Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century

by Georgiana Fullerton

queen'sill-conception of him increase, and his enemies do wax more powerfuleach day. The world hath become full of uneasiness to him. Methinks hewould gladly break with it; but like to one who walketh on a narrowplank, with a precipice on each side of him, his safety lieth only inadvancing. The report is true--I would it were false--of the queen'sprogress, and her intended visit to Kenninghall. I fear another fairestate in the north must needs pay the cost thereof; but avoidance isimpossible. I am about to remove from London to Arundel Castle, wheremy lord doth will me for the present to reside. The sea-breezes onthat coast, and the mild air of Sussex, he thinks should improve myhealth, which doth at this time require care. Touching religion, Ihave two or three times let fall words which implied an increasedinclination to Catholic religion. Each time his countenance did verymuch alter, and assumed a painful expression. I fear he is as greatlyopposed to it as heretofore. But if once resolved on what consciencedoth prescribe, with God's help, I hope that neither new-found joysnor future fears shall stay me from obeying its voice.

  "And so thou art to be married come the early days of July! I' faiththy Basil and thou have, like a pair of doves, cooed long enough, Iween, amidst the tall trees of Euston; which, if you are to bebelieved, should be the most delectable place in the whole world. Andyet some have told me it is but a huge plain building, and the countryabout it, except for its luxuriant trees, of no notable beauty. Thesunshine of thine own heart sheddeth, I ween, a radiancy on the plainwalls and the unadorned gardens greater than nature or art can bestow.I cry thee mercy for this malicious surmise, and give thee license,when I shall write in the same strain touching my lord's castle atArundel to flout me in a like manner. Some do disdainfully style it ahuge old fortress; others a very grand and noble pile. If that goodbefalleth me that he doth visit me there, then I doubt not but it willbe to me the cheerfullest place in existence. Thy loving servant tocommand,

  "ANN ARUNDEL AND SURREY."

  This letter came to my hand at Whitsuntide, when the village folkswere enacting a pastoral, the only merit of which did lie in theinnocent glee of the performers. The sheep-shearing feast, a verypretty festival, ensued a few days later. A fat lamb was provided, andthe maidens of the town permitted to run after it, and she which tookhold of it declared the lady of the lamb. 'Tis then the custom to killand carry it on a long pole before the lady and her companions to thegreen, attended with music and morisco dances. But this year Iransomed the lamb, and had it crowned with blue corn-flowers andpoppies, and led to a small paddock, where for some time I visited andfed it every day. Poor little lamb! like me, it had one short happytime that summer.

  In the evening I went with the lasses to the banks of the Ouse, andscattered on the dimpling stream, as is their wont at the lamb-ale, athousand odorous flowers--new-born roses, the fleur-de-luce,sweet-williams, and yellow coxcombs, the small-floweredlady's-slipper, the prince's-feather and the clustered bell-flower,the sweet-basil (the saucy wenches smiled when they furnished me witha bunch thereof), and a great store of midsummer daisies. When, withdue observance, I threw on the water a handful of these golden-tuftedand silver-crowned flowerets, I thought of Master Chaucer'slines:

  "Above all the flowers in the mead These love I most--these flowers white and red. And in French called _la belle Marguerite_. O commendable flower, and most in mind! O flower and gracious excellence! O amiable Marguerite."

  The great store of winsome and graciously-named flowers used that dayset me to plan a fair garden, wherein each month should yield in itsturn to the altar of our secret chapel a pure incense of nature's ownfurnishing. Basil was helping me thereto, and my Lady Tregony smilingat my quaint devices, when Mr. Cobham, a cousin of her ladyship,arrived, bringing with him news of the queen's progress, which quicklydiverted us from other thoughts, and caused my pencil to stand idle inmine hand.

  CHAPTER XXII.

