But see! said the lady, looking up from the enamoured and conquering eyes of the king, art thou not ashamed, my lord?the grim earl comes to chide thee for thy faithlessness to thy queen, whom he loves so well.
Pasque-Dieu! as my cousin Louis of France says or swears, answered the king, with an evident petulance in his altered voice, I would that Warwick could be only worn with ones armour! I would as lief try to kiss through my vizor as hear him talk of glory and Towton, and King John and poor Edward II., because I am not always in mail. Go! leave us, sweet bonnibel! we must brave the bear alone! The lady inclined her head, drew her hood round her face, and striking into the contrary path from that in which Warwick was slowly striding, gained the group round the queen, whose apparent freedom from jealousy, the consequence of cold affections and prudent calculation, made one principal cause of the empire she held over the powerful mind, but the indolent temper, of the gay and facile Edward.
The king rose as Warwick now approached him; and the appearance of these two eminent persons was in singular contrast. Warwick, though richly and even gorgeously attired,nay, with all the care which in that age was considered the imperative duty a man of station and birth owed to himself,held in lofty disdain whatever vagary of custom tended to cripple the movements or womanize the man. No loose flowing robes, no shoon half a yard long, no flaunting tawdriness of fringe and aiglet, characterized the appearance of the baron, who, even in peace, gave his address a half-martial fashion.
But Edward, who, in common with all the princes of the House of York, carried dress to a passion, had not only reintroduced many of the most effeminate modes in vogue under William the Red King, but added to them whatever could tend to impart an almost oriental character to the old Norman garb. His gown (a womanly garment which had greatly superseded, with men of the highest rank, not only the mantle but the surcoat) flowed to his heels, trimmed with ermine, and broidered with large flowers of crimson wrought upon cloth-of-gold. Over this he wore a tippet of ermine, and a collar or necklace of uncut jewels set in filigree gold; the nether limbs were, it is true, clad in the more manly fashion of tight-fitting hosen, but the folds of the gown, as the day was somewhat fresh, were drawn around so as to conceal the only part of the dress which really betokened the male sex. To add to this unwarlike attire, Edwards locks of a rich golden colour, and perfuming the whole air with odours, flowed not in curls, but straight to his shoulders, and the cheek of the fairest lady in his court might have seemed less fair beside the dazzling clearness of a complexion at once radiant with health and delicate with youth. Yet, in spite of all this effeminacy, the appearance of Edward IV. was not effeminate. From this it was preserved, not only by a stature little less commanding than that of Warwick himself, and of great strength and breadth of shoulder, but also by features, beautiful indeed, but pre-eminently masculine,large and bold in their outline, and evincing by their expression all the gallantry and daring characteristic of the hottest soldier, next to Warwick, and without any exception the ablest captain, of the age.
And welcome,a merry welcome, dear Warwick, and cousin mine, said Edward, as Warwick slightly bent his proud knee to his king; your brother, Lord Montagu, has but left us. Would that our court had the same, joyaunce for you as for him.
Dear and honoured my liege, answered Warwick, his brow smoothing at once,for his affectionate though hasty and irritable nature was rarely proof against the kind voice and winning smile of his young sovereign,could I ever serve you at the court as I can with the people, you would not complain that John of Montagu was a better courtier than Richard of Warwick. But each to his calling. I depart to-morrow for Calais, and thence to King Louis. And, surely, never envoy or delegate had better chance to be welcome than one empowered to treat of an alliance that will bestow on a prince deserving, I trust, his fortunes, the sister of the bravest sovereign in Christian Europe.
Now, out on thy flattery, my cousin; though I must needs own I provoked it by my complaint of thy courtiership. But thou hast learned only half thy business, good Warwick; and it is well Margaret did not hear thee. Is not the prince of France more to be envied for winning a fair lady than having a fortunate soldier for his brother-in-law?
My liege, replied Warwick, smiling, thou knowest I am a poor judge of a ladys fair cheek, though indifferently well skilled as to the valour of a warriors stout arm. Algates, the Lady Margaret is indeed worthy in her excellent beauties to become the mother of brave men.
And that is all we can wring from thy stern lip, man of iron? Well, that must content us. But to more serious matters. And the king, leaning his hand on the earls arm, and walking with him slowly to and fro the terrace, continued: Knowest thou not, Warwick, that this French alliance, to which thou hast induced us, displeases sorely our good traders of London?
