show more gorgeous or princely fabrics, than those set up under the rule of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and specially his own palace at Dijon; wherein the dark, and rude, and lowering walls of the embattled castle, or lofty watchtower, fitted only for scenes of strife or blood, were lost in the richly-wrought turret, the gay window and gallery full rarely carved, and the broad and stately gateway; forming most glorious pleasances for the court, the triumph, the tourney, and the masque. After this manner, then, did I learn much of the art of building goodly mansions, the which in my later years hath been of great benefit unto me; and hath even provided me with a home and a retreat, when all other shelters have failed me in mine old age. Having long outlived Duke Charles of Burgundy, the noble Lady Margaret at length departed this life and went unto God, at her seignory of Malines, in Brabant, in the year 1503. But ere she died, she caused me to be called unto her chamber; and saying that I had been unto her a true and faithful soldier, and forasmuch as that I was of her own country, and, as she verily thought, her kinsman,-holding me, peradventure, to be some natural son of King Richard, she would intrust unto me certain rich jewels, for the fulfilment of her last desires in England; the which she prayed me rightly to perform, as I would prosper me in this world and the next. Hereupon I promised her true service, and she com both of this place and of his chapel at Westminster, were first learned by himself and Richard Fox, Bishop of Win chester, in France, and thence brought into England. manded me to take her coronet of gold and gems unto the chapel of the Virgin, St. George, and St. Edward, at Windsor, wherein lay the body of her royal brother, King Edward IV., and give it unto the brethren there, in guerdon for divers masses to be said for the health of both their souls. Unto the Lady Elizabeth, his queen, at Bermondsey Abbey, she bequeathed her red velvet robe, 'broidered with golden broom-flowers, being the Plantagenet badge; together with a tablet of chased gold, wrought with the visitation of the Virgin unto St. Elizabeth; and to her dear kinswoman, the Lady Bride, the queen's daughter, she gave a golden bridal collar for her neck, with precious stones hanging thereat, and a pair of paternosters of coral and silver. The noble dutchess did also farther devise unto the high altar of the Gray-Friars' church at Leicester, where the corse of King Richard had been so rudely sepultured, a chain of gold enamelled in ancient wise, having the name of God upon every link, for daily prayers for the health of her own soul and that of her royal brother. In brief, she bestowed divers other rich and costly gifts, for masses to be sung for herself and those of her house who were deceased, in every place where they were sepultured; and unto myself she gave fifty marks of gold,-£33. 6s. 8d.-for seeing that her will herein was duly fulfilled. She did then give unto me her discharge from all other earthly service that I owed unto her, and I left her with divers assurances of fidelity; not without much sadness and heaviness of heart, but I had now seen so many who had befriended me VOL. IL-D gradually pass away from me into the devouring grave, that by this time I was well nigh steeled against any new touch of such calamity. Thus died the gallant Dutchess of Burgundy, much to the joy of Harry Tudor; unto whom the flattering followers of Lancaster were wont to say she was as Juno of old was unto the wandering Prince Eneas, moving heaven and earth against him,* as Virgilius hath full sweetly written-"Arma virumque cano," which every scholar knoweth; or in our ruder English, "Arms be my song, and him whom heaven's decree With vengeful storms, with foemen, and with war!" Howbeit, though Henry of Lancaster was thus likened unto Æneas, yet might I never note the semblance betwixt them; for that the Troian prince was both pious and noble, whereas he of the red rose was only a simular of virtue, exceeding artful, and all devoted unto covetise and oppressive gathering of riches. I have but little more to add of my long sojourn and exile in France,-when I have noted that I saw the body of the Lady Margaret sepultured in the church of the Cordeliers, in Malines, and returned into Burgundy, to receive those * This circumstance is also related by Bernard Andreas the contemporary historian of Henty VII, goods which she had devoted unto holy works in England; after which I journeyed hither to perform her will. At length, about the beginning of April, in 1503, I left Burgundy, and travelled with what haste I might unto Harfleur, whence I forthwith set sail and landed me at the Isle of Wight; it being now fifteen years since I had last left it for Bretagne, with the army of the hapless Lord Widvile. CHAPTER III. THE SOLDIER'S RETURN, AND FIRST ADVENTURE IN ENGLAND. -As he entered the church-he beheld her alone in the midst of the aisle prostrate upon Euphrasia's tomb. The piety the gratitude of Olympia, the sanctity of the placc-and the recollection of past times, to which these circumstances gave birth, made a powerful impression upon the heart of Theophilus. He advanced towards Olympia; the sound of his feet drew her attention, and she turned her face bathed in tears to see who it was. Theophilus approached and knelt beside her and she beheld him with astonishment. MAD. DE GENLIS' VEILLÉES DU CHATEAU. THUS did I once more spring upon the shores of my native country with a warm and joyful heart; for albeit in mine exile I had seen the red vineyards of Burgundy, and felt the warm suns of Languedoc, and heard the gentle speech of Paris and the court of King Charles, yet did I ever think that in mine own land the yellow cornfields looked more plenteous, the colder skies more healthful, and my countrymen more artless and virtuous, though of blunter manners and ruder speech. It was now a season of peace and prosperity-excepting the exactions of Harry Tudor, -throughout the realm; which seemed, as it were resting and reviving from the wars and tumults wherewith it had long been disquieted, even by the very children of the soil and the foes of its |