Might not the answer (for fault of a better)run thus?--'If thy mind fail thee,do not climb at all.'The dame of honour uttered an exclamation of joy and surprise at so happy a termination;and certainly a worse has been applauded,even when coming from a less distinguished author.
The Queen,thus encouraged,took off a diamond ring,and saying,We will give this gallant some cause of marvel when he finds his couplet perfected without his own interference,she wrote her own line beneath that of Raleigh.
The Queen left the pavilion;but retiring slowly,and often looking back,she could see the young cavalier steal,with the flight of a lapwing,towards the place where he had seen her make a pause.She stayed but to observe,as she said,that her train had taken;and then,laughing at the circumstance with the Lady Paget,she took the way slowly towards the Palace.
Elizabeth,as they returned,cautioned her companion not to mention to any one the aid which she had given to the young poet,and Lady Paget promised scrupulous secrecy.It is to be supposed that she made a mental reservation in favour of Leicester,to whom her ladyship transmitted without delay an anecdote so little calculated to give him pleasure.
Raleigh,in the meanwhile,stole back to the window,and read,with a feeling of intoxication,the encouragement thus given him by the Queen in person to follow out his ambitious career,and returned to Sussex and his retinue,then on the point of embarking to go up the river,his heart beating high with gratified pride,and with hope of future distinction.
The reverence due to the person of the Earl prevented any notice being taken of the reception he had met with at court,until they had landed,and the household were assembled in the great hall at Sayes Court;while that lord,exhausted by his late illness and the fatigues of the day,had retired to his chamber,demanding the attendance of Wayland,his successful physician.Wayland,however,was nowhere to be found;and while some of the party were,with military impatience,seeking him and cursing his absence,the rest flocked around Raleigh to congratulate him on his prospects of court-favour.
He had the good taste and judgment to conceal the decisive circumstance of the couplet to which Elizabeth had deigned to find a rhyme;but other indications had transpired,which plainly intimated that he had made some progress in the Queen's favour.
All hastened to wish him joy on the mended appearance of his fortune--some from real regard,some,perhaps,from hopes that his preferment might hasten their own,and most from a mixture of these motives,and a sense that the countenance shown to any one of Sussex's household was,in fact,a triumph to the whole.
Raleigh returned the kindest thanks to them all,disowning,with becoming modesty,that one day's fair reception made a favourite,any more than one swallow a summer.But he observed that Blount did not join in the general congratulation,and,somewhat hurt at his apparent unkindness,he plainly asked him the reason.
Blount replied with equal sincerity--My good Walter,I wish thee as well as do any of these chattering gulls,who are whistling and whooping gratulations in thine ear because it seems fair weather with thee.But I fear for thee,Walter(and he wiped his honest eye),I fear for thee with all my heart.These court-tricks,and gambols,and flashes of fine women's favour are the tricks and trinkets that bring fair fortunes to farthings,and fine faces and witty coxcombs to the acquaintance of dull block and sharp axes.So saying,Blount arose and left the hall,while Raleigh looked after him with an expression that blanked for a moment his bold and animated countenance.
Stanley just then entered the hall,and said to Tressilian,My lord is calling for your fellow Wayland,and your fellow Wayland is just come hither in a sculler,and is calling for you,nor will he go to my lord till he sees you.The fellow looks as he were mazed,methinks;I would you would see him immediately.Tressilian instantly left the hall,and causing Wayland Smith to be shown into a withdrawing apartment,and lights placed,he conducted the artist thither,and was surprised when he observed the emotion of his countenance.
What is the matter with you,Smith?said Tressilian;have you seen the devil?Worse,sir,worse,replied Wayland;I have seen a basilisk.