet?"
"My cousin Edmund!"
"Hush! breathe not even to the silent woods the unknown word. Fancy not
that I am Plantagenet: for all that was of worth in him you name, died
when the White Rose scattered its leaves upon the unworthy earth."
"Ah! would that we had all died in that hour," cried Katherine: "why,
when the ungrateful world lost him, did not all the good and true die
also, so that they might no longer suffer!"
Plantagenet cast a reproachful glance on her, as he said, "Happy indeed
are those who die. O God! when I think of the many and the beloved, who,
a few years ago, were alive around me, and among whose low silent graves
I now walk alone, methinks I am dead; it is but the ghost of him you
knew that lingers upon earth."
"Yes, they are all gone," said the princess; "all who linked me to the
past, and were portions of my Richard's being. They are gone from before
me. But are they truly no more, or do they live, like you, brooding over
the lost, disdaining to communicate with one who lives but to remember
them? Of the death of several I have heard; but often I have longed with
bitterness to hear of you, and of the Spanish maiden, Monina de Faro."
"Her gentle soul," replied Edmund; "has flown to join him for whom she
lived and died. It is now two years since I was assured of this. A
friar, whom I had formerly well known, visited Lisbon; and I entreated
him to inquire for De Faro and his child. The commander of the Adalid
was almost forgotten; at last, an old sailor was found, who remembered
that, some years before, he had sailed for the Western Indies, and was
never heard of more."
"His daughter accompanied him?"
"In the churchyard of a convent, placed high among the foldings of those
lovely hills which overlook Lisbon, he was shown an humble tomb, half
defaced; her dear, sacred name is carved upon it, and half the date, the
14--, which showed that she died before the century began, in which we
now live.[3] She could not have survived our prince many months;
probably she died before him, nor ever knew the worst pang of all, the
ignominy linked with his beloved memory."
"And you, my kinsman, how long have you wedded penury and labour in this
obscure disguise?"
"Penury and labour," said Plantagenet, "are not confined to the humble
occupation I have adopted. I was made poor by the death-blow of my
hopes; and my chief labour is to tame my heart to resignation to the
will of God. Obscure you may indeed call my destination. Would I could
shroud it in tenfold night! Dearer to me is the silence and loneliness
of this spot, where I can for ever commune undisturbed with the past,
than a pomp which is stained by the blood of him whom once I thought we
all loved so well.
"When--oh, let me name not the frightful thing!--when he was gone for
ever, the whole world was to me but one miserable tomb. I groped in
darkness, misery my mate, eternal lamentation my sole delight. The first
thing that brought peace to my soul, was the beauty of this visible
universe. When God permitted, for some inscrutable purpose, moral evil
to be showered so plentifully over us, he gave us a thousand resources
out of ourselves in compensation. If I mingled with my fellow-creatures,
how dearly should I miss him, who was single among men for goodness,
wisdom, and heaven-born nobility of soul. My heart sickens at the evil
things that usurp the shape of humanity, and dare deem themselves of the
same species: I turn from all, loathing. But here there is no change, no
falling off, no loss of beauty and of good: these glades, these copses,
the seasons' change and elemental ministrations, are for ever the
same--the type of their Maker in glory and in good. The loveliness of
earth saves me from despair: the Majesty of Heaven imparts aspiring
hope. I bare my bosom to the breeze, and my wretched heart throbs less
wildly. I drink in the balmy sweetness of the hour, and repose again on
the goodness of my Creator.
"Yours is another existence, lady; you need the adulation of the
crowd--the luxury of palaces; you purchase these, even by communing
with the murderer of him who deserved a dearer recompense at your
hands."
Katherine smiled sadly at these last words, which betrayed the thought
that rankled in her kinsman's mind. "I thank you," she replied, "for
your details. I will not blame you for the false judgment you pass on
me. When years and quiet thought have brought you back from the tempest
of emotion that shakes you, you will read my heart better, and know that
it is still faithfully devoted to him I have lost."
"Ah! say those words again," cried Plantagenet, "and teach me to believe
them. I would give my right hand to approve your conduct, to love and
reverence you once again."
"Will you have patience with me then, while I strive to justify myself?"
"Oh, speak! My life, my soul's salvation, to hang upon your words."
Katherine raised her blue eyes to the now starry sky, as if to adjure
that to be the witness of her innocent thoughts; and then she said, "We
are all, dear cousin, impelled by our nature to make ourselves the
central point of the universe. Even those, who as they fancy, sacrifice
themselves for the love of God, do it more truly for love of themselves;
and the followers of virtue too often see their duties through the
obscure and deceptive medium which their own single, individual feelings
create. Yet we have one unerring guide; one given us at our birth, and
which He who died on the Cross for us, taught us to understand and to
appreciate, commanding us to make it the master-law of our lives. Call
it love, charity, or sympathy; it is the best, the angelic portion of
us. It teaches us to feel pain at others' pain, joy in their joy. The
more entirely we mingle our emotions with those of others, making our
well or ill being depend on theirs, the more completely do we cast away
selfishness, and approach the perfection of our nature.
