The Last Of The Barons, Volume 9.

h within a pavilion placed before a cool fountain, in the royal gardens, and surrounded by his favourites, the king list

the anger and revenge of Warwick. The king took from him, it is true, the lands and earldom of Northumberland, and restored them to the Percy, but he had accompanied this act with gracious excuses, alleging the necessity of conciliating the head of an illustrious House, which had formally entered into allegiance to the dynasty of York, and bestowed upon his early favourite, in compensation, the dignity of marquis. [Montagu said bitterly of this new dignity, "He takes from me the Earldom and domains of Northumberland, and make

I feel at the unhappy events which have led to the severance of my kinsmen! England seems to me to have lost its smile in losing the glory of Earl Warwick's presence,

nour of our House may have forbidden the public revelation of the cause w

rom its dark repose. I would fain forget a brother's hasty frenzy, in the belief of his lasting penitence." He paused and turned his face, gasped for breath, and resumed: "The

g round him, and in a subdued whisper, "if ye

me not!" cried the pr

u cont

arwick's cause, is not lo

n his eyes, while his countenance se

rmed heel upon the soil, trowest thou, sagacious and clear-judging prince, that the strife which would follow would be but another field of Losecote? [The battle of Erpingham, so popularly called, in contem

coveting so powerful an ally-"if he land, and make open war on Edward-we must say the word boldly-what intent can he

d for twenty victories in his cause, and restored them to the House that ever ranked amongst the strongholds of his Lancastrian foe, yet often when I am most resentful, the memory of my royal seigneur's past love and kindness comes over me,-above

peated Richa

rsuaded to make such concessions and excuses as in truth would not misbeseem him, to the father of Lady Anne, and his own kinsma

a letter,-still less to a messenger, the confession of a crime,-failing this, and your brother land, an

hath said, 'By sweet Saint George, if Gloucester would join me, I would make Edward know we were all

from their thrones! a pretext must blind men,-say they are illegitimate, say they are too young, too feeble, too anything, glide into their place, and then, not war-not war. You slay them not,-they disappear!" The duke's face, as he muttered, took a sinister and a dark expression, his eyes seemed to gaze on space. Suddenly recovering himself as from a revery, he turned, with his wonted sleek and gracious aspect, to the startled Montagu, and said, "I was but quoting from Italian history, good my lord,-wise lore, but terrible and murderous. Return we to the point. Thou seest Clarence could not reign, and as well," added the prince, with a slight sigh,-"as well or b

nk himself with Lancaster, and thou join him as Anne's betrothed and lord, what matters who the puppet on the throne?-we and thou shall be the rulers; or, if thou reject," added the marquis, artfully, as he supposed, exciting the jealousy of the duke, "Henry has a son-a fair,

ill conceal the emotions of fear, of jealo

de Vere, pestilent traitor, plottest thou thus? But

my lord, our talk is but in confidence: at your own prayer, with your own plighted word of prince and of kinsman, that whatever my frankness may utter should not pass farther. Take,"

have the king's solemn protestations of repentance; his guilty passion has burned into ashes, and he now sighs-gay Edward-for a lighter fere. I cannot join with Clarence, less can I join with the Lancastrians. My birth makes me the prop of the throne of York,-to guard it as a heritage (who knows?) that may descend to mine,-nay, to me! And, mark me well if Warwick attempt a war of fratricide, he is lost; if, on the other hand, he can submit himself to the hands of Margaret, stained with his father's gore, the success of an hour will close in the humiliation of a life.

the hand of the marquis, and walke

e and dupe! Warwick decoyed hither upon fair words, at the will of one whom Italy (boy, there thou didst forget thy fence of cunning!) has taught how the great are slain not, but disappear! no, even this defeat instructs me now. But right, right! the reign of Clarence is impossible, and that of Lancaster is ill-omened and portentous; and

ster, and soon found himself in the courtyard, where a goodly company were mounting their haquenees and palfreys, to enjoy a summer ride through the neighbouring chase. The cold and half- slighting salutations of these minio

tagu called to his single squire, who was in waiting with his horse. "Some secret expedition, methinks, for

scornful lord, "he may remember also the day when, if a Nevile mou

ly on till out of sight of the palace; he then pushed into a hand-gallop, and halted not till he had reached London, and gained the house in which t

Lord Oxford and Jasper of Pembroke-uncle to the b

cester. The conference between them seemed to have been warm and earnest, fo

disaffected lords. "We have two enemies the less in our roiaulme, and many a barony the more to confiscate t

ill-seasoned; you reject all the means to assure your throne, you rejoice in all the events that imperil it. I prayed you to lose not a moment in conciliati

a king's nature to bear the presence of a power more formidable than his own, to submit to a voice that commands rather than counsels; and the happiest chance

Hasten by all arts to separate Clarence from Warwick. Hasten to prevent the union of the earl's popularity and Henry's rights. Keep eye upon all the Lancastrian lords, and see that none quit the realm where they are captives, to join a camp where

y realm than in it,"

rd rose. "I would forestall a danger

e and leal to us, we yet know also, Richard, that thou hast personal interest in thy counsels. Thou wouldst by one means or another soften or constrain the earl into givi

ned Richard, with a quiver in his lip. "Thou hast included me i

d made thee espouse

passion, the habit kings form of forgetting all things save the love or hate, the desire or anger, of a moment. Thou hast told me thyself, and with tears, of thy offence; thou hast pardoned my boy's burst of anger; I have pardoned thy evil thought

ep her aloof from the court,-nay, frown not, my boy, I me

strongest censure, of which profound judges of mankind are alone capable, that he was "a king jealous of the honor of the English nation"], or slow to defend the rights of his ancestors from the treason of a vassal or the sword of a foreign foe. Therefore, I say again, if thou reject my honest counsels; if thou suffer Warwick to unite with Lancaster and France; if the ships of Louis bear to your shores an enemy, the might of whom your reckless daring undervalues, foremost in the field in battle, nearest to your side in exile, shall Richard Plantagenet be found!" These wo

city, and talent for intrigue were known to him. Having secured her by promises of the most lavish dignities and rewards, he proposed that she should be permitted to join the duchess with secret messages to Isabel and the duke, warning them both that Warwick and Margaret would forget their past feud in present sympathy, and that the rebellion against King Edward, instead of placing them on the throne, would humble them to be subordinates and aliens to the real profiters, the Lancastrians. [Comines, 3, c. 5; Hall; Hollinshed] He foresaw what effect these warnings would have upon the vain duke and the ambitious Isabel, whose character was known to him from childhood. He startled the king by insisting upon sending, at the same time, a trusty diplomatist to Margaret of Anjou, proffering to give the princess Elizabeth (bet

less cunning comprehended the more sagacious polic

and the archbishop. It were dangerous to seem to distrust them till proof