The Last Of The Barons, Volume 10.

k required were equipped and ready, and reached the court, from which of late he had found so many excuses to absent himsel

the way, and apprised him, with great respect, that the Lord Scales and Rivers had already appropriated those apartments to

uperb and more than re

notice sensibly pi

n-generals in the king's army, given to the waiting-lady

rdon me, her highness added, 'If my Lord Chamberlain returns not ere the week ends, he may find not only the apartment,

y lord of Gloucest

chamber. He sits no

s permission to wait on him at l

lsion in the mind of the royal favourite; once more the agitated and brilliant court life stirred and fevered him,-that life, so wearisome when secure, became sweeter when imperilled. To counteract his foes, to h

uke's apartment went Lord Hastings. Richard, clad in a loose chamber robe, which concealed the defects o

am. I need thy wise counsels with the king,

g, methinks, will scarce hee

ea

estowed,-if they come not, morn and night, to convince the king that they are alive

rriage.] and requires state, as she bestows pomp. Look round, and tell me what man ever maintained himself in power without the strong connections, the convenient dower, the acute, unseen, unsleeping woman-influence of some noble wife? How can a poor man defend his repute, his popular name, that airy but all puissant thing we call dignity or station, against the pricks and s

et under the duke's truthful irony,-"if I were

lth and manifold connections, and the practice of a court, thou w

but youth, bea

rowd. But truce to these jests; for thou art not the man to prate of youth, virtue, and such like, in sober e

the proposition of a nuptial alliance with the earl, though, on the other hand, the Duke of Burgundy, who was in constant correspondence with his spies, wrote word that Warwick was collecti

gn king could be so formidable an invader? Maltravers and the Mowbra

e will fight for us; and Bonville-I have in view a trusty Yorkist to whom the retainers of that House shall be assigned. But of that anon. What I now wish from thy wisdom

he preparations which Gloucester deemed necessary to urge on the king,

e who have read the "Paston Letters" it will not seem strange that in that day the death of a nobleman at his country seat should be so long in reaching the metropolis,-the ordinary purveyors of c

s, gloomily. "The day has passed

lle [afterwards married to Dorset], the heiress, Lord Dorset demands in betrothal. Thy wife will be mother-in-law to thy queen's son; on the other hand, she is already aunt to the Duchess of Clarence; and George, be sure, soone

! Even if so-In brief,

s because her virtue so long concealed the love." Hastings utter

lth of Lord Warwick's sister; but, prudently not pressing the subject further, he said, in an altered and careless voice, "Pardon me if I have presumed on matters on which each man judges for himself. But as, de

anged to him. At first, he attributed the cause to the ill offices of the queen a

west; but there are some ties, par amour, which, in my m

, I arede

from thine office on poor pretexts! I know thee too well not to be aware that love alone can make thee neglect thy king,-thy time has been spent at the knees or in the arms of this young sorceress! One word for all times,-he whom a

his poor maid have

enough,"-he added, aloud and gravely-"it is enough that our learned [it will be remembered that Edward himself was a man of no learning] Bungey holds her father as a most pestilent wizard, whose spells are muttered for Lancaster and the

his thoughts, and speak indifferently on the high interests to which Edward invited him; but he was so distracted and

either from the abstracted Warner nor his innocent daughter had Hastings learned the true cause, he wearied himself with vain conjectures, and knew not that Edward involuntarily did homage to the superior chivalry of his gallant favourite, when he drea

mage of Katherine, surrounded with every memory of early passion, every attribute of present ambition, rose before him; and he slept at last, to dream not of Sibyll and the humble