Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century

by Georgiana Fullerton

which so great a store is used in the houses that theair is filled with it. "And do those in London always live in thatsmoke?" I inquired, not greatly contented to think it should be so;but she said Mr. Congleton's house was not in the city, but in a verypleasant suburb outside of it, close unto Holborn Hill and Ely Place,the bishop's palace, in whose garden the roses were so plentiful thatin June the air is perfumed with their odor. I troubled her not withfurther questions at that time, being soon wholly taken up with thenew sights which then did meet us at every step. So great a number ofgay horsemen, and litters carried by footmen with fine liveries, andcoaches drawn by horses richly caparisoned and men running alongsideof them, and withal so many carts, that I was constrained to give overthe guiding of mine own horse by reason of the confusion which thenoise of wheels and men's cries and the rapid motion of so manyvehicles did cause in me, who had never rode before in so great acrowd.

  At about six o'clock of the afternoon we did reach Ely Place, andpassing by the bishop's palace stopped at the gate of Mr. Congleton'shouse, which doth stand somewhat retired from the high-road, and thefirst sight of which did greatly content me. It is built of fair andstrong stone, not affecting fineness, but honorably representing afirm stateliness, for it was handsome without curiosity, and homelywithout negligence. At the front of it was a well-arranged groundcunningly set with trees, through which we rode to the foot of thestairs, where we were met by a gentleman dressed in a coat of blacksatin and a quilted waistcoat, with a white beaver in his hand, whom Iguessed to be my good uncle. He shook Mistress Ward by the hand,saluted me on both cheeks, and vowed I was the precise counterpart ofmy mother, who at my age, he said, was the prettiest Lancashire witchthat ever he had looked upon. He seemed to me not so old as I didsuppose him to be, lean of body and something low of stature, with along visage and a little sharp beard upon the chin of a brown color; acountenance not very grave, and, for his age, wanting the authority ofgray hairs. He conducted me to mine aunt's chamber, who was seated inan easy-chair near unto the window, with a cat upon her knees and a tambour-frame before her. She oped her arms and kissed me withgreat affection, and I, sliding down, knelt at her feet and prayed herto be a good mother to me, which was what my father had charged me todo when I should come into her presence. She raised me with her handand made me sit on a stool beside her, and stroking my face gently,gazed upon it, and said it put her in mind of both of my parents, forthat I had my father's brow and eyes, and my mother's mouth anddimpling smiles.

  "Mr. Congleton," she cried, "you do hear what this wench saith. I prayyou to bear it in mind, and how near in blood she is to me, so thatyou may show her favor when I am gone, which may be sooner than youthink for."

  I looked up into her face greatly concerned that she was like so soonto die. Methought she had the semblance of one in good health and areasonable good color in her cheeks, and I perceived Mr. Congleton didsmile as he answered:

  "I will show favor to thy pretty niece, good Moll, I promise thee, bethou alive or be thou dead; but if the leeches are to be credited, whodo affirm thou hast the best strength and stomach of the twain, thouart more like to bury me than I thee."

  Upon which the good lady did sigh deeply and cast up her eyes andlifted up her hands as one grievously injured, and he cried:

  "Prithee, sweetheart, take it not amiss, for beshrew me if I be notwilling to grant thee to be as diseased as will pleasure thee, so thatthou wilt continue to eat and sleep as well as thou dost at thepresent and so keep thyself from dying."

  Upon which she said that she did admire how a man could have so muchcruelty as to jest and jeer at her ill-health, but that she wouldspend no more of her breath upon him; and turning toward me she askeda store of questions anent my father, whom for many years she had notseen, and touching the manner of my mother's death, at the mention ofwhich my tears flowed afresh, which caused her also to weep; andcalling for her women she bade one of them bring her some hartshorn,for that sorrow, she said, would occasion the vapors to rise in herhead, and the other she sent for to fetch her case of trinkets, forthat she would wear the ring her brother had presented her with someyears back, in which was a stone which doth cure melancholy. When thecase was brought she displayed before my eyes its rich contents, andgifted me with a brooch set with turquoises, the wearing of which, shesaid, doth often keep persons from falling into divers sorts of peril.Then presently kissing me she said she felt fatigued, and would sendfor her daughters to take charge of me; who, when they came, embracedme with exceeding great affection, and carried me to what had beentheir schoolroom and was now Mrs. Ward's chamber, who no longer wastheir governess, they said, but as a friend abode in the house for togo abroad with them, their mother being of so delicate a constitutionthat she seldom left her room. Next to this chamber was a closet,wherein Kate said I should lie, and as it is one I inhabited for along space of time, and the remembrance of which doth connect itselfwith very many events which, as they did take place, I therein musedon, and prayed or wept, or sometimes laughed over in solitude, I willhere set down what it was like when first I saw it.

