New College, bearing wealthy offerings from Saint Mary's Guild. The Brigg Street was crowded with citizens and their families, in parti-coloured dresses, thrust aside perpetually by the proud retinue of some knight or noble, whose attendants scattered rose-groats on the throng they interrupted; spearmen, arblasters, heralds, monks, and processions of the various companies, each with its distinctive banner, were intermingled with barbs, mules and even the humble ass itself (but sleek and well fed), whose gaudy caparisons swept the streets.Ponderous wains, bearing provisions to the Palace, rolled heavily amidst the embroidered purple curtains of the stately litter, fraught with some noble dame, whose years did not permit her to join her lively daughter, caracoling on her feathered palfry, by the side of some obsequious suitor or grave, white-bearded sire. Standards, guidons and pennons of a thousand blazons waved in every direction, and the lay of the troubadour could scarcely be heard amidst the clang of the tremendous Minster bells, answered by all the other churches in the city, the rolling of drums, the pealing of clarions and the shouts of the multitude. The King had just returned to the Palace, after proceeding in state through the different streets to the Guildhall. A vast and beautiful gateway, surmounted by a stately tower, now rose before De Courtnayne and his train. The arches, parapets, turrets and windows of this splendid structure were profusely ornamented. Over the heavy battlements waved the royal banner, and by its side floated a lesser flag, displaying paley of ten, argent and azure, on a bend gules a mitre-or; the arms of the new Bishop. The name of Courtnaye announced to the two heralds, who stood on each side of the great arch, by the baron's own pursuivant, soon made the ponderous gates roll open; a purse of golden florins was bestowed, and amidst loud shouts of "Largess!" the haughty noble entered the Close. Winding round the west front of the Cathedral, his large and glittering suite swept under the principal portal of the Palace, and dismounted in the inward court. This vast and majestic edifice occupied the whole north-eastern range of the close its principal façade extending in immense length from north to south, and elevated on a terrace overhanging the broad moat, displayed the most gorgeous assemblages of towers, ramparts, painted gothic windows and oriels, that can be imagined. Every gate and turret had its banner, whose pompous colours of scarlet, green, blue, &c. formed a rich contrast to the solemn and gigantic buildings over which they waved. Numberless weathercocks of copper, gilded or painted, flashed in every direction to the airy sunshine; while amidst the vast inclosures of this castle-palace, a broad, smooth bowlinggreen, a garden, grapery, and orchard mingled with a noble old grove of chesnuts, sycamores and flowering limes.Lord Walter could scarcely win his way, with Warner and his principal attendants, through the throngs that filled the court. At length he drew near a balcony in the Bishop's parlour, from whence King Richard was listening to a minstrel, who chaunted in the Langue D'or the tragical story of the Countess of Vergy. De Courtnaye soon caught the eye of the handsome monarch, and, in obedience to his gesture, was in the act of ascending the steps leading into the building, when a page, in the Biddulf livery, placed a billet in his hand; on reading which, the practised courtier with difficulty concealed his agitation. With a look of deadly wrath, and the single word "caitiff!" he gave the note to Warner, then sprung up the stairs and disappeared through the doorway. Warner read the paper with no very enviable sensations; it ran as follows:"False Lord,-Thy wicked deeds are come to the light; thy abused wife is known to be alive,-known, too, to be immured hard by the city. And though thou deemest thou hast gained the means of silencing him who would have impeached thee openly, there will not be wanting those who will foil thee as effectually.' This scroll was signed "The Knight of Helmhurst.'"' We will not descend into the black abyss of Warner's heart. This mischief he had in part anticipated; and if Courtnaye had some reason to be enraged at his duplicity in withdrawing his injured lady from her secure confinement in London, Warner now became furious at Courtnaye's folly in bringing the Franciscan to Edial, a circumstance to which he justly attributed the present untoward aspect of their villanies. He had no time to form a single plan ere De Courtnaye was again at his side, no and drawing him apart into the grove, after some recrimination their mutual danger induced them to forego their mutual animosity, and it was agreed that Warner should repair to the old hall the instant the solemnity was (the Close gates being now finally shut concluded, to prevent further influx of the populace) and there take measures to prevent the threatened exposure. There was dread of an open attack, for Biddulf could not have had time to collect his vassals, and Warner's presence at Edial, while it would rally round him his numerous bands, would be equally a safeguard against any secret attempt; and thus these wicked men, now tolerably at ease again, prepared to join the procession. In a short time, the increased clangour of trumpets and the thunder of the belfry, announced that the Bishop had quitted his palace, and was moving to the Cathedral. The