Congleton; which when he heard, he asked if Iwas Mr. Henry Sherwood's daughter; which being certified of, hesaluted me, and said my father was at one time, when both were atcollege, the closest friend that ever he had, and his esteem for himwas so great that he would be better pleased with the news thathe should see him but once again, than if any one was to give him athousand pounds. I told him my father often spake of him with singularaffection, and that the letter I should write to him from London wouldbe more welcome than anything else could make it, by the mention ofthe honor I had had of his notice. Mistress Ward then asked him whatwas the news in London, from whence he had come that morning. Heanswered that the news was not so good as he would wish it to be; forthat the queen's marriage with monsieur was broke off, and the King ofFrance greatly incensed at the favor M. de Montgomeri had experiencedat her hands; and that when he had demanded he should be given up, shehad answered that she did not see why she should be the King ofFrance's hangman; which was what his father had replied to her sister,when she had made the like request anent some of her traitors who hadfled to France.
"Her majesty," he said, "was greatly incensed against the Bishop ofRoss, and had determined to put him to death; but that she wasdissuaded from it by her council; and that he prayed God Catholicsshould not fare worse now that Ridolfi's plot had been discovered todeclare her highness illegitimate, and place the Queen of Scots on thethrone, which had moved her to greater anger than even the rising inthe north.
"And touching the Duke of Norfolk," Mistress Ward did ask, "what islike to befal him?"
Mr. Rookwood said, "His grace had been removed from the Tower to hisown house on account of the plague; but it is reported the queen ismore urgent against him than ever, and will have his head in the end."
"If her majesty will not marry monsieur," Mistress Ward said, "it willfare worse with recusants."
Upon which one of the young gentlemen cried out, "'Tis not her majestywill not have him; but monsieur will not have her. My Lord of Oxford,who is to marry my Lord Burleigh's daughter, said yesterday at thetennis court, that that matter of monsieur is grieviously taken on hergrace's part; but that my lord is of opinion that where amity is soneedful, her majesty should stomach it; and so she doth pretend tobreak it off herself by reason of her religious scruples."
At the which both brothers did laugh, but Mr. Rookwood bade them havea care how they did suffer their tongues to wag anent her grace andsuch matters as her grace's marriage; which although in the presentcompany might be without danger, was an ill habit, which in thesetimes was like to bring divers persons into troubles.
"Hang it!" cried the eldest of his sons, who was of a well-pleasingfavor and exceeding goodly figure; "recusants be always in trouble,whatsoever they do; both taxed for silence and checked for speech, asthe play hath it. For good Mr. Weston was racked for silence last weektill he fainted, for that he would not reveal what he had heard inconfession from one concerned in Ridolfi's plot; and as to my LordMorley, he hath been examined before the council, touching his havingsaid he would go abroad poorly and would return in glory, which he didspeak concerning his health; but they would have it meant treason."
"Methinks, Master Basil," said his father, "thou art not like to betaxed for silence; unless indeed on the rack, which the freedom of thyspeech may yet bring thee to, an thou hast not more care of thy words.See now, thy brother keeps his lips closed in modest silence."
"Ay, as if butter would not melt in his mouth," cried Basil, laughing.
And I then noticed the countenance of the younger brother, who wasfairer and shorter by a head than Basil, and had the most beautifuleyes imaginable, and a high forehead betokening thoughtfulness. Mr.Rookwood drew his chair further from the table, and conversed in a lowvoice with Mrs. Ward, touching matters which I ween were of toogreat import to be lightly treated of. I heard the name of Mr. Feltonmentioned in their discourse, and somewhat about the Pope's Bull, inthe affixing of which at the Bishop of London's gate he had lent ahand; but my ears were not free to listen to them, for the younggentlemen began to entertain me with divers accounts of the shows inLondon; which, as they were some years older than myself, who was thenno better than a child, though tall of mine age, I took as a greatfavor, and answered them in the best way I could. Basil spoke mostlyof the sights he had seen, and a fight between a lion and three dogs,in which the dogs were victorious; and Hubert of books, which he said,for his part, he had always a care to keep handsome and well bound.
