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chard, Duke of Gloucester, and this, perchance, is thy boasted greatness."

"He spake the sooth for once," answered I with lofty voice, "for I am indeed the son of the noble King Richard, and a Plantagenet !"

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"I well deem," replied the abbot," that thou art little better than another mean adventurer from Burgundy; but, whether thy speech be false or true, methinks thy wit must be at a low ebb to hope that this name would advance thee unto aught but a scaffold. For if thou wert indeed the offspring of Richard, what couldest thou be but his unlawful issue, and son to a murtherer slain for his tyranny and crimes? Thy lofty birth, therefore, will do thee but small good here; though, being faithfully reported, it may be of some slight import unto King Henry."

"Then unto him be it told," answered I, with scorn, "I fear not to die, or to add my blood unto that of the many victims whom he hath already cut off from my noble house; and he will find me full worthy of the name of Plantagenet. My form le may indeed reduce unto a bloody corse upon the scaffold, but upon the soul that animates it hath he no power; since its native dignity shall never be abated, even when I bow me unto the axe of the headsman."

“That triumph may indeed be thine," rejoined the abbot, in a scoffing tone," and as thou claimest such high dignity, thou shalt have fitting honour paid thee, in a larger guard and a different lodging than I did at first purpose for thee. On the word of an abbot thy royalty shall be carried unto a palace, and I will give thee a brave retinue to

wait around thy noble person, until thou art safely bestowed at Sheen; or, perchance, until thou shalt lack a guard no longer."

At this moment I well might understand the great hazard of my condition, never doubting that my life was indeed forfeited; for I had, peradventure, been too rash in avowing my birth and noble blood. Yet nevertheless, the thought that I was not the base person they deemed me, and the consciousness of mine own good faith in entering the abbey, I felt would sustain me under any violence; and I looked steadily forward unto mine only remaining duty, namely, to die like the son of a king.

In the meantime the abbot had summoned his yeomen to arm themselves, mount, and carry me on to the palace of Sheen, where the court was to be at the feast of Easter; and we set out forthwith, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour. The skies were now full dark, though the storm was over; and, after riding hard through the night, by about the hour of Prime we arrived at that most stately abode for royalty, which Harry Tudor had then lately erected, and called Richmond after his own title.

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And who can tell the pangs so keen
That such ill-fated lovers know?
Where towers and bars arise between,
Dark spies above and guards below.

In vain for me the sun doth rise,

In vain for me the moon doth shine,
The smiling earth ne'er cheers mine eyes,
Here doom'd in misery to pine.

MICKLE'S BALLAD OF ARABELLA STUART.

WHEN the abbot's yeomen and myself arrived at Sheen, I was betowed in a strong upper chamber in one of the towers of that fair palace; in the which captivity I had space of time enow to pine over my past fortunes, for with the future I deemed that I had now little or nothing to do.

Yet even in that place of mine imprisonment, I learned some things concerning the fatal night whereof I have recounted the story, and that cleared up certain of the dark passages of my life. It would have been no marvel had my soul been overcome with heaviness at the hazard wherein I was now placed, yet did I feel less for

myself than for the Lady Bride, whom I ever regarded as sacrificed unto Harry Tudor's jealousy of the house of York, even from her very youth, albeit she was so well fitted for the veil and the cloister. It was told unto me by my rude, though friendly keeper, that after my departure to Sheen, she was full sternly reproved and dealt with for my sake; for albeit I only was guilty herein, yet would none believe that I had ventured unto her of mine own will alone: therefore did she endure a twofold mistrust, being thought both to have invited my trespass, and after perversely to have denied it. Hereupon full soon was the royal damsel withdrawn from Bermondsey, not even staying her purposed consecration, and conveyed unto a remote convent, the name whereof was carefully hidden from my knowledge; and I did fear that still more rigorous dealings were used towards her, since, I should have noted, that Henry deemed him now to have small tie unto her house, seeing that her sister, the Queen Elizabeth, had deceased on the 11th day of February, in the year 1503. The thought of her sorrow, made yet more gloomy the sad season which I passed imprisoned at Sheen; for albeit I was in a full stately palace, the narrow chamber where I was confined was heavily barred and bolted, and little better for its lonely inhabitant, than the murky dungeon of a common jail.

It was long before the council came together at this place, for that Henry and his ministers were taken up with devising, how best to strengthen his throne against any sudden motion in favour of the house of York, which many in the realm VOL. II.-K

still affected; and they feared, moreover, that, as in truth his best claim unto the crown was through his late queen, some of the nation should think that he could hold it only in trust for his young heir. Harry Tudor had also a scheme afoot for a new marriage with the queen-dowager of Naples, because of the great riches which her late lord had willed unto her; but when the secret English commissioners learned that she should inherit no such wealth, they were recalled, and their master thought of this device no longer.

About the feast of Easter, the privy council all met at Sheen, whither Harry himself had already come in great pomp, but, as I beheld his followers unto the palace from my lofty and well-defended window, I should rather have said in great fear; else why was that guard around him of tall and mounted yeomen, clad in his liveries of red and blue, half being armed with bows and arrows and the other half with harquebusses, and all wearing armour with great swords? The like hereof had never been seen in England, until Harry established them in fear at his coronation, and had neverdisbanded them: but it was not thus I trow in the days of King Richard, and for why? because he trusted unto his own valour and the good faith of his subjects; which this usurping Earl, this wily, but "shallow Richmond," as my father would sportively call him, could never do. Now, indeed, I wot that these yeomen are continued as the proper retinue of state, so men do nothing note them; yet, albeit I had seen the French King's band of Scots archers, it did somewhat surprise me to find that a sovereign of these

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