by Walter Scott
NO. II
CONCLUSION OF MR. STRUTT'S ROMANCE OF QUEENHOO-HALL
BY THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY
CHAPTER IV
A HUNTING PARTY--AN ADVENTURE--A DELIVERANCE
THE next morning the bugles were sounded by daybreak in the court ofLord Boteler's mansion, to call the inhabitants from their slumbers toassist in a splendid chase with which the Baron had resolved toentertain his neighbour Fitzallen and his noble visitor St. Clare.Peter Lanaret, the falconer, was in attendance, with falcons for theknights and teircelets for the ladies, if they should choose to varytheir sport from hunting to hawking. Five stout yeomen keepers, withtheir attendants, called Ragged Robins, all meetly arrayed in Kendalgreen, with bugles and short hangers by their sides, and quarter-staffsin their hands, led the slow-hounds or brachets by which the deer wereto be put up. Ten brace of gallant greyhounds, each of which was fit topluck down, singly, the tallest red deer, were led in leashes, by asmany of Lord Boteler's foresters. The pages, squires, and otherattendants of feudal splendour well attired, in their besthunting-gear, upon horseback or foot, according to their rank, withtheir boar-spears, long bows, and cross-bows, were in seemly waiting.
A numerous train of yeomen, called in the language of the timesretainers, who yearly received a livery coat and a small pension fortheir attendance on such solemn occasions, appeared in cassocks ofblue, bearing upon their arms the cognisance of the house of Boteler,as a badge of their adherence. They were the tallest men of their handsthat the neighbouring villages could supply, with every man his goodbuckler on his shoulder, and a bright burnished broadsword danglingfrom his leathern belt. On this occasion they acted as rangers forbeating up the thickets and rousing the game. These attendants filledup the court of the castle, spacious as it was.
On the green without you might have seen the motley assemblage ofpeasantry convened by report of the splendid hunting, including most ofour old acquaintances from Tewin, as well as the jolly partakers ofgood cheer at Hob Filcher's. Gregory the jester, it may well beguessed, had no great mind to exhibit himself in public after hisrecent disaster; but Oswald the steward, a great formalist in whateverconcerned the public exhibition of his master's household state, hadpositively enjoined his attendance. 'What,' quoth he,'shall the houseof the brave Lord Boteler, on such a brave day as this, be without afool? Certes, the good Lord Saint Clere and his fair lady sister mightthink our housekeeping as niggardly as that of their churlish kinsmanat Gay Bowers, who sent his father's jester to the hospital, sold thepoor sot's bells for hawk-jesses, and made a nightcap of his long-earedbonnet. And, sirrah, let me see thee fool handsomely--speak squibs andcrackers, instead of that dry, barren, musty gibing which thou hastused of late; or, by the bones! the porter shall have thee to hislodge, and cob thee with thine own wooden sword till thy skin is asmotley as thy doublet.'
To this stern injunction Gregory made no reply, any more than to thecourteous offer of old Albert Drawslot, the chief parkkeeper, whoproposed to blow vinegar in his nose to sharpen his wit, as he had donethat blessed morning to Bragger, the old hound, whose scent wasfailing. There was, indeed, little time for reply, for the bugles,after a lively flourish, were now silent, and Peretto, with his twoattendant minstrels, stepping beneath the windows of the strangers'apartments, joined in the following roundelay, the deep voices of therangers and falconers making up a chorus that caused the verybattlements to ring again:--
Waken, lords and ladies gay, On the mountain dawns the day; All the jolly chase is here, With hawk and horse, and hunting spear; Hounds are in their couples yelling, Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling, Merrily, merrily, mingle they, 'Waken, lords and ladies gay.'
Waken, lords and ladies gay, The mist has left the mountain grey; Springlets in the dawn are streaming, Diamonds on the brake are gleaming,
And foresters have busy been, To track the buck in thicket green; Now we come to chant our lay, 'Waken, lords and ladies gay.'
Waken, lords and ladies gay, To the green-wood haste away; We can show you where he lies, Fleet of foot and tall of size; We can show the marks he made, When 'gamst the oak his antlers frayed; You shall see him brought to bay, 'Waken, lords and ladies gay.'
