Have you not seen the partridge quake,

Viewing the hawk approaching nigh?

She cuddles close beneath the brake,

Afraid to sit, afraid to fly, --PRIOR.

It chanced, upon that memorable morning, that one of the earliest of

the huntress train, who appeared from her chamber in full array for the

chase, was the Princess for whom all these pleasures were instituted,

England's Maiden Queen. I know not if it were by chance, or out of the

befitting courtesy due to a mistress by whom he was so much honoured,

that she had scarcely made one step beyond the threshold of her

chamber ere Leicester was by her side, and proposed to her, until the

preparations for the chase had been completed, to view the Pleasance,

and the gardens which it connected with the Castle yard.

To this new scene of pleasures they walked, the Earl's arm affording his

Sovereign the occasional support which she required, where flights

of steps, then a favourite ornament in a garden, conducted them from

terrace to terrace, and from parterre to parterre. The ladies in

attendance, gifted with prudence, or endowed perhaps with the amiable

desire of acting as they would be done by, did not conceive their duty

to the Queen's person required them, though they lost not sight of her,

to approach so near as to share, or perhaps disturb, the conversation

betwixt the Queen and the Earl, who was not only her host, but also her

most trusted, esteemed, and favoured servant. They contented themselves

with admiring the grace of this illustrious couple, whose robes of state

were now exchanged for hunting suits, almost equally magnificent.

Elizabeth's silvan dress, which was of a pale blue silk, with silver

lace and AIGUILLETTES, approached in form to that of the ancient

Amazons, and was therefore well suited at once to her height and to

the dignity of her mien, which her conscious rank and long habits of

authority had rendered in some degree too masculine to be seen to the

best advantage in ordinary female weeds. Leicester's hunting suit of

Lincoln green, richly embroidered with gold, and crossed by the gay

baldric which sustained a bugle-horn, and a wood-knife instead of a

sword, became its master, as did his other vestments of court or of war.

For such were the perfections of his form and mien, that Leicester was

always supposed to be seen to the greatest advantage in the character

and dress which for the time he represented or wore.

The conversation of Elizabeth and the favourite Earl has not reached

us in detail. But those who watched at some distance (and the eyes of

courtiers and court ladies are right sharp) were of opinion that on no

occasion did the dignity of Elizabeth, in gesture and motion, seem

so decidedly to soften away into a mien expressive of indecision and

tenderness. Her step was not only slow, but even unequal, a thing most

unwonted in her carriage; her looks seemed bent on the ground; and there

was a timid disposition to withdraw from her companion, which external

gesture in females often indicates exactly the opposite tendency in

the secret mind. The Duchess of Rutland, who ventured nearest, was even

heard to aver that she discerned a tear in Elizabeth's eye and a blush

on her cheek; and still further, "She bent her looks on the ground to

avoid mine," said the Duchess, "she who, in her ordinary mood, could

look down a lion." To what conclusion these symptoms led is sufficiently

evident; nor were they probably entirely groundless. The progress of

a private conversation betwixt two persons of different sexes is often

decisive of their fate, and gives it a turn very different perhaps

from what they themselves anticipated. Gallantry becomes mingled with

conversation, and affection and passion come gradually to mix with

gallantry. Nobles, as well as shepherd swains, will, in such a trying

moment, say more than they intended; and Queens, like village maidens,

will listen longer than they should.




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