"Ay," quoth his brother, "gilding them and stringing them like theprayer-books of girls and gallants, which are carried to church butfor their outsides. I do hate a book with clasps, 'tis a trouble toopen them."
"A trouble thou dost seldom take," quoth Hubert. "Thou art readyenough to unclasp the book of thy inward soul to whosoever will readin it, and thy purse to whosoever begs or borrows of thee; but withsuch clasps as shut in the various stores of thought which have issuedforth from men's minds thou dost not often meddle."
"Beshrew me if I do! The best prayer-book I take to be a pair ofbeads; and the most entertaining reading, the 'Rules for the Huntingof Deer;' which, by what I have heard from Sir Roger Ashlon, my LordStafford hath grievously transgressed by assaulting Lord Lyttleton'skeepers in Teddesley Haye."
"What have you here?" Hubert asked, glancing at Mr. Fox's _Book ofMartyrs_, and another which the landlady had left on the table; _Aprofitable New Year's Gift to all England._
"They are not mine," I answered, "nor such as I do care to read; butthis," I said, holding out Mr. Page's gift, which I had in my pocket,"is a rare fund of entertainment and very full of pleasant tales."
"But," quoth he, "you should read the _Morte d'Arthur_ and the _SevenChampions of Christendom."_
Which I said I should be glad to do when I had the good chance to meetwith them. He said, "My cousin Polly had a store of such pleasantvolumes, and would, no doubt, lend them to me. She has such a sharpwit," he added, "that she is ever exercising it on herself or onothers; on herself by the bettering of her mind through reading; andon others by such applications, of what she thus acquires as leavesthem no chance in discoursing with her but to yield to her superiorknowledge."
"Methinks," I said, "if that be her aim in reading, may be she willnot lend to others the means of sharpening their wits to encounterhers."
At the which both of them laughed, and Basil said he hoped I mightprove a match for Mistress Polly, who carried herself too high, anddespised such as were slower of speech and less witty than herself."For my part," he cried, "I am of opinion that too much reading dothlead to too much thinking, and too much thinking doth consume thespirits; and often it falls out that while one thinks too much of hisdoing, he leaves to do the effect of his thinking."
At the which Hubert smiled, and I bethought myself that if Basil wasno book-worm neither was he a fool. With such like discourse theevening sped away, and Mr. Rookwood and his sons took their leave withmany civilities and pleasant speeches, such as gentlemen are wont toaddress to ladies, and hopes expressed to meet again in London, andgood wishes for the safe ending of our journey thither.
Ah, me! 'tis passing strange to sit here and write in this littlechamber, after so many years, of that first meeting with thosebrothers, Basil and Hubert; to call to mind how they did look andspeak, and of the pretty kind of natural affection there wasbetwixt them in their manner to each other. Ah, me! the old trick ofsighing is coming over me again, which I had well-nigh correctedmyself of, who have more reason to give thanks than to complain. GoodLord, what fools you be! sighing heart and watering eyes! As greatfools, I ween, as the Mayor of Coventry, whose foolish rhymes do keeprunning in my head.
The day following we came to London, which being, as it were, thebeginning of a new life to me, I will defer to speak of until I findmyself, after a night's rest and special prayers unto that end, lessheavy of heart than at present.
CHAPTER VII.
Upon a sultry evening which did follow an exceeding hot day, with noclouds in the sk
y, and a great store of dust on the road, we enteredLondon, that great fair of the whole world, as some have titled it.When for many years we do think of a place we have not seen, a pictureforms itself in the mind as distinct as if the eye had takencognizance thereof, and a singular curiosity attends the actual visionof what the imagination hath so oft portrayed. On this occasion myeyes were slow servants to my desires, which longed to embrace in thecompass of one glance the various objects they craved to behold.Albeit the sky was cloudless above our heads, I feared it would rainin London, by reason of a dark vapor which did hang over it; butMistress Ward informed me that this appearance was owing to the smokeof sea-coal, of
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