Louder, louder chant the lay, Waken, lords and ladies gay; Tell them youth, and mirth, and glee Run a course as well as we; Time, stern huntsman! who can baulk, Stanch as hound and fleet as hawk? Think of this and rise with day, Gentle lords and ladies gay.
By the time this lay was finished, Lord Boteler, with his daughter andkinsman, Fitzallen of Harden, and other noble guests, had mounted theirpalfreys, and the hunt set forward in due order. The huntsmen, havingcarefully observed the traces of a large stag on the preceding evening,were able, without loss of time, to conduct the company, by the markswhich they had made upon the trees, to the side of the thicket inwhich, by the report of Drawslot, he had harboured all night. Thehorsemen, spreading themselves along the side of the cover, waiteduntil the keeper entered, leading his ban-dog, a large blood-hound tiedin a learn or band, from which he takes his name.
But it befell thus. A hart of the second year, which was in the samecover with the proper object of their pursuit, chanced to beunharboured first, and broke cover very near where the Lady Emma andher brother were stationed. An inexperienced varlet, who was nearer tothem, instantly unloosed two tall greyhounds, who sprung after thefugitive with all the fleetness of the north wind. Gregory, restored alittle to spirits by the enlivening scene around him, followed,encouraging the hounds with a loud layout, for which he had the heartycurses of the huntsman, as well as of the Baron, who entered into thespirit of the chase with all the juvenile ardour of twenty. 'May thefoul fiend, booted and spurred, ride down his bawling throat with ascythe at his girdle,' quoth Albert Drawslot; 'here have I been tellinghim that all the marks were those of a buck of the first head, and hehas hallooed the hounds upon a velvet-headed knobbler! By Saint Hubert,if I break not his pate with my cross-bow, may I never cast off houndmore! But to it, my lords and masters! the noble beast is here yet,and, thank the saints, we have enough of hounds.'
The cover being now thoroughly beat by the attendants, the stag wascompelled to abandon it and trust to his speed for his safety. Threegreyhounds were slipped upon him, whom he threw out, after running acouple of miles, by entering an extensive furzy brake, which extendedalong the side of a hill. The horsemen soon came up, and casting off asufficient number of slow-hounds, sent them with the prickers into thecover, in order to drive the game from his strength. This object beingaccomplished, afforded another severe chase of several miles, in adirection almost circular, during which the poor animal tried everywile to get rid of his persecutors. He crossed and traversed all suchdusty paths as were likely to retain the least scent of his footsteps;he laid himself close to the ground, drawing his feet under his belly,and clapping his nose close to the earth, lest he should be betrayed tothe hounds by his breath and hoofs. When all was in vain, and he foundthe hounds coming fast in upon him, his own strength failing, his mouthembossed with foam, and the tears dropping from his eyes, he turned indespair upon his pursuers, who then stood at gaze, making an hideousclamour, and awaiting their two-footed auxiliaries. Of these, itchanced that the Lady Eleanor, taking more pleasure in the sport thanMatilda, and being a less burden to her palfrey than the Lord Boteler,was the first who arrived at the spot, and taking a cross-bow from anattendant, discharged a bolt at the stag. When the infuriated animalfelt himself wounded, he pushed frantically towards her from whom hehad received the shaft, and Lady Eleanor might have had occasion torepent of her enterprise, had not young Fitzallen, who had kept nearher during the whole day, at that instant galloped briskly in, and, erethe stag could change his object of assault, despatched him with hisshort hunting-sword.
Albert Drawslot, who had just come up in terror for the young lady'ssafety, broke out into loud encomiums upon Fitzallen's strength andgallantry. '
By 'r Lady,' said he, taking off his cap and wiping hissun-burnt face with his sleeve, 'well struck, and in good time! Butnow, boys, doff your bonnets and sound the mort.'
