You have displaced the mirth,broke the good meeting With most admired disorder.MACBETH.
It was afterwards remembered that during the banquets and revels which occupied the remainder of this eventful day the bearing of Leicester and of Varney were totally different from their usual demeanour.Sir Richard Varney had been held rather a man of counsel and of action than a votary of pleasure.Business,whether civil or military,seemed always to be his proper sphere;and while in festivals and revels,although he well understood how to trick them up and present them,his own part was that of a mere spectator;or if he exercised his wit,it was in a rough,caustic,and severe manner,rather as if he scoffed at the exhibition and the guests than shared the common pleasure.
But upon the present day his character seemed changed.He mixed among the younger courtiers and ladies,and appeared for the moment to be actuated by a spirit of light-hearted gaiety,which rendered him a match for the liveliest.Those who had looked upon him as a man given up to graver and more ambitious pursuits,a bitter sneerer and passer of sarcasms at the expense of those who,taking life as they find it,were disposed to snatch at each pastime it presents,now perceived with astonishment that his wit could carry as smooth an edge as their own,his laugh be as lively,and his brow as unclouded.By what art of damnable hypocrisy he could draw this veil of gaiety over the black thoughts of one of the worst of human bosoms must remain unintelligible to all but his compeers,if any such ever existed;but he was a man of extraordinary powers,and those powers were unhappily dedicated in all their energy to the very worst of purposes.
It was entirely different with Leicester.However habituated his mind usually was to play the part of a good courtier,and appear gay,assiduous,and free from all care but that of enhancing the pleasure of the moment,while his bosom internally throbbed with the pangs of unsatisfied ambition,jealousy,or resentment,his heart had now a yet more dreadful guest,whose workings could not be overshadowed or suppressed;and you might read in his vacant eye and troubled brow that his thoughts were far absent from the scenes in which he was compelling himself to play a part.He looked,moved,and spoke as if by a succession of continued efforts;and it seemed as if his will had in some degree lost the promptitude of command over the acute mind and goodly form of which it was the regent.His actions and gestures,instead of appearing the consequence of ****** volition,seemed,like those of an automaton,to wait the revolution of some internal machinery ere they could be performed;and his words fell from him piecemeal,interrupted,as if he had first to think what he was to say,then how it was to be said,and as if,after all,it was only by an effort of continued attention that he completed a sentence without forgetting both the one and the other.
The singular effects which these distractions of mind produced upon the behaviour and conversation of the most accomplished courtier of England,as they were visible to the lowest and dullest menial who approached his person,could not escape the notice of the most intelligent Princess of the age.Nor is there the least doubt that the alternate negligence and irregularity of his manner would have called down Elizabeth's severe displeasure on the Earl of Leicester,had it not occurred to her to account for it by supposing that the apprehension of that displeasure which she had expressed towards him with such vivacity that very morning was dwelling upon the spirits of her favourite,and,spite of his efforts to the contrary,distracted the usual graceful tenor of his mien and the charms of his conversation.
When this idea,so flattering to female vanity,had once obtained possession of her mind,it proved a full and satisfactory apology for the numerous errors and mistakes of the Earl of Leicester;and the watchful circle around observed with astonishment,that,instead of resenting his repeated negligence,and want of even ordinary attention (although these were points on which she was usually extremely punctilious),the Queen sought,on the contrary,to afford him time and means to recollect himself,and deigned to assist him in doing so,with an indulgence which seemed altogether inconsistent with her usual character.It was clear,however,that this could not last much longer,and that Elizabeth must finally put another and more severe construction on Leicester's uncourteous conduct,when the Earl was summoned by Varney to speak with him in a different apartment.
After having had the message twice delivered to him,he rose,and was about to withdraw,as it were,by instinct;then stopped,and turning round,entreated permission of the Queen to absent himself for a brief space upon matters of pressing importance.
Go,my lord,said the Queen.We are aware our presence must occasion sudden and unexpected occurrences,which require to be provided for on the instant.Yet,my lord,as you would have us believe ourself your welcome and honoured guest,we entreat you to think less of our good cheer,and favour us with more of your good countenance than we have this day enjoyed;for whether prince or peasant be the guest,the welcome of the host will always be the better part of the entertainment.Go,my lord;and we trust to see you return with an unwrinkled brow,and those free thoughts which you are wont to have at the disposal of your friends.Leicester only bowed low in answer to this rebuke,and retired.
At the door of the apartment he was met by Varney,who eagerly drew him apart,and whispered in his ear,All is well!Has Masters seen her?said the Earl.