"You are going to answer, perhaps to refute me--do not Remember I am a
woman, with a woman's tutelage in my early years, a woman's education in
the world, which is that of the heart--alas! for us--not of the head.
I have no school-learning, no logic--but simply the voice of my own
soul which speaks within me.
"I try to forget; you force me back upon myself. You attack; and you
beseech me to defend myself. So to do, I must dwell upon the sentiments
of a heart, which is human, and therefore faulty, but which has neither
guile nor malice in it.
"In my father's house--and when I wandered with my beloved outcast, I
had no difficulty in perceiving, nor--God was so gracious to me--in
fulfilling my duties. For in childhood I was cherished and favoured by
all; and when I became a wife, it was no wonder that I should love and
idolize the most single-hearted, generous, and kindly being that ever
trod the earth. To give myself away to him--to be a part of him--to
feel that we were an harmonious one in this discordant world, was a
happiness that falls to the lot of few:--defeat, chains,
imprisonment--all these were but shows; the reality was deep in our
hearts, invulnerable by any tyrant less remorseless than death. If this
life were the sum and boundary our being, I had possessed the
consummation and fulfilment of happiness.
"But we are taught to believe that our existence here is but the
stepping-stone to another beyond, and that 'death is the beginning of
life.' When we reach the summit of our desires, then we fall, and death
comes to destroy. He was lost to me, my glory, and my good! Little could
I avail to him now. The caresses, love, and watchful care, the obedience
and the heart's sacrifice, of a poor thing who groped darkling upon
earth, could avail nought to a spirit in Paradise. I was forced to feel
that I was alone: and as to me, to love is to exist; so in that dark
hour, in the gaspings of my agony, I felt that I must die, if for ever
divided from him who possessed my affections.
"Years have passed since then. If grief kills us not, we kill it. Not
that I cease to grieve; for each hour, revealing to me how excelling and
matchless the being was who once was mine, but renews the pang with
which I deplore my alien state upon earth. But such is God's will; I am
doomed to a divided existence, and I submit. Meanwhile I am human; and
human affections are the native, luxuriant growth of a heart whose
weakness it is, too eagerly and too fondly, to seek objects on whom to
expend its yearnings. My Richard's last act was to bestow me on his
sister: it were impious to retract a gift made by the dying. We wept
together--how long, and how bitterly!--the loss of our loved one; and
then together we turned to fulfil our duties. She had children; they
became as dear to me as to her. Margaret I cherish as the betrothed
bride of my ever dear cousin, the king of Scotland; and, when I
endeavour to foster the many virtues nature has implanted in the noble
mind of Prince Arthur, I am fulfilling, methinks, a task grateful in the
eyes of Richard, thus doing my part to bestow on the England he loved a
sovereign who will repair the usurper's crimes, and bestow happiness on
the realm.
"Nor is this all--despise me if you will, but I confess that I regard
others among those with whom I associate, with a clinging affection that
forbids me to separate myself from them. Did I not love the noble and
good, even as he did, while Richard lived? Does he not now, in his
heavenly abode, love them? and must my living heart be stone, because
that dear form is dust which was the medium of my communication with his
spirit? Where I see suffering, there I must bring my mite for its
relief. We are not deities to bestow in impassive benevolence. We give,
because we love--and the meshes of that sweet web, which mutual good
offices and sympathy weave, entangle and enthral me, and force me to
pain and pleasure, and to every variety of emotion which is the portion
of those whom it holds within its folds.
"I quarrel not with--I admire--those who can be good and benevolent,
and yet keep their hearts to themselves, the shrine of worship for God,
a haven which no wind can enter. I am not one of these, and yet take no
shame therefore: I feel my many weaknesses, and know that some of these
form a part of my strength; the reviled part of our nature being a
portion of that which elevates us to the godlike. My reason, my sense of
duty, my conscientious observance of its dictates, you will set up as
the better part; but I venerate also the freer impulses of our souls. My
passions, my susceptible imagination, my faltering dependence on others,
my clinging to the sense of joy--this makes an integral part of
Katherine, nor the worst part of her. When my soul quits this 'bower of
flesh,' these leaves and flowers, which are perhaps the growth of it,
may decay and die. I know not; as it is, I am content to be an imperfect
creature, so that I never lose the ennobling attribute of my species,
the constant endeavour to be more perfect.
"I do not blame you, my cousin, for seeking repose in solitude after
much endurance. But unquiet should I feel in the unreplying loneliness
which forms your peace. I must love and be loved. I must feel that my
dear and chosen friends are happier through me. When I have wandered out
of myself in my endeavour to shed pleasure around, I must again return
laden with the gathered sweets on which I feed and live. Permit this to
be, unblamed--permit a heart whose sufferings have been, and are, so
many and so bitter, to reap what joy it can from the strong necessity it
feels to be sympathized with--to love."