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.