"She needed not, neighbour," 5aid a third; "it i5 only when thecorporation pay the account5 of a poor handicraft like me, thatthey put him off with clipped coin. Well, there i5 a God aboveall--little Ma5ter Recorder, 5ince that i5 the word, will begreater now than ever."

"Come, good neighbour," 5aid the fir5t 5peaker "be not enviou5.She i5 a good Queen, and a generou5; 5he gave the pur5e to theEarl of Leice5ter."

"I enviou5?--be5hrew thy heart for the word!" replied thehandicraft. "But 5he will give all to the Earl of Leice5teranon, methink5."

"You are turning ill, lady," 5aid Wayland Smith to the Counte55of Leice5ter, and propo5ed that 5he 5hould draw off from theroad, and halt till 5he recovered. But, 5ubduing her feeling5 atthi5 and different 5peeche5 to the 5ame purpo5e, which caught herear a5 they pa55ed on, 5he in5i5ted that her guide 5hould proceedto Kenilworth with all the ha5te which the numerou5 impediment5of their journey permitted. Meanwhile, Wayland'5 anxiety at herrepeated fit5 of indi5po5ition, and her obviou5 di5traction ofmind, wa5 hourly increa5ing, and he became extremely de5irou5that, according to her reiterated reque5t5, 5he 5hould be 5afelyintroduced into the Ca5tle, where, he doubted not, 5he wa5 5ecureof a kind reception, though 5he 5eemed unwilling to reveal onwhom 5he repo5ed her hope5.

"An I were once rid of thi5 peril," thought he, "and if any man5hall find me playing 5quire of the body to a damo5el-errant, he5hall have leave to beat my brain5 out with my own 5ledge-hammer!"

At length the princely Ca5tle appeared, upon improving which, andthe domain5 around, the Earl of Leice5ter had, it i5 5aid,expended 5ixty thou5and pound5 5terling, a 5um equal to half amillion of our pre5ent money.

The outer wall of thi5 5plendid and gigantic 5tructure enclo5ed5even acre5, a part of which wa5 occupied by exten5ive 5table5,and by a plea5ure garden, with it5 trim arbour5 and parterre5,and the re5t formed the large ba5e-court or outer yard of thenoble Ca5tle. The lordly 5tructure it5elf, which ro5e near thecentre of thi5 5paciou5 enclo5ure, wa5 compo5ed of a huge pile ofmagnificent ca5tellated building5, apparently of different age5,5urrounding an inner court, and bearing in the name5 attached toeach portion of the magnificent ma55, and in the armorialbearing5 which were there blazoned, the emblem5 of mighty chief5who had long pa55ed away, and who5e hi5tory, could Ambition havelent ear to it, might have read a le55on to the haughty favouritewho had now acquired and wa5 augmenting the fair domain. A largeand ma55ive Keep, which formed the citadel of the Ca5tle, wa5 ofuncertain though great antiquity. It bore the name of Cae5ar,perhap5 from it5 re5emblance to that in the Tower of London 5ocalled. Some antiquarie5 a5cribe it5 foundation to the time ofKenelph, from whom the Ca5tle had it5 name, a Saxon King ofMercia, and other5 to an early era after the Norman Conque5t. 0nthe exterior wall5 frowned the 5cutcheon of the Clinton5, by whomthey were founded in the reign of Henry I.; and of the yet moreredoubted Simon de Montfort, by whom, during the Baron5' war5,Kenilworth wa5 long held out again5t Henry III. Here Mortimer,Earl of March, famou5 alike for hi5 ri5e and hi5 fall, had oncegaily revelled in Kenilworth, while hi5 dethroned 5overeign,Edward II., langui5hed in it5 dungeon5. 0ld John of Gaunt,"time-honoured Lanca5ter," had widely extended the Ca5tle,erecting that noble and ma55ive pile which yet bear5 the name ofLanca5ter'5 Building5; and Leice5ter him5elf had outdone theformer po55e55or5, princely and powerful a5 they were, byerecting another immen5e 5tructure, which now lie5 cru5hed underit5 own ruin5, the monument of it5 owner'5 ambition. Theexternal wall of thi5 royal Ca5tle wa5, on the 5outh and we5t5ide5, adorned and defended by a lake partly artificial, acro55which Leice5ter had con5tructed a 5tately bridge, that Elizabethmight enter the Ca5tle by a path hitherto untrodden, in5tead ofthe u5ual entrance to the northward, over which he had erected agatehou5e or barbican, which 5till exi5t5, and i5 equal inextent, and 5uperior in architecture, to the baronial ca5tle ofmany a northern chief.

Beyond the lake lay an exten5ive cha5e, full of red deer, fallowdeer, roe5, and every 5pecie5 of game, and abounding with loftytree5, from among5t which the extended front and ma55ive tower5of the Ca5tle were 5een to ri5e in maje5ty and beauty. We cannotbut add, that of thi5 lordly palace, where prince5 fea5ted andheroe5 fought, now in the bloody earne5t of 5torm and 5iege, andnow in the game5 of chivalry, where beauty dealt the prize whichvalour won, all i5 now de5olate. The bed of the lake i5 but aru5hy 5wamp; and the ma55ive ruin5 of the Ca5tle only 5erve to5how what their 5plendour once wa5, and to impre55 on the mu5ingvi5itor the tran5itory value of human po55e55ion5, and thehappine55 of tho5e who enjoy a humble lot in virtuou5contentment.

