window, with the momentary purpose of recalling the unworthy commission with which he had entrusted one, of whom he used to say, he knew no virtuous property save affection to his patron. But Varney was already beyond call-and the bright starry firmament, which the age considered as the Book of Fate, lying spread before Leicester when he opened the casement, diverted him from his better and more manly. purpose. "There they roll, on their silent but potential course," said the earl, looking around him, " without a voice which speaks to our ear, but not without influences which affect, at every change, the indwellers of this vile earthly planet. This, if astrologers fable not, is the very crisis of my fate! The hour approaches, of which I was taught to beware the hour, too, which I was encouraged to hope for.-A king was the word—but how ?—the crown matrimonial-all hopes of that are gone-let them go. The rich Netherlands have demanded me for their leader, and would Elizabeth consent, would yield to me their crown. -And have I not such a claim, even in this kingdom? That of York, descending from George of Clarence to the House of Huntingdon, which, this lady failing, may have a fair chance-Huntingdon is of my house.—But I will plunge no deeper in these high mysteries. Let me hold my course in silence for a while, and in obscurity, like a subterranean river-the time shall come that I will burst forth in my strength, and bear all opposition before me." While Leicester was thus stupifying the remonstrances of his own conscience, by appealing to political necessity for his apology, or losing himself amidst the wild dreams of ambition, his agent left town and tower behind him, on his hasty journey to Berkshire. He also nourished high hope. He had brought Lord Leicester to the point which he had desired, of committing to him the most intimate recesses of his breast, and of using him as the channel of his most confidential intercourse with his lady. Henceforward it would, he foresaw, be difficult for his patron either to dispense with his services, or refuse his requests, however unreasonable. And if this disdainful dame, as he termed the countess, should comply with the request of her husband, Varney, her pretended husband, must needs become so situated with respect to her, that there was no knowing where his audacity might be bounded, perhaps not till circumstances enabled him to obtain a triumph, which he thought of with a mixture of fiendish feelings, in which revenge for her previous scorn was foremost and predominant. Again he contemplated the possibility of her being totally intractable, and refusing obstinately to play the part assigned to her in the drama at Kenilworth. I will "Alasco must then do his part," he said-" Sickness must serve her majesty as an excuse for not receiving the homage of Mrs. Varney-ay, and a sore and a wasting sickness it may prove, should Elizabeth continue to cast so favourable an eye on my Lord of Leicester. not forego the chance of being favourite of a monarch for want of determined measures, should these be necessary. Forward, good horse, forward-ambition, and haughty hope of power, pleasure, and revenge, strike their stings as deep through iny bosom as I plunge the rowels in thy flanks-On, good horse, on-the devil urges us both forward." CHAPTER III. Say that my beauty was but small, Where, scornful earl, 'twas dearly prized? No more thou com'st with wonted speed, But be she alive or be she dead, I fear, stern earl, 's the same to thee. Cumnor-Hall, by William Julius Mickle. THE ladies of fashion of the present, or of any other period, must have allowed, that the young and lovely Countess of Leicester had, besides her youth and beauty, two qualities which entitled her to a place amongst women of rank and distinction. She displayed, as we have seen in her interview with the pedlar, a liberal promptitude to make unnecessary purchases, solely for the pleasure of acquiring useless and showy trifles which ceased to please as soon as they were possessed; and she was, besides, apt to spend a considerable space of time every day in adorning her person, although the varied splendour of her attire could only attract the half satirical praise of the precise Janet, or an approving glance from the bright eyes which witnessed their own beams of triumph reflected from the mirror. The Countess Amy, had, indeed, to plead for indulgence in those frivolous tastes, that the education of the times had done little or nothing for a mind naturally gay and averse to study. If she had not loved to collect finery and to wear it, she might have woven tapestry or sewed embroidery, till her labours spread in gay profusion all over the walls and seats at Lidcote-Hall; or she might have varied Minerva's labours with the task of preparing a mighty pudding against the time that Sir Hugh Robsart returned from the greenwood. But Amy had no natural genius either for the loom, the needle, or the receiptbook. Her mother had died in infancy; her father contradicted her in nothing; and Tressilian, the only one that approached her, who was able or desirous to attend to the cultivation of her mind, had much hurt his interest with her, by assuming too eagerly the task of a preceptor; so that he was regarded by the lively, indulged, and idle girl, with some fear and much respect; but with little or nothing of that softer emotion which it had been his hope and his ambition to inspire. And thus her heart lay readily open, and her fancy became easily captivated by the noble exterior and graceful deportment, and complacent flattery of Leicester, even before he was known. to her as the dazzling minion of wealth and power. The frequent visits of Leicester at Cumnor, during the earlier part of their union, had reconciled the countess to the solitude and privacy to which she was condemned; but when these visits became rarer and more rare, and when the void was filled up with letters of excuse, not always very warmly expressed, and generally extremely brief, discontent and suspicion began to haunt those splendid apartments which love had fitted up for beauty. Her answers to Leicester conveyed these feelings too bluntly, and pressed more naturally than prudently that she might be relieved from this obscure and secluded residence, by the earl's acknowledgment of their marriage; and in arranging her arguments with all the skill she was mistress of, she trusted chiefly to the warmth of the entreaties with which she urged them. Sometimes she even ventured to mingle reproaches, of which Leicester conceived he had good reason to complain. 66 "I have made her countess," he said to Varney, "surely she might wait till it consisted with my pleasure that she should put on the coronet ?" The Countess Amy viewed the subject in directly an opposite light. "What signifies," she said," that I have rank and honour in reality, if I am to live an obscure prisoner, with out either society or observance, and suffering in my character, as one of dubious or disgraced reputation? I care not for all those strings of pearl, which you fret me by warping into my tresses, Janet. I tell you, that at Lidcote-Hall, if I put but a fresh rose-bud among my hair, my good father would call me to him that he might see it more closely; and the kind old curate would smile, and Master Mumblazen would say something about roses gules; and now I sit here, decked out like an image with gold and gems, and no one to see my finery but you, Janet. There was the poor Tressilian too-but it avails not speaking of him.” "It doth not, indeed, madam," said her prudent attendant;" and verily you make me sometimes wish you would not speak of him so often, or so rashly." "It signifies nothing to warn me, Janet," said the impatient and incorrigible countess; "I was born free, though I am now mewed up like some fine foreign slave, rather than the wife of an English noble. I bore it all with pleasure while I was sure he loved me; but now, my tongue and heart shall be free, let them fetter these limbs as they will.--I tell thee, Janet, I love my husband--I will love him till my latest breath-I cannot cease to love him even if 1 would, or if he-which, God knows, may chance-should cease to love me. But I will say, and loudly, I would have been happier than I now am, to have remained in Lidcote-hall; even although I must have married poor Tressilian, with his melancholy look, and his head full of learning, which I cared not for. He said if I would read his favourite volumes, there would come a time that I should be glad of having done so-I think it is come now." "I bought you some books, madam," said Janet, "from a lame fellow who sold them in the Market-place -and who stared something boldly at me, I promise you." "Let me see them Janet," said the countess ; 66 but let them not be of your own precise cast.-How is this, most righteous damsel?—A Pair of Snuffers for the 3 VOL. II. |