The sportsmen then sounded a treble mort, and set up a general whoop,which, mingled with the yelping of the dogs, made the welkin ringagain. The huntsman then offered his knife to Lord Boteler, that hemight take the say of the deer, but the Baron courteously insisted uponFitzallen going through that ceremony. The Lady Matilda was now comeup, with most of the attendants; and the interest of the chase beingended, it excited some surprise that neither Saint Clere nor his sistermade their appearance. The Lord Boteler commanded the horns again tosound the recheat, in hopes to call in the stragglers, and said toFitzallen, 'Methinks Saint Clere so distinguished for service in war,should have been more forward in the chase.'
'I trow,' said Peter Lanaret, 'I know the reason of the noble lord'sabsence; for, when that mooncalf Gregory hallooed the dogs upon theknobbler, and galloped like a green hilding, as he is, after them, Isaw the Lady Emma's palfrey follow apace after that varlet, who shouldbe thrashed for overrunning, and I think her noble brother has followedher, lest she should come to harm. But here, by the rood, is Gregory toanswer for himself.'
At this moment Gregory entered the circle which had been formed roundthe deer, out of breath, and his face covered with blood. He kept forsome time uttering inarticulate cries of 'Harrow!' and 'Wellaway!' andother exclamations of distress and terror, pointing all the while to athicket at some distance from the spot where the deer had been killed.
'By my honour,' said the Baron, 'I would gladly know who has dared toarray the poor knave thus; and I trust he should dearly abye hisoutrecuidance, were he the best, save one, in England.'
Gregory, who had now found more breath, cried, 'Help, an ye be men!Save Lady Emma and her brother, whom they are murdering in Brokenhurstthicket.'
This put all in motion. Lord Boteler hastily commanded a small party ofhis men to abide for the defence of the ladies, while he himself,Fitzallen, and the rest made what speed they could towards the thicket,guided by Gregory, who for that purpose was mounted behind Fabian.Pushing through a narrow path, the first object they encountered was aman of small stature lying on the ground, mastered and almost strangledby two dogs, which were instantly recognised to be those that hadaccompanied Gregory. A little farther was an open space, where laythree bodies of dead or wounded men; beside these was Lady Emma,apparently lifeless, her brother and a young forester bending over andendeavouring to recover her. By employing the usual remedies, this wassoon accomplished; while Lord Boteler, astonished at such a scene,anxiously inquired at Saint Clere the meaning of what he saw, andwhether more danger was to be expected.
'For the present I trust not,' said the young warrior, who they nowobserved was slightly wounded; 'but I pray you, of your nobleness, letthe woods here be searched; for we were assaulted by four of these baseassassins, and I see three only on the sward.'
The attendants now brought forwaid the person whom they had rescuedfrom the dogs, and Henry, with disgust, shame, and astonishment,recognised his kinsman, Gaston Saint Clere. This discovery hecommunicated in a whisper to Lord Boteler, who commanded the prisonerto be conveyed to Queenhoo-Hall, and closely guarded; meanwhile heanxiously inquired of young Saint Clere about his wound.
'A scratch, a trifle!' cried Henry. 'I am in less haste to bind it thanto introduce to you one without whose aid that of the leech would havecome too late. Where is he? where is my brave deliverer?'
'Here, most noble lord,' said Gregory, sliding from his palfrey andstepping forward, 'ready to receive the guerdon which your bounty wouldheap on him.'
'Truly, friend Gregory,' answered the young warrior,'thou shalt not beforgotten, for thou didst run speedily, and roar manfully for aid,without which, I think verily, we had not received it. But the braveforester, who came to my rescue when these three ruffians had nighoverpowered me, where is he?'
Every one looked around, but though all had seen him on entering thethicket, he was not now to be found. They could only conjecture that hehad retired during the confusion occasioned by the detention of Gaston.
'Seek not for him,' said the Lady Emma, who had now in some degreerecovered her composure, 'he will not be found of mortal, unless at hisown season.'
The Baron, convinced from this answer that her terror had for the timesomewhat disturbed her reason, forbore to question her; and Matilda andEleanor, to whom a message had been despatched with the result of thisstrange adventure, arriving, they took the Lady Emma between them, andall in a body returned to the castle.
