Raleigh, to whom nature had taught intuitively, as it were, those

courtly arts which many scarce acquire from long experience, knelt, and,

as he took from her hand the jewel, kissed the fingers which gave it.

He knew, perhaps, better than almost any of the courtiers who surrounded

her, how to mingle the devotion claimed by the Queen with the gallantry

due to her personal beauty; and in this, his first attempt to unite

them, he succeeded so well as at once to gratify Elizabeth's personal

vanity and her love of power. [See Note 5. Court favour of Sir Walter

Raleigh.] His master, the Earl of Sussex, had the full advantage of the

satisfaction which Raleigh had afforded Elizabeth, on their first

interview.

"My lords and ladies," said the Queen, looking around to the retinue by

whom she was attended, "methinks, since we are upon the river, it were

well to renounce our present purpose of going to the city, and surprise

this poor Earl of Sussex with a visit. He is ill, and suffering

doubtless under the fear of our displeasure, from which he hath been

honestly cleared by the frank avowal of this malapert boy. What think

ye? were it not an act of charity to give him such consolation as

the thanks of a Queen, much bound to him for his loyal service, may

perchance best minister?"

It may be readily supposed that none to whom this speech was addressed

ventured to oppose its purport.

"Your Grace," said the Bishop of Lincoln, "is the breath of our

nostrils." The men of war averred that the face of the Sovereign was a

whetstone to the soldier's sword; while the men of state were not less

of opinion that the light of the Queen's countenance was a lamp to the

paths of her councillors; and the ladies agreed, with one voice, that no

noble in England so well deserved the regard of England's Royal Mistress

as the Earl of Sussex--the Earl of Leicester's right being reserved

entire, so some of the more politic worded their assent, an exception

to which Elizabeth paid no apparent attention. The barge had, therefore,

orders to deposit its royal freight at Deptford, at the nearest and most

convenient point of communication with Sayes Court, in order that

the Queen might satisfy her royal and maternal solicitude, by making

personal inquiries after the health of the Earl of Sussex.

Raleigh, whose acute spirit foresaw and anticipated important

consequences from the most trifling events, hastened to ask the Queen's

permission to go in the skiff; and announce the royal visit to his

master; ingeniously suggesting that the joyful surprise might prove

prejudicial to his health, since the richest and most generous cordials

may sometimes be fatal to those who have been long in a languishing

state.




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