Then,pursued the Duchess,in the name of these fair ladies present,I request your Majesty to confer the rank of knighthood on Walter Raleigh,whose birth,deeds of arms,and promptitude to serve our sex with sword or pen,deserve such distinction from us all.Gramercy,fair ladies,said Elizabeth,smiling,your boon is granted,and the gentle squire Lack-Cloak shall become the good knight Lack-Cloak,at your desire.Let the two aspirants for the honour of chivalry step forward.Blount was not as yet returned from seeing Tressilian,as he conceived,safely disposed of;but Raleigh came forth,and kneeling down,received at the hand of the Virgin Queen that title of honour,which was never conferred on a more distinguished or more illustrious object.
Shortly afterwards Nicholas Blount entered,and hastily apprised by Sussex,who met him at the door of the hall,of the Queen's gracious purpose regarding him,he was desired to advance towards the throne.It is a sight sometimes seen,and it is both ludicrous and pitiable;when an honest man of plain common sense is surprised,by the coquetry of a pretty woman,or any other cause,into those frivolous fopperies which only sit well upon the youthful,the gay,and those to whom long practice has rendered them a second nature.Poor Blount was in this situation.His head was already giddy from a consciousness of unusual finery,and the supposed necessity of suiting his manners to the gaiety of his dress;and now this sudden view of promotion altogether completed the conquest of the newly inhaled spirit of foppery over his natural disposition,and converted a plain,honest,awkward man into a coxcomb of a new and most ridiculous kind.
The knight-expectant advanced up the hall,the whole length of which he had unfortunately to traverse,turning out his toes with so much zeal that he presented his leg at every step with its broadside foremost,so that it greatly resembled an old-fashioned table-knife with a curved point,when seen sideways.The rest of his gait was in proportion to this unhappy amble;and the implied mixture of bashful rear and self-satisfaction was so unutterably ridiculous that Leicester's friends did not suppress a titter,in which many of Sussex's partisans were unable to resist joining,though ready to eat their nails with mortification.Sussex himself lost all patience,and could not forbear whispering into the ear of his friend,Curse thee!canst thou not walk like a man and a soldier?an interjection which only made honest Blount start and stop,until a glance at his yellow roses and crimson stockings restored his self-confidence,when on he went at the same pace as before.
The Queen conferred on poor Blount the honour of knighthood with a marked sense of reluctance.That wise Princess was fully aware of the propriety of using great circumspection and economy in bestowing those titles of honour,which the Stewarts,who succeeded to her throne,distributed with an imprudent liberality which greatly diminished their value.Blount had no sooner arisen and retired than she turned to the Duchess of Rutland.
Our woman wit,she said,dear Rutland,is sharper than that of those proud things in doublet and hose.Seest thou,out of these three knights,thine is the only true metal to stamp chivalry's imprint upon?Sir Richard Varney,surely--the friend of my Lord of Leicester --surely he has merit,replied the Duchess.
Varney has a sly countenance and a smooth tongue,replied the Queen;I fear me he will prove a knave.But the promise was of ancient standing.My Lord of Sussex must have lost his own wits,I think,to recommend to us first a madman like Tressilian,and then a clownish fool like this other fellow.I protest,Rutland,that while he sat on his knees before me,mopping and mowing as if he had scalding porridge in his mouth,I had much ado to forbear cutting him over the pate,instead of striking his shoulder.Your Majesty gave him a smart ACCOLADE,said the Duchess;we who stood behind heard the blade clatter on his collar-bone,and the poor man fidgeted too as if he felt it.I could not help it,wench,said the Queen,laughing.But we will have this same Sir Nicholas sent to Ireland or Scotland,or somewhere,to rid our court of so antic a chevalier;he may be a good soldier in the field,though a preposterous ass in a banqueting-hall.The discourse became then more general,and soon after there was a summons to the banquet.
In order to obey this signal,the company were under the necessity of crossing the inner court of the Castle,that they might reach the new buildings containing the large banqueting-room,in which preparations for supper were made upon a scale of profuse magnificence,corresponding to the occasion.
The livery cupboards were loaded with plate of the richest deion,and the most varied--some articles tasteful,some perhaps grotesque,in the invention and decoration,but all gorgeously magnificent,both from the richness of the work and value of the materials.Thus the chief table was adorned by a salt,ship-fashion,made of mother-of-pearl,garnished with silver and divers warlike ensigns and other ornaments,anchors,sails,and sixteen pieces of ordnance.It bore a figure of Fortune,placed on a globe,with a flag in her hand.Another salt was fashioned of silver,in form of a swan in full sail.