  "Ah, ladies," exclaimed Mr. Cobham--pleased, I ween, to see howeagerly we looked for his news--"I promise you the eastern counties doexhibit their loyalty in a very commendable fashion, and so reportsaith her majesty doth think. The gallant appearance and brave arrayof the Suffolk esquires hath drawn from her highness sundry marks ofher approval. What think you, my Lady Tregony, of two hundredbachelors, all gaily clad in white-velvet coats, and those of graveryears in black-velvet coats and fair gold chains, with fifteen hundredmen all mounted on horseback, and Sir William le Spring of Lavenham attheir head. I warrant you a more comely troop and a nobler sightshould not often be seen. Then, in Norfolk, what great sums of moneyhave been spent! Notably at Kenninghall, where for divers days notonly the queen herself was lodged and feasted, with all her household,council, courtiers, and all their company, but all the gentlemen also,and people of the country who came thither upon the occasion, in suchplentiful, bountiful, and splendid manner, as the like had never beenseen before in these counties. Every night she hath slept at somegentleman's seat. At Holdstead Hall I had the honor to be presented toher highness, and to see her dance a minuet. But an unlucky accidentdid occur that evening."

  "No lives were lost, I hope?" Lady Tregony said.

  "No lives," Master Cobham answered; "but a very precious fan which hermajesty let drop into the moat--one of white and red feathers, whichSir Francis Drake had gifted her with on New Year's day. It wasenamelled with a half-moon of mother-o'-pearl and had her majesty'spicture within it."

  "And at Norwich, sir?" I asked. "Methinks, by some reports we heard,the pageants there must have proved exceeding grand."

  "Rare indeed," he replied. "On the 16th she did enter the town atHarford Bridge. The mayor received her with a long Latin oration, verytedious; and, moreover, presented her with a fair cup of silver,saying, 'Here is one hundred pounds pure gold.' To my thinking, thecup was to her liking more than the speech, and the gold most of all;for when one of her footmen advanced for to take the cup, she saidsharply, 'Look to it: there is one hundred pounds.' Lord! what anumber of pageants were enacted that day and those which followed!Deborah, Judith, Esther at one gate; Queen Martia at another; on theheights near Blanche-flower Castle, King Gurgunt and his men. Then allthe heathen deities in turn: Mercury driving full speed through thecity in a fantastic car; Jupiter presenting her with a riding-rod, andVenus with a white dove. But the rarest of all had been designedby Master Churchyard. Where her majesty was to take her barge, at theback-door of my Lord Arundel's town-house, he had prepared a goodlymasque of water-nymphs concealed in a deep hole, and covered withgreen canvas, which suddenly opening as if the ground gaped, first onenymph was intended to pop up and make a speech to the queen, and thenanother; and a very complete concert to sound secretly and strangelyout of the earth. But when the queen passed in her coach, athunder-shower came down like a water-spout, and great claps ofthunder silenced the concert; which some did presage to be an evilomen of the young lord's fortunes."

  "I' faith," cried Basil, "I be sorry for the young nobleman, and yetmore for the poor artificer of this ingenious pageant, to whom hisnymphs turned into drowned rats must needs have been a distressingsight."

  "He was heard to lament over it," Master Cobham said, "in verypathetic terms: 'What shall I say' (were his words) 'of the loss ofvelvets, silks, and cloths of gold? Well, nothing but the oldadage--Man doth purpose, but God dispose.' Well, the mayor hath beenknighted; and her majesty said she should never forget his city. Onher journey she looked back, and, with water in her eyes, shaked herriding whip, and cried, 'Farewell Norwich!' Yesterday she was to sleepat Sir Henry Jerningham's at Cottessy, and hunt in his park to-day."

  "Oh, poor Sir Henry!" I said laughing. "Then he hath not escaped thisdear honor?"

  "Notice of it was sent to him but two days before, from Norwich,"Master Cobham rejoined; "and I ween he should have been glad for to beexcused."

  Lady Tregony then reminded us that supper was ready, and we removed tothe dining-hall; but neither did this good gentleman weary of relatingnor we of listening to the various haps of the royal progress, whichhe continue
d to describe whilst we sat at meat.

  He was yet talking when the sound of a horse gallopping under thewindows surprised us, and we had scarce time to turn our heads beforeBasil's steward came tumbling into the room head foremost, like onedemented.

  "Sir, sir!" he cried, almost beside himself; "in God's name, what doyou here, and the queen coming for to sleep at your house to-morrow?"

  Methinks a thunder-clap in the midst of the stilly clear eveningshould not have startled us so much. Basil's face flushed very deeply;Lady Tregony looked ready to faint; my heart beat as if it shouldburst; Master Cobham threw his hat into the air, and cried, "Long liveQueen Elizabeth, and the old