I say,my lord,that my grandfather and my father,in their wisdom,debarred the nobles of this civilized land from travelling with such disorderly retinues;and think you,that because I wear a coif,their sceptre has in my hand been changed into a distaff?I tell you,no king in Christendom will less brook his court to be cumbered,his people oppressed,and his kingdom's peace disturbed,by the arrogance of overgrown power,than she who now speaks with you.--My Lord of Leicester,and you,my Lord of Sussex,I command you both to be friends with each other;or by the crown I wear,you shall find an enemy who will be too strong for both of you!Madam,said the Earl of Leicester,you who are yourself the fountain of honour know best what is due to mine.I place it at your disposal,and only say that the terms on which I have stood with my Lord of Sussex have not been of my seeking;nor had he cause to think me his enemy,until he had done me gross wrong.For me,madam,said the Earl of Sussex,I cannot appeal from your sovereign pleasure;but I were well content my Lord of Leicester should say in what I have,as he terms it,wronged him,since my tongue never spoke the word that I would not willingly justify either on foot or horseback.
And for me,said Leicester,always under my gracious Sovereign's pleasure,my hand shall be as ready to make good my words as that of any man who ever wrote himself Ratcliffe.My lords,said the Queen,these are no terms for this presence;and if you cannot keep your temper,we will find means to keep both that and you close enough.Let me see you join hands,my lords,and forget your idle animosities.The two rivals looked at each other with reluctant eyes,each unwilling to make the first advance to execute the Queen's will.
Sussex,said Elizabeth,I entreat--Leicester,I command you.Yet,so were her words accented,that the entreaty sounded like command,and the command like entreaty.They remained still and stubborn,until she raised her voice to a height which argued at once impatience and absolute command.
Sir Henry Lee,she said,to an officer in attendance,have a guard in present readiness,and man a barge instantly.--My Lords of Sussex and Leicester,I bid you once more to join hands;and,God's death!he that refuses shall taste of our Tower fare ere he sees our face again.I will lower your proud hearts ere we part,and that I promise,on the word of a Queen!The prison?said Leicester,might be borne,but to lose your Grace's presence were to lose light and life at once.--Here,Sussex,is my hand.And here,said Sussex,is mine in truth and honesty;but--Nay,under favour,you shall add no more,said the Queen.
Why,this is as it should be,she added,looking on them more favourably;and when you the shepherds of the people,unite to protect them,it shall be well with the flock we rule over.For,my lords,I tell you plainly,your follies and your brawls lead to strange disorders among your servants.--My Lord of Leicester,you have a gentleman in your household called Varney?Yes,gracious madam,replied Leicester;I presented him to kiss your royal hand when you were last at Nonsuch.His outside was well enough,said the Queen,but scarce so fair,I should have thought,as to have caused a maiden of honourable birth and hopes to barter her fame for his good looks,and become his paramour.Yet so it is;this fellow of yours hath seduced the daughter of a good old Devonshire knight,Sir Hugh Robsart of Lidcote Hall,and she hath fled with him from her father's house like a castaway.--My Lord of Leicester,are you ill,that you look so deadly pale?No,gracious madam,said Leicester;and it required every effort he could make to bring forth these few words.
You are surely ill,my lord?said Elizabeth,going towards him with hasty speech and hurried step,which indicated the deepest concern.Call Masters--call our surgeon in ordinary.--Where be these loitering fools?--we lose the pride of our court through their negligence.--Or is it possible,Leicester,she continued,looking on him with a very gentle aspect,can fear of my displeasure have wrought so deeply on thee?Doubt not for a moment,noble Dudley,that we could blame THEE for the folly of thy retainer--thee,whose thoughts we know to be far otherwise employed.He that would climb the eagle's nest,my lord,cares not who are catching linnets at the foot of the precipice.Mark you that?said Sussex aside to Raleigh.The devil aids him surely;for all that would sink another ten fathom deep seems but to make him float the more easily.Had a follower of mine acted thus--Peace,my good lord,said Raleigh,for God's sake,peace!
Wait the change of the tide;it is even now on the turn.The acute observation of Raleigh,perhaps,did not deceive him;for Leicester's confusion was so great,and,indeed,for the moment,so irresistibly overwhelming,that Elizabeth,after looking at him with a wondering eye,and receiving no intelligible answer to the unusual expressions of grace and affection which had escaped from her,shot her quick glance around the circle of courtiers,and reading,perhaps,in their faces something that accorded with her own awakened suspicions,she said suddenly,Or is there more in this than we see--or than you,my lord,wish that we should see?Where is this Varney?
Who saw him?