The distance was, however, considerable, and before reaching it theyhad another alarm. The prickers, who rode foremost in the troop, haltedand announced to the Lord Boteler, that they perceived advancingtowards them a body of armed men. The followers of the Baron werenumerous, but they were arrayed for the chase, not for battle, and itwas with great pleasure that he discerned, on the pennon of theadvancing body of men-at-arms, instead of the cognisance of Gaston, ashe had some reason to expect, the friendly bearings of Fitzosborne ofDiggswell, the same young lord who was present at the May-games withFitzallen of Harden. The knight himself advanced, sheathed in armour,and, without raising his visor, informed Lord Boteler that, havingheard of a base attempt made upon a part of his train by ruffianlyassassins, he had mounted and armed a small party of his retainers toescort them to Queenhoo-Hall. Having received and accepted aninvitation to attend them thither, they prosecuted their journey inconfidence and security, and arrived safe at home without any furtheraccident.
CHAPTER V
INVESTIGATION OF THE ADVENTURE OF THE HUNTING--A DISCOVERY--GREGORY'SMANHOOD--PATE OF GASTON SAINT CLERE--CONCLUSION
So soon as they arrived at the princely mansion of Boteler, the LadyEmma craved permission to retire to her chamber, that she might composeher spirits after the terror she had undergone. Henry Saint Clere, in afew words, proceeded to explain the adventure to the curious audience.'I had no sooner seen my sister's palfrey, in spite of her endeavoursto the contrary, entering with spirit into the chase set on foot by theworshipful Gregory, than I rode after to give her assistance. So longwas the chase that, when the greyhounds pulled down the knobbler, wewere out of hearing of your bugles; and having rewarded and coupled thedogs, I gave them to be led by the jester, and we wandered in quest ofour company, whom it would seem the sport had led in a differentdirection. At length, passing through the thicket where you found us, Iwas surprised by a cross-bow bolt whizzing past mine head. I drew mysword and rushed into the thicket, but was instantly assailed by tworuffians, while other two made towards my sister and Gregory. The poorknave fled, crying for help, pursued by my false kinsman, now yourprisoner; and the designs of the other on my poor Emma (murderous nodoubt) were prevented by the sudden apparition of a brave woodsman,who, after a short encounter, stretched the miscreant at his feet andcame to my assistance. I was already slightly wounded, and nearlyoverlaid with odds. The combat lasted some time, for the caitiffs wereboth well armed, strong, and desperate; at length, however, we had eachmastered our antagonist, when your retinue, my Lord Boteler, arrived tomy relief. So ends my story; but, by my knighthood, I would give anearl's ransom for an opportunity of thanking the gallant forester bywhose aid I live to tell it.'
'Fear not,' said Lord Boteler, 'he shall be found, if this or the fouradjacent counties hold him. And now Lord Fitzosborne will be pleased todoff the armour he has so kindly assumed for our sakes, and we will allbowne ourselves for the banquet.'
When the hour of dinner approached, the Lady Matilda and her cousinvisited the chamber of the fair Darcy. They found her in a composed butmelancholy postmire. She turned the discourse upon the misfortunes ofher life, and hinted, that having recovered her brother, and seeing himlook forward to the society of one who would amply repay to him theloss of hers, she had thoughts of dedicating her remaining life toHeaven, by whose providential interference it had been so oftenpreserved.
; Matilda coloured deeply at something in this speech, and her cousininveighed loudly against Emma's resolution. 'Ah, my dear lady Eleanor,'replied she, 'I have to-day witnessed what I cannot but judge asupernatural visitation, and to what end can it call me but to givemyself to the altar? That peasant who guided me to Baddow through thePark of Danbury, the same who appeared before me at different times andin different forms during that eventful journey--that youth, whosefeatures are imprinted on my memory, is the very individual foresterwho this day rescued us in the forest. I cannot be mistaken; and,connecting these marvellous appearances with the spectre which I sawwhile at Gay Bowers, I cannot resist the conviction that Heaven haspermitted my guardian angel to assume mortal shape for my relief andprotection.'
