her. He was accused by her friends in the Queen's presence of having done so. Being anxious to keep his marriage secret from the Queen, he meanly denied the charge. 3 1 derogation, that which lowers any one's dignity. 2 defamation, slander; the malicious utterance of falsehoods, tending to destroy the good name of another. This apology contains both flattery and falsehood. Squire of the Cloak, it is said that Sir Walter Raleigh first came under the queen's notice by placing his richly embroidered cloak over a puddle which was directly in her path. *Gallant, brave, noble, courteous. walking, etc., Lord Willoughby, in a flattering speech, says he will walk in starlight, that is, in the company of the court ladies; while he forsakes the brilliant light of the moon, that is, the queen's presence. 6 Diana, anciently regarded as the goddess of the moon; here, the moon itself. The Queen replied, Queen Elizabeth was fond of flattery, but did not allow it to influence her actions. Sir W. Scott says, "Throughout her life she united the occasional caprice of her sex with that sense and sound policy in which neither man nor woman ever excelled her." gamesome, gay, sportive. Irish clan, Ireland 12 8 13 was in a very unsettled state during the first part of Queen Elizabeth's reign. It was with great difficulty the people were kept in subjection. A clan is a tribe. 10 hospital, evidently refers to the royal palace at Greenwich. This was restored by William III. and Mary, and given by them to be used as an hospital for disabled sailors. 11 bearwards, keepers of bears. race of both will decay. As Sussex feared, bear-baiting gradually declined, and soon went out of use. cognizance, a badge worn by a retainer or dependant, to indicate the person or party to which he belonged. The badge of Leicester's people was the bear and ragged staff. 14 We would not have, etc. reply expresses exactly Queen Elizabeth's regard for her subjects. It was her delight and desire to be called the Mother of her people. 15 Puritan, a name first given in Queen Elizabeth's reign to those clergymen of the Church of England who refused to conform to its liturgy, ceremonies, and discipline, saying that the Church was too much like the Roman Catholic, and that Christians should disregard ceremony, and follow as far as possible the pure word of God. Hence the name, which was probably given in derision. 16 to ridicule the godly. great mistake. Shakespeare and other eminent writers ridicule not the godly, but only This 17 the generation. wicked persons who pretend to be religious. The queen might have said generations, for the choicest plays of the present day are those of Shakespeare. 18 Muses, nine goddesses who presided over poetry, music, and the arts and sciences. 19 letters, literature, books. 20 Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and of the fine arts. 'TRESSILIAN'S heart was too heavy, his prospects in life too fatally blighted, to profit by the opportunity which the Queen thus offered to him of attracting her attention, but he determined to transfer the advantage to his more ambitious young friend; and, excusing himself on the score of want of recollection, he added, that he believed the beautiful verses, of which my Lord of Leicester had spoken, were in the remembrance of Master Walter Raleigh. At the command of the Queen, that cavalier repeated, with accent and manner which even added to their exquisite delicacy of tact and beauty of description, the celebrated vision of Oberon : "That very time I saw (but thou couldst not), And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow, *In maiden meditation, fancy free." The voice of Raleigh, as he repeated the last lines, became a little tremulous, as if diffident how the sovereign to whom the homage was addressed might receive it, exquisite as it was. If this diffidence was affected, it was good policy; but if real, there was little occasion for it. The verses were probably not new to the Queen, for when was ever such elegant flattery long in reaching the royal ear to which it was addressed? But they were not the less welcome when repeated by such a speaker as Raleigh. Alike delighted with the matter, the manner, and the graceful form and animated countenance of the gallant young reciter, Elizabeth kept time to every cadence, with look and with finger. When the speaker had ceased, she murmured over the last lines as if scarce conscious that she was overheard, and as she uttered the words, "In maiden meditation, fancy free," she dropped into the Thames the supplication of Orson Pinnit, keeper of the royal bears, to find more favourable acceptance at Sheerness, or wherever the tide might waft it. Leicester was spurred to emulation by the success of the young courtier's exhibition, as the veteran racer is roused when a high-mettled colt passes him on the way. He turned the discourse on shows, banquets, pageants, and on the character of those by whom these gay scenes were then frequented. He mixed acute observation with light satire, in that just proportion which was free alike from malignant slander and insipid praise. He mimicked with ready accent the manners of the affected or the clownish, and made his own graceful tone and manners seem doubly such when he resumed it. Foreign countries -their customs, their manners, the rules of their courts, the fashions, and even the dress of their ladies-were equally his theme; and seldom did he conclude without conveying some compliment, always couched in delicacy, and expressed with propriety, to the Virgin Queen, her court, and her government. Thus passed the conversation during this pleasure voyage, seconded by the rest of the attendants upon the royal person, in gay discourse, varied by remarks upon ancient classics and modern authors, and enriched by maxims of deep policy and sound morality, by the statesmen and sages who sate around, and mixed wisdom with the lighter talk of a female court. When they returned to the palace, Elizabeth accepted, or rather selected, the arm of Leicester, to support her, from the stairs where they landed, to the great gate. It even seemed to him (though that might arise from the flattery of his own imagination), that during this short passage she leaned on him somewhat more than the slipperiness of the way necessarily demanded. Certainly her actions and words combined to express a degree of favour which, even in his proudest days, he had not till then attained. His rival, indeed, was repeatedly graced by the Queen's notice; but it was in a manner that seemed to flow less from spontaneous inclination, than as extorted by a sense of his merit. And, in the opinion of many experienced courtiers, all the favour she showed him was overbalanced by her whispering in the ear of the Lady Derby, that "now she saw sickness was a better 7alchemist than she before wotted of, seeing it had changed my Lord of Sussex's copper nose into a golden one." The jest transpired, and the Earl of Leicester enjoyed his triumph, as one to whom court favour had been both the primary and the ultimate motive of life, while he forgot, in the intoxication of the moment, the perplexities and dangers of his own situation. Indeed, strange as it may appear, he thought less at that moment of the perils arising from his secret union, than of the marks of grace which Elizabeth from time to time showed to young Raleigh. They were indeed transient, but they were conferred on one accomplished in mind and body, with grace, gallantry, literature, and valour. An accident occurred in the course of the evening, which riveted Leicester's attention to this object. |