Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century

by Georgiana Fullerton

hadgiven us sufficient reason not to forget. Toward evening, when the sunwas setting, we did see the towers of Warwick Castle; and I would fainhave discerned the one which doth bear the name of the great earl whoin a poor pilgrim's garb slew the giant Colbrand, and the cave 'neathGuy's Cliff where he spent his last years in prayer. But the light wasdeclining as we rode into Leamington, where we lay that night, anddarkness hid from us that fair country, which methought was a meetabode for such as would lead a hermit's life.

  The next day we had the longest ride and the hottest sun we had yetmet with; and at noon we halted to rest in a thicket on the roadside,which we made our pavilion, and from which our eyes did feastthemselves on a delightful prospect. There were heights on one sidegarnished with stately oaks, and a meadow betwixt the road and thehill enamelled with all sorts of pleasing flowers, and stored withsheep, which were feeding in sober security. Mistress Ward, who wasgreatly tired with the journey, fell asleep with her head on her hand,and I pulled from my pocket a volume with which Mr. Page had gifted meat parting, and which contained sundry tales anent Amadis de Gaul,Huon de Bordeaux, Palmerin of England, and suchlike famous knights,which he said, as I knew how to read, for which he greatly commendedmy parents' care, I should entertain myself with on the road. So,one-half sitting, one-half lying on the grass, I reclined in an easyposture, with my head resting against the trunk of a tree, pleasing myfancy with the writers' conceits; but ever and anon lifting my eyes tothe blue sky above my head, seen through the green branches, or fixedthem on the quaint patterns the quivering light drew on the grass, orelse on the valley refreshed with a silver river, and the fair hillsbeyond it. And as I read of knights and ladies, and the many perilswhich befel them, and passages of love betwixt them, which was new tome, and what I had not met with in any of the books I had yet read, Ifell into a fit of musing, wondering if in London the folks I shouldsee would discourse in the same fashion, and the gentlemen have somuch bravery and the ladies so great beauty as those my book treatedof. And as I noticed it was chiefly on the high-roads they did comeinto such dangerous adventures, I gazed as far as I coulddiscern on the one I had in view before me with a foolish kind ofdesire for some robbers to come and assail us, and then a greatnobleman or gallant esquire to ride up and fall on them, and todeliver us from a great peril, and may be to be wounded in theencounter, and I to bind up those wounds as from my mother's teachingI knew how to do, and then give thanks to the noble gentleman in suchcourteous and well-picked words as I could think of. But for all mygazing I could naught perceive save a wain slowly ascending the hillloaden with corn, midst clouds of dust, and some poorer sort ofpeople, who had been gleaning, and were carrying sheaves on theirheads. After an hour Mistress Ward awoke from her nap; and methinks Ihad been dozing also, for when she called to me, and said it was timeto eat somewhat, and then get to horse, I cried out, "Good sir, I waityour pleasure;" and rubbed my eyes to see her standing before me inher riding-habit, and not the gentleman whose wounds I had beentending.

  That night we slept at Northampton, at Mistress Engerfield's house.She was a cousin of Mr. Congleton's, and a lady whose sweet affabilityand gravity would have extorted reverence from those that least lovedher. She was then very aged, and had been a nun in King Henry's reign;and, since her convent had been despoiled, and the religious drivenout of it, having a large fortune of her own, which she inheritedabout that time, she made her house a secret monastery, wherein Godwas served in a religious manner by such persons as the circumstancesof the time, and not their own desires, had forced back into theworld, and who as yet had found no commodity for passing beyond seasinto countries where that manner of life is allowed. They dressed insober black, and kept stated hours of prayer, and went not abroadunless necessity compelled them thereunto. When we went into thedining-room, which I noticed Mistress Engerfield called the refectory,grace was said in Latin; and whilst we did eat one lady read out loudout of a book, which methinks was the life of a saint; but the fatigueof the journey, and the darkness of the room, which was wainscottedwith oak-wood, so overpowered my senses with drowsiness, that beforethe meal was ended I had fallen asleep, which was discovered, to mygreat confusion, when the company rose from table. But that good lady,in whose face was so great a kindliness that I never saw one to becompared with it in that respect before or since, took me by the handand said, "Young eyes wax heavy for lack of rest, and travellersshould have repose. Come to thy chamber, sweet one, and, aftercommending thyself by a brief prayer to him who sleepeth not norslumbereth, and to her who is the Mother of the motherless, get theeto bed and take thy fill of the sleep thou hast so great need of, andgood angels will watch near thee."