The fair cousins, after exchanging looks which implied a fear that hermind was wandering, answered her in soothing terms, and finallyprevailed upon her to accompany them to the banqueting-hall. Here thefirst person they encountered was the Baron Fitzosborne of Diggswell,now divested of his armour, at the sight of whom the Lady Emma changedcolour, and exclaiming, 'It is the same!' sunk senseless into the armsof Matilda.
'She is bewildered by the terrors of the day,' said Eleanor;' and wehave done ill in obliging her to descend.'
'And I,'said Fitzosborne, 'have done madly in presenting before her onewhose presence must recall moments the most alarming in her life.'
While the ladies supported Emma from the hall, Lord Boteler and SaintClere requested an explanation from Fitzosborne of the words he hadused.
'Trust me, gentle lords,' said the Baron of Diggswell, 'ye shall havewhat ye demand when I learn that Lady Emma Darcy has not suffered frommy imprudence.'
At this moment Lady Matilda, returning, said that her fair friend, onher recovery, had calmly and deliberately insisted that she had seenFitzosborne before, in the most dangerous crisis of her life.
'I dread,' said she, 'her disordered mind connects all that her eyebeholds with the terrible passages that she has witnessed.'
'Nay,' said Fitzosborne, 'if noble Saint Clere can pardon theunauthorized interest which, with the purest and most honourableintentions, I have taken in his sister's fate, it is easy for me toexplain this mysterious impression.'
He proceeded to say that, happening to be in the hostelry called theGriffin, near Baddow, while upon a journey in that country, he had metwith the old nurse of the Lady Emma Darcy, who, being just expelledfrom Gay Bowers, was in the height of her grief and indignation, andmade loud and public proclamation of Lady Emma's wrongs. From thedescription she gave of the beauty of her foster-child, as well as fromthe spirit of chivalry, Fitzosborne became interested in her fate. Thisinterest was deeply enhanced when, by a bribe to old Gaunt the Reve, heprocured a view of the Lady Emma as she walked near the castle of GayBowers. The aged churl refused to give him access to the castle; yetdropped some hints as if he thought the lady in danger, and wished shewere well out of it. His master, he said, had heard she had a brotherin life, and since that deprived him of all chance of gaining herdomains by purchase, he--in short, Gaunt wished they were safelyseparated. 'If any injury,' quoth he, 'should happen to the damselhere, it were ill for us all. I tried by an innocent stratagem tofrighten her from the castle, by introducing a figure through atrap-door, and warning her, as if by a voice from the dead, to retreatfrom thence; but the giglet is wilful, and is running upon her fate.'
Finding Gaunt, although covetous and communicative, too faithful aservant to his wicked master to take any active steps against hiscommands, Fitzosborne applied himself to old Ursely, whom he found moretractable. Through her he learned the dreadful plot Gaston had laid torid himself of his kinswoman, and resolved to effect her deliverance.But aware of the delicacy of Emma's situation, he charged Ursely toconceal from her the interest he took in her distress, resolving towatch over her in disguise until he saw her in a place of safety. Hencethe appearance he made before her in various dresses during herjourney, in the course of which he was never far distant; and he hadalways four stout yeomen within hearing of his bugle, had assistancebeen necessary. When she was placed in safety at the lodge, it wasFitzosborne's intention to have prevailed upon his sisters to visit andtake her under their protection; but he found them absent fromDiggswell, having gone to attend an aged relation who lay dangerouslyill in a distant county. They did not return until the day before theMay-games; and the other events followed too rapidly to permitFitzosborne to lay any plan for introducing them to Lady Emma Darcy. Onthe day of the chase he resolved to preserve his romantic disguise, andattend the Lady Emma as a forester, partly to have the pleasure ofbeing near her and partly to judge whether, according to an idle reportin the country, she favoured his friend and comrade Fitzallen ofMarden. This last motive, it may easily be believed, he did not declareto the company. After the skirmish with the ruffians, he waited tillthe Baron and the hunters arrived, and then, still doubting the fartherdesigns of Gaston, hastened to his castle to arm the band which hadescorted them to Queenhoo-Hall.