King, the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Dublin, together with numerous lords, spiritual and temporal, formed his resplendent escort. At the licht-gates he was met by the Dean Stretton, the Canons, the Prebendaries, the Vicars, the Vergers, and the Choristers, with naked feet. The organ shook the vaulted choir as they entered, and the ceremony of enthronement took place with the most solemn and imposing rites of a church that knew so well how to reach the soul through the senses. During the ceremony, however, something appeared to disturb the good Bishop in an extraordinary degree. He frowned, turned pale and red, held up his hands in horror, and seemed only prevented by the sanctity of the place and the occasion from uttering some strong exclamation. After the ceremony had closed with high mass, King Richard approached the Bishop, holding by the arm his favourite De Courtnaye. Among all this splendid train, none in striking effect could be compared to the three who now stood grouped together on the platform of the high altar. Plantagenet, besides the open diadem of golden leaves, fleurde-lys and rays, that graced his beautiful countenance, was attired in his celebrated golden robe of jewels, valued at thirty thousand marks; an uncommonly large white greyhound, with gilded collar, wrought like a coronet, attended his every movement and watched his every glance. De Courtnaye was habited in the extreme of the then fashion,-one side of his dress being cloth of gold, and the other scarlet brocade; while the Dominican himself, a man of noble and ample port, bore aloft his beaming mi tre, leaned majestically on his massy silver crosier, and seemed hardly conscious of the superb purple dalmatique, powdered with quatrefoils that descended to his knees, and the bright scarlet stole, with a deep border of gold, that flowed to his feet, just showing in front his vest of snowy flowered silk. "We are a suitor to your lordship," said the graceful young King, "and cannot better urge our request than at this shrine," (here Richard crossed himself) where we hope our suits will be both granted and blest, and the King will need only to speak to be heard when he offers one of his most honoured nobles as a worthy mate to your fair niece. The Lady Sybil de Burghill," he proceeded; and the courtly crowd at once opening, turned to a lovely young creature, hitherto screened from observation, "the Lady Sybil will, not, we trust, turn a disdainful eye on one whose lowest claim is the favour of his prince, whose loftiest merit is his love for her." Sybil de Burghill, a bright girl of eighteen, stood blushing and trembling before the gaze of the court and the congregation. Adorned in the richest fashion of the day, her beauty outshone all the manifold colours of her dress; her robe was vermilion silk, lined with azureher vest of brocade was thickly broidered with the arms of her family-her steeple head-dress let fall on the ground a long train of purple silk-her white throat was clasped by a broad carcanet of brilliants and her sleeves, which also swept the pavement, were confined at the wrists by emeralds of great size. Her face of sunny girlish beauty was burning with blushes, and the distress that shewed in every feature, evinced that it was not mere maiden coyness that called them here. A general murmur of applause pervaded the crowd, and the wanton eyes of the handsome De Courtnaye gazed on her with sparkling admiration. After a pause of some embarrassment the Bishop spoke: "It were the bounden duty, my liege, of your Grace's poor servant, to deem any proposal from his sovereign and benefactor an implicit law with him; but I may not well proceed further in this suit of the noble Baron, of which I have in some sort signified my approbation," (the worthy Dominican's look and accent here woefully belied his words) until certain charges which our Warden of the Minorites in this city has proffered to make good against the Lord Courtnaye,-and which I have deferred to this audience, that your Highness's wisdom may decide upon them-be substan tiated or disproved. We have heard this morning that sudden illness prevents his appearing; and, indeed, had not your Grace spoken upon the matter, it had well nigh left my memory, so much have I been moved from my composure by a sight that might make even these solid pillars to shake over our heads. Blasphemy approaching the very altar of our God!" He pointed to the broad ruffian figure of Warner who stood not far from Courtnaye, and the throng parting as before, shewed to every eye the broad baldric, which either from bravado or the inadvertence caused by his recent agitation, he still wore with its impious legend," An enemy to God, without pity and without mercy." The King coloured with anger, and turning to Lord Walter, exclaimed "How, my lord, knew ye of this? -he seems of thy company. By the brave spirit of my father, I had rather seen the foul fiend himself, than one who, uningling still with the heirs of redemption, mocks their hope and blasphemes their God!" An earnest conversation ensued between the baron and his prince apart, the latter listening with ill repressed impatience, which the Bishop observing, took courage to break in. "Your pardon, my gracious liege, but I am he who should pronounce on this outrage; and if your Highness forbids not, I will myself speak sentence on this blasphemous profaner of the sanctuary." "Your lordship hath our free