  The bed was in an alcove, closed in the day by fair curtains oftaffety; and the walls, which were in wood, had carvings above thedoor and over the chimney of very dainty workmanship. The floor wasstrewn with dried neatly-cut rushes, and in the projecting space wherethe window was, a table was set, and two chairs with backs and seatscunningly furnished with tapestry. In another recess betwixt thealcove and the chimney stood a praying stool and a desk with a cushionfor a book to lie on. Ah, me! how often has my head rested onthat cushion and my knees on that stool when my heart has been toofull to utter other prayers than a "God ha' mercy on me!" which atsuch times broke as a cry from an overcharged breast. But, oh! what avain pleasure I did take on that first day in the bravery of thislittle chamber, which Kate said was to be mine own! With what greatcontentment I viewed each part of it, and looked out of the window onthe beds of flowers which did form a mosaical floor in the gardenaround the house, in the midst of which was a fair pond whose shakingcrystal mirrored the shrubs which grew about it, and a thicket beyond,which did appear to me a place for pleasantness and not unfit toflatter solitariness, albeit so close unto the city. Beyond were thebishop's grounds, and I could smell the scent of roses coming thenceas the wind blew. I could have stood there many hours gazing on thisnew scene, but that my cousins brought me down to sup with them in thegarden, which was not fairer in natural ornaments than in artificialinventions. The table was set in a small banqueting-house amongcertain pleasant trees near to a pretty water-work; and now I hadleisure to scan my cousins' faces and compare what I did notice inthem with what Mistress Ward had said the first night of our journey.

  Kate, the eldest of the three, was in sooth a very fair creature,proportioned without any fault, and by nature endowed with the mostdelightful colors; but there was a made countenance about her mouth,between simpering and smiling, and somewhat in her bowed-down headwhich seemed to languish with over-much idleness, and an inviting lookin her eyes as if they would over-persuade those she spoke to, whichbetokened a lack of those nobler powers of the mind which are thehighest gifts of womanhood. Polly's face fault-finding wits mightscoff at as too little for the rest of the body, her features as notso well proportioned as Kate's, and her skin somewhat browner thandoth consist with beauty; but in her eyes there was a cheerfulness asif nature smiled in them, in her mouth so pretty a demureness, and inher countenance such a spark of wit that, if it struck not withadmiration, filled with delight. No indifferent soul there was which,if it resisted making her its princess, would not long to have such aplayfellow. Muriel, the youngest of these sisters, was deformed inshape, sallow in hue, in speech, as Mistress Ward had said, slow; butwithal in her eyes, which were deep-set, there was lacking neither thefire which betokens intelligence, nor the sweetness which commandsaffection, and somewhat in her plain face which, though it may not becalled beauty, had some of its qualities. Methought it savored more ofheaven than earth. The ill-sha
ped body seemed but a case for a soulthe fairness of which did shine through the foul lineaments whichenclosed it. Albeit her lips opened but seldom that evening, onlytwice or thrice, and they were common words she uttered and fraughtwith hesitation, my heart did more incline toward her than to thepretty Kate or the lively Polly.

  An hour before we retired to rest, Mr. Congleton came into the garden,and brought with him Mr. Swithin Wells and Mr. Bryan Lacy, twogentlemen who lived also in Holborn; the latter of which, Pollywhispered in mine ear, was her sister Kate's suitor. Talk wasministered among them touching the queen's marriage with Monsieur;which, as Mr. Rookwood had said, was broken off; but that day they hadheard that M. de la Motte had proposed to her majesty the Dued'Alencon, who would be more complying, he promised, touching religionthan his brother. She inquired