The moment comes--
It is already come--when thou must write The absolute total of thy life's vast sum.
The constellations stand victorious o'er thee,The planets shoot good fortune in fair junctions,And tell thee,Now's the time.SCHILLER'S WALLENSTEIN,BY COLERIDGE.
When Leicester returned to his lodging,alter a day so important and so harassing,in which,after riding out more than one gale,and touching on more than one shoal,his bark had finally gained the harbour with banner displayed,he seemed to experience as much fatigue as a mariner after a perilous storm.He spoke not a word while his chamberlain exchanged his rich court-mantle for a furred night-robe,and when this officer signified that Master Varney desired to speak with his lordship,he replied only by a sullen nod.Varney,however,entered,accepting this signal as a permission,and the chamberlain withdrew.
The Earl remained silent and almost motionless in his chair,his head reclined on his hand,and his elbow resting upon the table which stood beside him,without seeming to be conscious of the entrance or of the presence of his confidant.Varney waited for some minutes until he should speak,desirous to know what was the finally predominant mood of a mind through which so many powerful emotions had that day taken their course.But he waited in vain,for Leicester continued still silent,and the confidant saw himself under the necessity of being the first to speak.May Icongratulate your lordship,he said,on the deserved superiority you have this day attained over your most formidable rival?Leicester raised his head,and answered sadly,but without anger,Thou,Varney,whose ready invention has involved me in a web of most mean and perilous falsehood,knowest best what small reason there is for gratulation on the subject.Do you blame me,my lord,said Varney,for not betraying,on the first push,the secret on which your fortunes depended,and which you have so oft and so earnestly recommended to my safe keeping?Your lordship was present in person,and might have contradicted me and ruined yourself by an avowal of the truth;but surely it was no part of a faithful servant to have done so without your commands.I cannot deny it,Varney,said the Earl,rising and walking across the room;my own ambition has been traitor to my love.Say rather,my lord,that your love has been traitor to your greatness,and barred you from such a prospect of honour and power as the world cannot offer to any other.To make my honoured lady a countess,you have missed the chance of being yourself--He paused,and seemed unwilling to complete the sentence.
Of being myself what?demanded Leicester;speak out thy meaning,Varney.Of being yourself a KING,my lord,replied Varney;and King of England to boot!It is no treason to our Queen to say so.It would have chanced by her obtaining that which all true subjects wish her--a lusty,noble,and gallant husband.Thou ravest,Varney,answered Leicester.Besides,our times have seen enough to make men loathe the Crown Matrimonial which men take from their wives'lap.There was Darnley of Scotland.He!said Varney;a,gull,a fool,a thrice-sodden ass,who suffered himself to be fired off into the air like a rocket on a rejoicing day.Had Mary had the hap to have wedded the noble Earl ONCE destined to share her throne,she had experienced a husband of different metal;and her husband had found in her a wife as complying and loving as the mate of the meanest squire who follows the hounds a-horseback,and holds her husband's bridle as he mounts.It might have been as thou sayest,Varney,said Leicester,a brief smile of self-satisfaction passing over his anxious countenance.Henry Darnley knew little of women--with Mary,a man who knew her *** might have had some chance of holding his own.But not with Elizabeth,Varney for I thank God,when he gave her the heart of a woman,gave her the head of a man to control its follies.No,I know her.She will accept love-tokens,ay,and requite them with the like--put sugared sonnets in her bosom,ay,and answer them too--push gallantry to the very verge where it becomes exchange of affection;but she writes NILULTRA to all which is to follow,and would not barter one iota of her own supreme power for all the alphabet of both Cupid and Hymen.The better for you,my lord,said Varney--that is,in the case supposed,if such be her disposition;since you think you cannot aspire to become her husband.Her favourite you are,and may remain,if the lady at Cumnor place continues in her present obscurity.Poor Amy!said Leicester,with a deep sigh;she desires so earnestly to be acknowledged in presence of God and man!Ay,but,my lord,said Varney,is her desire reasonable?That is the question.Her religious scruples are solved;she is an honoured and beloved wife,enjoying the society of her husband at such times as his weightier duties permit him to afford her his company.What would she more?I am right sure that a lady so gentle and so loving would consent to live her life through in a certain obscurity--which is,after all,not dimmer than when she was at Lidcote Hall--rather than diminish the least jot of her lord's honours and greatness by a premature attempt to share them.There is something in what thou sayest,said Leicester,and her appearance here were fatal.Yet she must be seen at Kenilworth;Elizabeth will not forget that she has so appointed.Let me sleep on that hard point,said Varney;I cannot else perfect the device I have on the stithy,which I trust will satisfy the Queen and please my honoured lady,yet leave this fatal secret where it is now buried.Has your lordship further commands for the night?I would be alone,said Leicester.Leave me,and place my steel casket on the table.Be within summons.Varney retired,and the Earl,opening the window of his apartment,looked out long and anxiously upon the brilliant host of stars which glimmered in the splendour of a summer firmament.