Mort-Dieu! returned Warwick, bluntly, and what business have the flat-caps with the marriage of a kings sister? Is it for them to breathe garlic on the alliances of Bourbons and Plantagenets? Faugh! You have spoiled them, good my lord king,you have spoiled them by your condescensions. Henry IV. staled not his majesty to consultations with the mayor of his city. Henry V. gave the knighthood of the hath to the heroes of Agincourt, not to the vendors of cloth and spices.
Ah, my poor knights of the Bath! said Edward, good-humouredly, wilt thou never let that sore scar quietly over? Ownest thou not that the men had their merits?
What the merits were, I weet not, answered the earl,unless, peradventure, their wives were comely and young.
Thou wrongest me, Warwick, said the king, carelessly; Dame Cook was awry, Dame Philips a grandmother, Dame Jocelyn had lost her front teeth, and Dame Waer saw seven ways at once! But thou forgettest, man, the occasion of those honours,the eve before Elizabeth was crowned,and it was policy to make the city of London have a share in her honours. As to the rest, pursued the king, earnestly and with dignity, I and my House have owed much to London. When the peers of England, save thee and thy friends, stood aloof from my cause, London was ever loyal and true. Thou seest not, my poor Warwick, that these burgesses are growing up into power by the decline of the orders above them. And if the sword is the monarchs appeal for his right, he must look to contented and honoured industry for his buckler in peace. This is policy,policy, Warwick; and Louis XI. will tell thee the same truths, harsh though they grate in a warriors ear.
The earl bowed his haughty head, and answered shortly, but with a touching grace, Be it ever thine, noble king, to rule as it likes thee, and mine to defend with my blood even what I approve not with my brain! But if thou doubtest the wisdom of this alliance, it is not too late yet. Let me dismiss my following, and cross not the seas. Unless thy heart is with the marriage, the ties I would form are threads and cobwebs.
Nay, returned Edward, irresolutely: in these great state matters thy wit is elder than mine; but men do say the Count of Charolois is a mighty lord; and the alliance with Burgundy will be more profitable to staple and mart.
Then, in Gods name, so conclude it! said the earl, hastily, but with so dark a fire in his eyes that Edward, who was observing him, changed countenance; only ask me not, my liege, to advance such a marriage. The Count of Charolois knows me as his foeshame were mine did I shun to say where I love, where I hate. That proud dullard once slighted me when we met at his fathers court, and the wish next to my heart is to pay back my affront with my battle-axe. Give thy sister to the heir of Burgundy, and forgive me if I depart to my castle of Middleham.
Nay, returned Edward, irresolutely: in these great state matters thy wit is elder than mine; but men do say the Count of Charolois is a mighty lord; and the alliance with Burgundy will be more profitable to staple and mart.
Then, in Gods name, so conclude it! said the earl, hastily, but with so dark a fire in his eyes that Edward, who was observing him, changed countenance; only ask me not, my liege, to advance such a marriage. The Count of Charolois knows me as his foeshame were mine did I shun to say where I love, where I hate. That proud dullard once slighted me when we met at his fathers court, and the wish next to my heart is to pay back my affront with my battle-axe. Give thy sister to the heir of Burgundy, and forgive me if I depart to my castle of Middleham.
Edward, stung by the sharpness of this reply, was about to answer as became his majesty of king, when Warwick more deliberately resumed: Yet think well; Henry of Windsor is thy prisoner, but his cause lives in Margaret and his son. There is but one power in Europe that can threaten thee with aid to the Lancastrians; that power is France. Make Louis thy friend and ally, and thou givest peace to thy life and thy lineage; make Louis thy foe, and count on plots and stratagems and treason, uneasy days and sleepless nights. Already thou hast lost one occasion to secure that wiliest and most restless of princes, in rejecting the hand of the Princess Bona. Happily, this loss now can be retrieved. But alliance with Burgundy is war with France,war more deadly because Louis is a man who declares it not; a war carried on by intrigue and bribe, by spies and minions, till some disaffection ripens the hour when young Edward of Lancaster shall land on thy coasts, with the Oriflamme and the Red Rose, with French soldiers and English malcontents. Wouldst thou look to Burgundy for help?Burgundy will have enough to guard its own frontiers from the gripe of Louis the Sleepless. Edward, my king, my pupil in arms, Edward, my loved, my honoured liege, forgive Richard Nevile his bluntness, and let not his faults stand in bar of his counsels.
You are right, as you are ever, safeguard of England, and pillar of my state, said the king, frankly, and pressing the arm he still held. Go to France and settle all as thou wilt.
Warwick bent low and kissed the hand of his sovereign. And, said he, with a slight, but a sad smile, when I am gone, my liege will not repent, will not misthink me, will not listen to my foes, nor suffer merchant and mayor to sigh him back to the mechanics of Flanders?