concurrence," said Richard, hastily; unreserved approbation of the punishment your saintly wisdom shall appoint." De Courtnaye bit his lip, and fell back into the crowd. "Advance, then, my body guard," cried De Burghill, and a dozen yeomen, in liveries of blue and silver, with an obedient start, approached. "Four of you seize yon miscreant, convey him to the dungeon under our Lady's chapel ;let him be soundly disciplined, imprison him eight days with bread of affliction and water of affliction, burn that accursed belt before his eyes, and we will pray that the pains of his body may purge his soul unto repentance!". All this was done with incredible celerity; from the time that the delinquent was pointed out, hardly three minutes elapsed ere he was hurried from the Cathedral, without offering the slightest resistance, so stupified was he with surprise and rage; while De Courtnaye, whose troubled thoughts were at the old manor hall, saw the danger thickening around him without either composure to devise or means to execute any measures for averting it. The assembly was then dismissed by a prayer from the Archbishop of Canterbury against witchcraft and impiety, and he pronounced the blessing just as the glories of the noontide sun, flooding through the mighty range of painted windows, was beginning to dim the manifold dresses of the company that now either poured through the Close gates into the city, or flocked to the banquet in the Bishop's palace. The Warden of the Minorites, whom our story left in such extraordinary circumstances, found no great difficulty in reaching his convent, situated amidst pleasant pastures on the south-western side of Lichfield. He entered the eastern and principal gate of the friary about midnight. It might be from fatigue and anxiety, but certain it is he made no genuflexion as he passed the great Crucifix on the outside. Lauds had just commenced in the convent church, whose cloistered range stretched away on his right, and the noble arched windows glowed amidst the black and massy buttresses with red splendour. The porter testified some surprise at his return in this unusual hour, checked however by the most profound habitual respect. To the Warden's hasty question, he replied, that his sudden absence, protracted to the unusual length of two days, had caused some anxiety, that Sir Lionel Biddulf had arrived that evening, a little before vespers, and was awaiting his return in the most restless eagerness. Avoiding the church, the Warden crossed the court in an opposite direction to the spacious building termed the Bishop's lodging, which was in fact appropriated to the Warden himself. He immediately retired to his oratory, and was in the midst of thanksgiving for his present deliverance, and prayer for guidance through his impending difficulties, when the loud swell of the organ and the bells mutually blending through the night air, announced that the service was over. A blaze of torches pouring through the great west door began to scatter in every direction along the cloisters, or across the quadrangle, according as the brethren had heard or not the much desired return of their Superior. Chafed almost to distraction by the Franciscan's unaccountable failure in his appointment, the Knight of Helmhurst had past the evening in the Convent without touching food; he had attended-, not without some impatience-the midnight service, and was the first to catch the intelligence of the Warden's re-appearance. It may be imagined with what eager. ness the brother of the ill-fated Rosamund repaired to the Bishop's lodging, and demanded immediate admittance to the Warden. He was ushered into a large panelled chamber, well lighted by a huge lamp and a fire. The Warden, worn by apprehension, hunger, and fatigue, was seated near the ample chimney, his shrivelled hands stretched over the blaze,-while a massively carved oak table, covered with substantial cates, and a portly stoup of Staffordshire ale, of ivory and ebony, hooped with silver, stood at his elbow. Far above the middle size, and of proportions that would have been too brawny, had not his mein been so elegant, Sir Lionel Biddulf possessed little to recommend his countenance, except that indescribable air of gentility and worth which received enhancement from a profusion of short, curled, nut-brown hair, large hazel eyes, and teeth which, if displayed by too capacious a mouth, seemed, from their size, regularity, and whiteness, to derive some title to be seen. He wore a tight dress of hunter's green, puffed with black -a black velvet hat, full and somewhat raised, with a gold eagle in front, and a cloak for whose scanty dimensions we may excuse the natural vanity that used it less as a covering than as a set-off to the deep ample bust, the lusty arms, the stately shoulders, and the large wellturned thigh and calf, that in fight or feast, on horseback or in the dauce, proclaimed the gallant and the gentle Knight of Helmhurst. Affectionately did the venerable Warden lay his thin hands on the glossy clusters of that head that was bowed before him, but he had scarcely done so, when, impatiently waving the attendants to withdraw, he fell on the young man's neck, and burst into a passion of uncontrolled tears. Astonished and embarrassed at so unusual an agitation in one of the father's age and general equanimity, Sir Lionel had not presence of mind_to utter a connected sentence, ere the Franciscan subdued his emotion. "Forgive me, my