Sir Edward Wingfield; and to these came Squire Beronfaw and the Hampshire Efquire, each with a company of fix fcore men. And William Cheney, he was minded to go this venture with his friend. He would be Effex's Efquire, as Sir Thomas had been Efquire to Earl Walter. And William had a troop of eighty men, tenants of Chenies and Claydon, mounted on their own beafts, refolute to follow their young mafter to the field. You should have seen Davy flourish the colours! So brifkly did he wave the blue flag, that one could not discover the Cross-flory thereon 'till he was better learned. And how folemn old 'Zekiel fate ever close at the Earl Marshal's heels! And my Lord Southampton showed William of Master Shakspeare's doings, how he had just writ two plays on King Henry IV. How they aimed higher than those Histories William had feen acted, having a development of character proper to Comedies, and a folemn gait fuitable to Tragedy. And my Lord noted that the Poet's humour was lately growing broader, and still of a deeper vein. And William showed fome treasured lines the witty author had writ when at Chenies in autumn last: for it was under the wide spreading beeches of Old Chenies that William Shakspeare con

ceived the poetry of "As you Like It,"-though for a

romantic colouring he put the scene in Arden. You shall judge. 'Tis of Jaques one fpeaks :

"To-day, my Lord of Amiens and myfelf
Did steal behind him, as he lay along
Under an Oak, whofe antique root peeps out
Upon the brook that brawls along this wood:
To the which place a poor fequeftered flag,
That from the hunter's aim had ta'en hurt,
Did come to languifh; and indeed, my Lord,
The wretched animal heaved forth fuch groans
That their discharge did ftretch his leathern coat
Almost to bursting; and the big round tears
Courfed one another down his innocent nofe
In piteous chafe: And thus the hairy fool,
Much marked of the melancholy Jaques,

Stood on the extremest verge of the fwift brook,
Augmenting it with tears."

"You fhall see these things whiles here," said he;

"though 'tis not often a poet in the dumps fo moralises on

them! And again, where else was this writ?

"Under the Greenwood tree,

Who loves to lie with me,

And tune his merry note,

Unto the fweet bird's throat?

VOL. III.

H

Come hither, Come hither, Come hither!
Here fball he fee

No Enemy

But winter and rough weather!

"Who doth ambition shun,

And loves to lie i' the Sun;

Seeking the food he eats,

And pleafed with what he gets,

Come hither, Come hither, Come hither!

Here fball he fee

No Enemy

But winter and rough weather!”

There was more than one Phoebe in Steeple-Claydon, and too many of Silvius' fort about Chenies, the Jades faid. Some accufed poor Davy of being a Touchstone, he having feen foreign parts; though not fuch a fool as to have been in Arden, quod he. "Twas one o' the Waights' fongs,

too

"What shall he have who killed the deer?”

And another lefs modeftly worded, that the wild lads chaunt

“Between the acres of the rye.”

Now upon this fubject the Earl of Southampton and William

Cheney fat talking almost through the night: but

but my

Lord

The Succeffion again.

99

of Effex was in the room behind the Armoury, clofeted with Sir Thomas, going over and over again the vexed question of the fucceffion. Now would he bring himself through York and now through Lancaster; then would he fall back on Thomas of Woodstock; and anon conceive none stood between him, Robert Devereux, and the rightful inheritance of the Throne.

But the Knight was refolute that my Lord, and those claiming with the like right, were but in the fifth degree: that, if the Plantagenet blood should be restored, there were very many of admitted defcent nearer akin to the great stock of Edward the Third; but that the nation having graffed the House of Tudor on that stock, and fuffered Henry the Eighth to will the order of fucceffion, that order now rested either in the Queen under that precedent, or in the nation expreffing itself in Parliament. He thought the Queen was competent; if she failed, the other. And he reminded Effex how, when the Scots Queen was cut off, prudent men had faid he had been the heir to both these realms; and that her fon James undoubtedly represented the blood of Henry the Seventh.

And with this he scarce ftayed my Lord's importunity :

for certainly fome had fet his head hammering on these matters with an evil aim. You remember how Doleman's book was dedicated to him; and now, with expreffions of esteem and respect, one Hayward, a Student of Civil Law in Cambridge, prefents to my Lord "A Treatife of Henry IV.," fhewing the depofition of King Richard II. And there was much descanting about it forthwith, why such a story should come out at this time; and many exceptions were taken to the Epistle dedicatory, objecting to my Lord in good earnest. Of fuch import was it thought by some that her Grace questioned Master Francis if this might not be Treafon, and would fain have the author racked, that he might reveal. But Bacon (with a jest) diverted her, saying he could prove the book a felony, for many paffages therein were bafely stolen; but for treafon, there was no fuch matter in't.

But, howsoever, the Earl's imagination bent on the fucceffion; and, what is more, people very well knew it was fo.