Alike delighted with the matter,the manner,and the graceful form and animated countenance of the gallant young reciter,Elizabeth kept time to every cadence with look and with finger.
When the speaker had ceased,she murmured over the last lines as if scarce conscious that she was overheard,and as she uttered the words,In maiden meditation,fancy free,she dropped into the Thames the supplication of Orson Pinnit,keeper of the royal bears,to find more favourable acceptance at Sheerness,or wherever the tide might waft it.
Leicester was spurred to emulation by the success of the young courtier's exhibition,as the veteran racer is roused when a high-mettled colt passes him on the way.He turned the discourse on shows,banquets,pageants,and on the character of those by whom these gay scenes were then frequented.He mixed acute observation with light satire,in that just proportion which was free alike from malignant slander and insipid praise.He mimicked with ready accent the manners of the affected or the clownish,and made his own graceful tone and manner seem doubly such when he resumed it.Foreign countries--their customs,their manners,the rules of their courts---the fashions,and even the dress of their ladies-were equally his theme;and seldom did he conclude without conveying some compliment,always couched in delicacy,and expressed with propriety,to the Virgin Queen,her court,and her government.Thus passed the conversation during this pleasure voyage,seconded by the rest of the attendants upon the royal person,in gay discourse,varied by remarks upon ancient classics and modern authors,and enriched by maxims of deep policy and sound morality,by the statesmen and sages who sat around and mixed wisdom with the lighter talk of a female court.
When they returned to the Palace,Elizabeth accepted,or rather selected,the arm of Leicester to support her from the stairs where they landed to the great gate.It even seemed to him (though that might arise from the flattery of his own imagination)that during this short passage she leaned on him somewhat more than the slippiness of the way necessarily demanded.Certainly her actions and words combined to express a degree of favour which,even in his proudest day he had not till then attained.His rival,indeed,was repeatedly graced by the Queen's notice;but it was in manner that seemed to flow less from spontaneous inclination than as extorted by a sense of his merit.And in the opinion of many experienced courtiers,all the favour she showed him was overbalanced by her whispering in the ear of the Lady Derby that now she saw sickness was a better alchemist than she before wotted of,seeing it had changed my Lord of Sussex's copper nose into a golden one.The jest transpired,and the Earl of Leicester enjoyed his triumph,as one to whom court-favour had been both the primary and the ultimate motive of life,while he forgot,in the intoxication of the moment,the perplexities and dangers of his own situation.Indeed,strange as it may appear,he thought less at that moment of the perils arising from his secret union,than of the marks of grace which Elizabeth from time to time showed to young Raleigh.They were indeed transient,but they were conferred on one accomplished in mind and body,with grace,gallantry,literature,and valour.An accident occurred in the course of the evening which riveted Leicester's attention to this object.
The nobles and courtiers who had attended the Queen on her pleasure expedition were invited,with royal hospitality,to a splendid banquet in the hall of the Palace.The table was not,indeed,graced by the presence of the Sovereign;for,agreeable to her idea of what was at once modest and dignified,the Maiden Queen on such occasions was wont to take in private,or with one or two favourite ladies,her light and temperate meal.After a moderate interval,the court again met in the splendid gardens of the Palace;and it was while thus engaged that the Queen suddenly asked a lady,who was near to her both in place and favour,what had become of the young Squire Lack-Cloak.
The Lady Paget answered,She had seen Master Raleigh but two or three minutes since standing at the window of a small pavilion or pleasure-house,which looked out on the Thames,and writing on the glass with a diamond ring.That ring,said the Queen,was a small token I gave him to make amends for his spoiled mantle.Come,Paget,let us see what use he has made of it,for I can see through him already.He is a marvellously sharp-witted spirit.They went to the spot,within sight of which,but at some distance,the young cavalier still lingered,as the fowler watches the net which he has set.
The Queen approached the window,on which Raleigh had used her gift,to inscribe the following line:--Fain would I climb,but that I fear to fall.The Queen smiled,read it twice over,once with deliberation to Lady Paget,and once again to herself.It is a pretty beginning,she said,after the consideration of a moment or two;but methinks the muse hath deserted the young wit at the very outset of his task.It were good-natured--were it not,Lady Paget?--to complete it for him.Try your rhyming faculties.Lady Paget,prosaic from her cradle upwards as ever any lady of the bedchamber before or after her,disclaimed all possibility of assisting the young poet.
Nay,then,we must sacrifice to the Muses ourselves,said Elizabeth.
The incense of no one can be more acceptable,said Lady Paget;and your Highness will impose such obligation on the ladies of Parnassus--Hush,Paget,said the Queen,you speak sacrilege against the immortal Nine--yet,virgins themselves,they should be exorable to a Virgin Queen--and therefore--let me see how runs his verse--'Fain would I climb,but that I fear to fall.'