Fitzosborne's story being finished, he received the thanks of all thecompany, particularly of Saint Clere, who felt deeply the respectfuldelicacy with which he had conducted himself towards his sister. Thelady was carefully informed of her obligations to him; and it is leftto the well-judging reader whether even the raillery of Lady Eleanormade her regret that Heaven had only employed natural means for hersecurity, and that the guardian angel was converted into a handsome,gallant, and enamoured knight.
The joy of the company in the hall extended itself to the buttery,where Gregory the jester narrated such feats of arms done by himself inthe fray of the morning as might have shamed Bevis and Guy of Warwick.He was, according to his narrative, singled out for destruction by thegigantic Baron himself, while he abandoned to meaner hands thedestruction of Saint Clere and Fitzosborne.
'But certes,' said he, 'the foul paynim met his match; for, ever as hefoined at me with his brand, I parried his blows with my bauble, and,closing with him upon the third veny, threw him to the ground, and madehim cry recreant to an unarmed man.'
'Tush, man,' said Drawslot, 'thou forgettest thy best auxiliaries, thegood greyhounds, Help and Holdfast! I warrant thee, that when thehump-backed Baron caught thee by the cowl, which he hath almost tornoff, thou hadst been in a fair plight had they not remembered an oldfriend, and come in to the rescue. Why, man, I found them fastened onhim myself; and there was odd staving and stickling to make them "warehaunch!" Their mouths were full of the flex, for I pulled a piece ofthe garment from their jaws. I warrant thee, that when they brought himto ground thou fledst like a frighted pricket.'
'And as for Gregory's gigantic paynim,' said Fabian, 'why, he liesyonder in the guard-room, the very size, shape, and colour of a spiderin a yew-hedge.'
'It is false!' said Gregory. 'Colbrand the Dane was a dwarf to him.'
'It is as true,' returned Fabian, 'as that the Tasker is to be marriedon Tuesday to pretty Margery. Gregory, thy sheet hath brought thembetween a pair of blankets.'
'I care no more for such a gillflirt,' said the jester,' than I do forthy leasings. Marry, thou hop-o'-my-thumb, happy wouldst thou be couldthy head reach the captive Baron's girdle.'
'By the mass,' said Peter Lanaret, 'I will have one peep at this burlygallant'; and, leaving the buttery, he went to the guard-room whereGaston Saint Clere was confined. A man-at-arms, who kept sentinel onthe strong studded door of the apartment, said he believed he slept;for that, after raging, stamping, and uttering the most horridimprecations, he had been of late perfectly still. The falconer gentlydrew back a sliding board of a foot square towards the top of the door,which covered a hole of the same size, strongly latticed, through whichthe warder, without opening the door, could look in upon his prisoner.From this aperture he beheld the wretched Gaston suspended by the neckby his own girdle to an iron ring in the side of his prison. He hadclambered to it by means of the table on which his food had beenplaced; and, in the agonies of shame and disappointed malice, hadadopted this mo
de of ridding himself of a wretched life. He was foundyet warm, but totally lifeless. A proper account of the manner of hisdeath was drawn up and certified. He was buried that evening in thechapel of the castle, out of respect to his high birth; and thechaplain of Fitzallen of Marden, who said the service upon theoccasion, preached the next Sunday an excellent sermon upon the text,'Radix malorum est cupiditas,' which we have here transcribed.
Here the manuscript, from which we have painfully transcribed, andfrequently, as it were, translated, this tale for the reader'sedification, is so indistinct and defaced, that, excepting certainhowbeits, nathlesses, lo ye's! etc., we can pick out little that isintelligible, saving that avarice is defined 'a likourishness of heartafter earthly things.' A little farther there seems to have been a gayaccount of Margery's wedding with Ralph the Tasker, the running at thequintain, and other rural games practised on the occasion. There arealso fragments of a mock sermon preached by Gregory upon that occasion,as for example:--
'My dear cursed caitiffs, there was once a king, and he wedded a youngold queen, and she had a child; and this child was sent to Solomon theSage, praying he would give it the same blessing which he got from thewitch of Endor when she bit him by the heel. Hereof speaks the worthyDoctor Radigundus Potator; why should not mass be said for all theroasted shoe souls served up in the king's dish on Saturday; for trueit is, that Saint Peter asked Father Adam, as they journeyed toCamelot, an high, great, and doubtful question, "Adam, Adam, whyeated'st thou the apple without paring?"