  Oh, how I did weep then, partly from fatigue, and partly from the dearcomfort her words did yield me, and, kneeling, asked her blessing, asI had been wont to do of my dear parents. And she, whose countenancewas full of majesty, and withal of most attractive gentleness, whichmade me deem her to be more than an ordinary woman, and a greatservant of God, as indeed she was, raised me from the ground, andherself assisted to get me to bed, having first said my prayers by herside, whose inflamed devotion, visible in her face, awakened in me agreater fervor than I had hitherto experienced when performing thisduty. After I had slept heavily for the space of two or three hours Iawoke, as is the wont of those who be over-fatigued, and could not getto sleep again, so that I heard the clock of a church strike twelve;and as the last stroke fell on my ear, it was followed by a sound ofchanting, as if close unto my chamber, which resembled what on rareoccasions I had heard performed by two or three persons in ourchapel; but here, with so full a concord of voices, and so greatmelody and sweetness, that methought, being at that time of night andevery one abed, it must be the angels that were singing. But the nextday, questioning Mrs. Ward thereupon as of a strange thing which hadhappened to me, she said, the ladies in that house rose always atmidnight, as they had been used to do in their several convents, tosing God's praises and give him thanks, which was what they did vow todo when they became religious. Before we departed, Mistress Engerfieldtook me into her own room, which was small and plainly furnished, withno other furniture in it but a bed, table, and kneeling-stool, andagainst the wall a large crucifix, and she bestowed upon me a smallbook in French, titled "The Spiritual Combat," which she said was atreasury of pious riches, which she counselled me by frequent study tomake my own; and with many prayers and blessings she then bade usGod-speed, and took leave of us. Our last day's lodging on the roadwas at Bedford; and there being no Catholics of note in that town wontto entertain travellers, we halted at a quiet hostelry, which was keptby very decent people, who showed us much civility; and the landlady,after we had supped, the evening being rainy (for else she said wemight have walked through her means into the fair grounds of the Abbeyof Woburn, which she thanked God was not now a hive for drones, as ithad once been, but the seat of a worthy nobleman; which did morecredit to the town, and drew customers to the inn), brought us for ourentertainment a huge book, which she said had as much godliness ineach of its pages as might serve to convert as many Papists--God savethe mark!--as there were leaves in the volume. My cheeks glowed likefire when she thus spoke, and I looked at Mistress Ward, wonderingwhat she would say. But she only bowed her head, and made pretence toopen the book, which, when the good woman was gone,

  "Mistress Constance," quoth she, "this is a book writ by Mr. Fox, theDuke of Norfolk's old schoolmaster, touching those he doth callmartyrs, who suffered for treason and for heresy in the days of QueenMary,--God rest her soul!--and if it ever did convert a Papist, I do notsay on his deathbed, but at any time of his life, except it wasgreatly for his own interest, I be ready . . ."

  "To be a martyr yourself, Mistress Ward," I cried, with my ever toogreat proneness to let my tongue loose from restraint. The color rosein her cheek, which was usually pale, and she said:

  "Child, I was about to say, that in the case I have named, I be readyto forego the hope of that which I thank God I be wise enough todesire, though unwor
thy to obtain; but for which I do pray each daythat I live."

  "Then would you not be afraid to die on a scaffold," I asked, "or tobe hanged, Mistress Ward?"

  "Not in a good cause," she said.

  But before the words were out of her mouth our landlady knocked at thedoor, and said a gentleman was in the house with his two sons, whoasked to pay their compliments to Mistress Ward and the young ladyunder her care. The name of this gentleman was Rookwood, of RookwoodHall in Suffolk, and Mistress Ward desired the landlady presently tobring them in, for she had often met them at my aunt's house, as sheafterward told me, and had great contentment we should have such goodcompany under the same roof with us; whom when they came in she verypleasantly received, and informed Mr. Rookwood of my name andrelationship to Mistress