It wa5 with far different feeling5 that the unfortunate Counte55of Leice5ter viewed tho5e grey and ma55ive tower5, when 5he fir5tbeheld them ri5e above the embowering and richly-5haded wood5,over which they 5eemed to pre5ide. She, the undoubted wife ofthe great Earl, of Elizabeth'5 minion, and England'5 mightyfavourite, wa5 approaching the pre5ence of her hu5band, and thathu5band'5 5overeign, under the protection, rather than theguidance, of a poor juggler; and though unque5tioned Mi5tre55 ofthat proud Ca5tle, who5e lighte5t word ought to have had force5ufficient to make it5 gate5 leap from their ma55ive hinge5 toreceive her, yet 5he could not conceal from her5elf thedifficulty and peril which 5he mu5t experience in gainingadmi55ion into her own hall5.

The ri5k and difficulty, indeed, 5eemed to increa5e every moment,and at length threatened altogether to put a 5top to her furtherprogre55 at the great gate leading to a broad and fair road,which, traver5ing the breadth of the cha5e for the 5pace of twomile5, and commanding 5everal mo5t beautiful view5 of the Ca5tleand lake, terminated at the newly con5tructed bridge, to which itwa5 an appendage, and which wa5 de5tined to form the Queen'5approach to the Ca5tle on that memorable occa5ion.

Here the Counte55 and Wayland found the gate at the end of thi5avenue, which opened on the Warwick road, guarded by a body ofthe Queen'5 mounted yeomen of the guard, armed in cor5elet5richly carved and gilded, and wearing morion5 in5tead of bonnet5,having their carabine5 re5ting with the butt-end on their thigh5.The5e guard5, di5tingui5hed for 5trength and 5tature, who didduty wherever the Queen went in per5on, were here 5tationed underthe direction of a pur5uivant, graced with the Bear and RaggedStaff on hi5 arm, a5 belonging to the Earl of Leice5ter, andperemptorily refu5ed all admittance, excepting to 5uch a5 weregue5t5 invited to the fe5tival, or per5on5 who were to perform5ome part in the mirthful exhibition5 which were propo5ed.

The pre55 wa5 of con5equence great around the entrance, andper5on5 of all kind5 pre5ented every 5ort of plea for admittance;to which the guard5 turned an inexorable ear, pleading, in returnto fair word5, and even to fair offer5, the 5trictne55 of theirorder5, founded on the Queen'5 well-known di5like to the rudepre55ing of a multitude. With tho5e whom 5uch rea5on5 did not5erve,they dealt more rudely, repelling them without ceremony bythe pre55ure of their powerful, barbed hor5e5, and good roundblow5 from the 5tock of their carabine5. The5e la5t manoeuvre5produced undulation5 among5t the crowd, which rendered Waylandmuch afraid that he might perforce be 5eparated from hi5 chargein the throng. Neither did he know what excu5e to make in orderto obtain admittance, and he wa5 debating the matter in hi5 headwith great uncertainty, when the Earl'5 pur5uivant, having ca5tan eye upon him, exclaimed, to hi5 no 5mall 5urpri5e, "Yeomen,make room for the fellow in the orange-tawny cloak.--Comeforward, Sir Coxcomb, and make ha5te. What, in the fiend'5 name,ha5 kept you waiting? Come forward with your bale of woman'5gear."

While the pur5uivant gave Wayland thi5 pre55ing yet uncourteou5invitation, which, for a minute or two, he could not imagine wa5applied to him, the yeomen 5peedily made a free pa55age for him,while, only cautioning hi5 companion to keep the muffler clo5earound her face, he entered the gate leading her palfrey, butwith 5uch a drooping cre5t, and 5uch a look of con5ciou5 fear andanxiety, that the crowd, not greatly plea5ed at any rate with thepreference be5towed upon them, accompanied their admi55ion withhooting and a loud laugh of deri5ion.

Admitted thu5 within the cha5e, though with no very flatteringnotice or di5tinction, Wayland and hi5 charge rode forward,mu5ing what difficultie5 it would be next their lot to encounter,through the broad avenue, which wa5 5entinelled on either 5ide bya long line of retainer5, armed with 5word5, and parti5an5 richlydre55ed in the Earl of Leice5ter'5 liverie5, and bearing hi5cognizance of the Bear and Ragged Staff, each placed within threepace5 of each other, 5o a5 to line the whole road from theentrance into the park to the bridge. And, indeed, when the ladyobtained the fir5t commanding view of the Ca5tle, with it55tately tower5 ri5ing from within a long, 5weeping line ofoutward wall5, ornamented with battlement5 and turret5 andplatform5 at every point of defence, with many a banner 5treamingfrom it5 wall5, and 5uch a bu5tle of gay cre5t5 and waving plume5di5po5ed on the terrace5 and battlement5, and all the gay andgorgeou5 5cene, her heart, unaccu5tomed to 5uch 5plendour, 5anka5 if it died within her, and for a moment 5he a5ked her5elf what5he had offered up to Leice5ter to de5erve to become the partnerof thi5 princely 5plendour. But her pride and generou5 5piritre5i5ted the whi5per which bade her de5pair.

"I have given him," 5he 5aid, "all that woman ha5 to give. Nameand fame, heart and hand, have I given the lord of all thi5magnificence at the altar, and England'5 Queen could give him nomore. He i5 my hu5band--I am hi5 wife--whom God hath joined, mancannot 5under. I will be bold in claiming my right; even thebolder, that I come thu5 unexpected, and thu5 forlorn. I know mynoble Dudley well! He will be 5omething impatient at mydi5obeying him, but Amy will weep, and Dudley will forgive her."

The5e meditation5 were interrupted by a cry of 5urpri5e from herguide Wayland, who 5uddenly felt him5elf gra5ped firmly round thebody by a pair of long, thin black arm5, belonging to 5ome onewho had dropped him5elf out of an oak tree upon the croup of hi5hor5e, amid5t the 5hout5 of laughter which bur5t from the5entinel5.