Warwick, thou deemest ill of thy kings kingliness.
Not of thy kingliness; but that same gracious quality of yielding to counsel which bows this proud nature to submission often makes me fear for thy firmness, when thy will is, won through thy heart. And now, good my liege, forgive me one sentence more. Heaven forefend that I should stand in the way of thy princely favours. A kings countenance is a sun that should shine on all. But bethink thee well, the barons of England are a stubborn and haughty race; chafe not thy most puissant peers by too cold a neglect of their past services, and too lavish a largess to new men.
Thou aimest at Elizabeths kin, interrupted Edward, withdrawing his hand from his ministers arm, and I tell thee once for all times, that I would rather sink again to mine earldom of March, with a subjects right to honour where he loves, than wear crown and wield sceptre without a kings unquestioned prerogative to ennoble the line and blood of one he has deemed worthy of his throne. As for the barons, with whose wrath thou threatenest me, I banish them not. If they go in gloom from my court, why, let them chafe themselves sleek again.
King Edward, said Warwick, moodily, tried services merit not this contempt. It is not as the kith of the queen that I regret to see lands and honours lavished upon men rooted so newly to the soil that the first blast of the war-trump will scatter their greenness to the winds; but what sorrows me is to mark those who have fought against thee preferred to the stout loyalty that braved block and field for thy cause. Look round thy court; where are the men of bloody York and victorious Towton?unrequited, sullen in their strongholds, begirt with their yeomen and retainers. Thou standestthou, the heir of Yorkalmost alone (save where the Nevileswhom one day thy court will seek also to disgrace and discardvex their old comrades in arms by their defection)thou standest almost alone among the favourites and minions of Lancaster. Is there no danger in proving to men that to have served thee is discredit, to have warred against thee is guerdon and grace?
Enough of this, cousin, replied the king, with an effort which preserved his firmness. On this head we cannot agree. Take what else thou wilt of royalty,make treaties and contract marriages, establish peace or proclaim war; but trench not on my sweetest prerogative to give and to forgive. And now, wilt thou tarry and sup with us? The ladies grow impatient of a commune that detains from their eyes the stateliest knight since the Round Table was chopped into fire-wood.
No, my liege, said Warwick, whom flattery of this sort rather angered than soothed, I have much yet to prepare. I leave your Highness to fairer homage and more witching counsels than mine. So saying, he kissed the kings hand, and was retiring, when he remembered his kinsman, whose humble interests in the midst of more exciting topics he had hitherto forgotten, and added, May I crave, since you are so merciful to the Lancastrians, one grace for my namesake,a Nevile whose father repented the side he espoused, a son of Sir Guy of Arsdale?
Ah, said the king, smiling maliciously, it pleaseth us much to find that it is easier to the warm heart of our cousin Warwick to preach sententiaries of sternness to his king than to enforce the same by his own practice!
You misthink me, sire. I ask not that Marmaduke Nevile should supplant his superiors and elders; I ask not that he should be made baron and peer; I ask only that, as a young gentleman who hath taken no part himself in the wars, and whose father repented his error, your Grace should strengthen your following by an ancient name and a faithful servant. But I should have remembered me that his name of Nevile would have procured him a taunt in the place of advancement.
Saw man ever so froward a temper? cried Edward, not without reason. Why, Warwick, thou art as shrewish to a jest as a woman to advice. Thy kinsmans fortunes shall be my care. Thou sayest thou hast enemies,I weet not who they be. But to show what I think of them, I make thy namesake and client a gentleman of my chamber. When Warwick is false to Edward, let him think that Warwicks kinsman wears a dagger within reach of the kings heart day and night.
This speech was made with so noble and touching a kindness of voice and manner, that the earl, thoroughly subdued, looked at his sovereign with moistened eyes, and only trusting himself to say,Edward, thou art king, knight, gentleman, and soldier; and I verily trow that I love thee best when my petulant zeal makes me anger thee most,turned away with evident emotion, and passing the queen and her ladies with a lowlier homage than that with which he had before greeted them, left the garden. Edwards eye followed him musingly. The frank expression of his face vanished, and with the deep breath of a man who is throwing a weight from his heart, he muttered,
He loves me,yes; but will suffer no one else to love me! This must end some day. I am weary of the bondage. And sauntering towards the ladies, he listened in silence, but not apparently in displeasure, to his queens sharp sayings on the imperious mood and irritable temper of the iron-handed builder of his throne.