[Footnote: This tirade of gibberish is literally taken or selected froma mock discourse pronounced by a professed jester, which occurs in anancient manuscript in the Advocates' Library, the same from which thelate ingenious Mr. Weber published the curious comic romance of theHunting of the Hare. It was introduced in compliance with Mr Strutt'splan of rendering his tale an illustration of ancient manners A similarburlesque sermon is pronounced by the fool in Sir David Lindesay'ssatire of the Three Estates. The nonsense and vulgar burlesque of thatcomposition illustrate the ground of Sir Andrew Aguecheek's eulogy onthe exploits of the jester in Twelfth Night, who, reserving his sharperjests for Sir Toby, had doubtless enough of the jargon of his callingto captivate the imbecility of his brother knight, who is made toexclaim--'In sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling last night, whenthou spokest of Pigrogremitus, and of the vapours passing theequinoctials of Quenbus; 't was very good, i' faith!' It isentertaining to find commentators seeking to discover some meaning inthe professional jargon of such a passage as this.]
With much goodly gibberish to the same effect; which display ofGregory's ready wit not only threw the whole company into convulsionsof laughter, but made such an impression on Rose, the Potter'sdaughter, that it was thought it would be the Jester's own fault ifJack was long without his Jill. Much pithy matter, concerning thebringing the bride to bed, the loosing the bridegroom's points, thescramble which ensued for them, and the casting of the stocking, isalso omitted from its obscurity.
The following song which has been since borrowed by the worshipfulauthor of the famous History of Fryar Bacon, has been with difficultydeciphered. It seems to have been sung on occasion of carrying home thebride
Bridal Song
To the tune of--'I have been a Fiddler,' etc,
And did you not hear of a mirth befell The morrow after a wedding day, And carrying a bride at home to dwell? And away to Tewin, away, away!
The quintain was set, and the garlands were made, 'T is pity old customs should ever decay; And woe be to him that was horsed on a jade, For he carried no credit away, away.
We met a consort of fiddle-de-dees; We set them a cockhorse, and made them play The winning of Bullen and Upsey-frees, And away to Tewin, away, away!
There was ne'er a lad in all the parish That would go to the plough that day; But on his fore-horse his wench he carries. And away to Tewin, away, away!
The butler was quick, and the ale he did tap, The maidens did make the chamber full gay; The servants did give me a fuddling cup, And I did carry't away, away.
The smith of the town his liquor so took, That he was persuaded that the ground look'd blue; And I dare boldly be sworn on a book, Such smiths as he there's but a few.
A posset was made, and the women did sip, And simpering said, they could eat no more; Full many a maiden was laid on the lip,-- I'll say no more, but give o'er (give o'er).
But what our fair readers will chiefly regret is the loss of threedeclarations of love; the first by Saint Clere to Matilda; which, withthe lady's answer, occupies fifteen closely written pages ofmanuscript. That of Fitzosborne to Emma is not much shorter; but theamours of Fitzallen and Eleanor, being of a less romantic cast, areclosed in three pages only. The three noble couples were married inQueenhoo-Hall upon the same day, being the twentieth Sunday afterEaster. There is a prolix account of the marriage-feast, of which wecan pick out the names of a few dishes, such as peterel, crane,sturgeon, swan, etc. etc., with a profusion of wild-fowl and venison.We also see that a suitable song was produced by Peretto on theoccasion; and that the bishop who blessed the bridal beds whichreceived the happy couples was no niggard of his holy water, bestowinghalf a gallon upon each of the couches. We regret we cannot give thesecuriosities to the reader in detail, but we hope to expose themanuscript to abler antiquaries so soon as it shall be framed andglazed by the ingenious artist who rendered that service to Mr.Ireland's Shakspeare MSS. And so (being unable to lay aside the styleto which our pen is habituated), gentle reader, we bid thee heartilyfarewell.