son," he said, " that I, who ought to set a pattern of patience, am the first to depart from it; but I have suffered much, and this peevish fit will not pass away till I have tasted food." The meat and wine were accordingly put in requisition, less indeed by the temperate appetite of the friar, than by the vigorous hunger of the young knight, from whose heart the very sight of the Franciscan seemed to have taken a heavy load. When hunger was appeased, and the Warden, with a solemn "Da veniam precor!" had taken a second draught of wine, of which Sir Lionel, with less ceremony, quaffed more largely, the attendants were recalled, the table cleared, and an earnest conversation ensued. It was then the friar stated, that the loss he had sustained at Edial was of serious consequence to him. Papers, by which he might be fatally involved with his diocesan, and which, in his haste to obey the pretended summons that decoyed him to Edial, he had omitted to place in security, were now in the hands of De Courtnaye, or his infamous confederate, Warner. It was become absolutely necessary that he should seek a place of temporary seclusion. He then entered into a full detail of his adventures at the robber's hold; concluding by advising Sir Lionel to intimate to De Courtnaye the detection of his machinations, that fear of exposure might induce the guilty Lord to abstain from all acts of violence to his wife; and at all events, that the Knight of Helmhurst should take a public opportunity, on the morrow, of proclaiming his sister's wrongs; which was to be followed up by a muster of his retainers, to be led without delay against the robber chieftain's hall. It was on the following day, about an hour after the episcopal train gathered to the Cathedral, that the old Warden of the Minorites was seen to take a weeping farewell of Sir Lionel, under the fruitladen boughs of the great orchard behind the Friary. At a low arched postern in the broad gray wall, stood a sturdy mule well-caparisoned. As the Friar and his companion paced slowly toward it, the former placed a sealed packet in Sir Lionel's hands. "Here," he said, "are those letters of thine ill-starred sister, by which I first became apprised of her existence and captivity. Surrender them only to the Bishop himself. I purpose taking refuge at the Benedictine Convent of Fairwell, where I am sure of shelter without inquiry, till time permits me to plead my cause at the Palace. Let me have thy signet ring, which shall be a pledge for any messenger whom I may need to dispatch to thee, and Heaven have thee in its keeping, my son." "Amen!" responded the Knight, "and shield thee from danger in thy righteous purposes! I am bidden to the royal banquet to-day. Pray for me, father, that my unskilled interference impair not the cause that my father calls to me from his grave to uphold !" The Warden now mounted his mule, and ambling through the Barr Plack, as the pasture behind the orchard was called, struck into à narrow bridle path, and was soon in the most retired but somewhat circuitous lanes that lead to Fairwell. For the sake of privacy, now so essential to him, the good Warden preferred even the wilderness of Cannock Wood to the high-road that led north of the city to the Benedictine Convent. Yet, little accustomed to its numberless intricacies, he soon became bewildered, and had now wandered into one of the broader ways that intersected the old forest. Speedily, however, did he turn his animal into the thicket again, when thundering by, at full gallop, well mounted and armed, and venting horrible imprecations, some thirty or forty men, among whom the Friar easily recognised the men he had seen at Edial, swept down the most direct road to Lichfield. When they had past, the Warden, auguring he knew not what, immediately pursued the direction from whence they came, and a very brief space brought him, to his astonishinent, in front of the ominous old hall. His first impulse was to turn and flee-his second to think on the poor forlorn lady whom he knew to be confined there, The extraordinary appearance of the mansion, every door open, though it was then by the sun little more than two o'clock, gave him curiosity, if not courage; he dismounted, and then a horrible idea flashing across him, that the Lady de Courtnaye might have been carried off to some unknown spot, or even murdered, made him in defiance of all personal risk boldly enter the dismal old mansion.Halls, galleries, chambers did he traverse, but all were deserted as the cave of the forty thieves, when visited by Ali Baba.. One apartment at length arrested his steps;. it was the one in which he had been imprisoned! Not a moment did he lose in discovering the aperture under the grim tapestry by which Rosamund hadappeared to him. To be brief, he soon found the unhappy lady, whom ecstacy had nearly deprived of the power of following him to air, sunshine and freedom. To return instantly to Lichfield was their first idea, but besides the danger of encountering Warner's men, the Franciscan concealed not from the Lady de Courtnaye that circumstances which had transpired since they met, would not only render it dangerous for himself to appear before the Bishop, but would also render his presence and advocacy prejudicial to her cause. Her mock funeral, which had been celebrated in his own convent, might afford grounds on which her artful lord knew well how to build a superstructure: he might retort on the Warden. |