Tales of the Tapestry.

BY HORACE GUILFORD.
For the Olio.
BLAUNCHEFLO R.
A TALE OF HAMSTAL.
Concluded from p. 310.

ONE day soon after the circumstances we have narrated, the central space, in the front of the gallery, distinguished by this stately harness, and to which the widow, with weeping eyes, and the heiress, with a heart emulous of heroism, so frequently looked, was discovered to be vacant! And scarcely had the astonishment and fruitless investigation caused by its disappearance begun to subside, when, lo! a fresh source of terror manifested itself in the castle and its adjacent hamlets. The armour, or rather, as they asserted, the dead corse of Sir Bertram usurping it, had been seen by the servants, sometimes in the castle-chapel, by his own tomb, on which the identical suit was chiselled, coloured, and gilt in marble; some times in the garden, whence it was said to vanish into the old buttresses that, clad in raiment of vines and roses, frowned over its turf walks. The vassals had also encountered it. The miller had seen it in the Lighthurst croft, and in Robertsholme, by the willowy banks of the Blythe: the Reeve had met it at Nethertown, near his house,

Whose wonnynge was ful fair upon a heath, With grene trees yshadowed was the place." And mine host of the Golden Gauntlet had seen it in the glades of Rough Park, as he was coming from a funeral at Yoxall.

The Lady of Hamstal, deeply tinctured with the superstitions of the age, did not hesitate in attributing the reappearance of her dead lord to his disapproval of that suit which she was conscious she had been led to promote, in opposition to her better judgment, by her blind partiality towards her foster son, no less than by her dazzled views of aggrandizement from her daughter.

And if Blauncheflor's reflections had a less poignant tinge of self-reproach, her ingenuous spirit could not conceal from herself that, even while her tongue most resisted Plantagenet's suit, her heart too warmly advocated it; nor could she deny that, day and night, since Edward's departure, she had abandoned herself to the bitter indulgence of regretful affection.

Nearly a fortnight had elapsed in this dreary manner; the Prince of Wales had parted for Aquitaine, and an invi

tation, or rather a command, had ar-. rived from the sovereign, who still held court at Tutbury, which was promptly obeyed by the Lady De Ridware ;Blaucheflor pleading illness, remained at Hamstal. The employments of her solitude were melancholy enough, being only varied from orisons in the chapel, and the superintendence of alms-giving at the travellers' gate, to the neverending web of embroidery, or lonely rambles into the romantic neighbourhood. The remains of an old hermitage in one of the deepest ravines in the forest of Rough Fark, which had long ago been tenanted by an anchorite of great sanctity, was a favourite object in her woodland strolls. It was a deep circular dell, carpetted with the most delicate herbage and mosses. Summer and winter one eternal green sur rounded and overshadowed this area from the gigantic pines, that like a vası wall encircled it, save that one vista disclosed the old weather-stained tower of the lodge. Five or six great appletrees waved their carmine blossoms over the remains of the cell; and its little clear well still bubbled under its rude stone crucifix; while, thickly enamelled on the short turf, constellations of pale primroses looked meekly up at the majestic darkness of their lofty canopy. The melancholy boom of the woodpigeon, and the flippant notes of the cuckoo, melodized well with the May wind which brushed over the high tree tops, like the sound of a distant ocean. It was one evening, while her feet were listlessly pacing among fragrant beds of wild lilies of the valley, for which the woodlands of Rough Park were once remarkable, that she heard a deep voice pronounce her name: she turned hastily. To recognize the formidable armour of Sir Bertram in that sequestered dell, might alone have terrified Blauncheflor: what, then, must have been her sensations, when the raised aventail disclosed to her view the features of her father!

into the brave pastures and meadows of the Dove and the Trent. Tradition says, that, on a clear day, the warder, from the Donjon rampart, commanded twice-five counties. The castle itself, long the residence of the powerful and wealthy Lancasters, Earls of Derby, had ever maintained a degree of pomp and circumstance, whose bold exhibition awakened the jealous eye of royalty itself. With Edward the Third, however, the family were in high favour: he had not only raised its representative, Henry 'The Good,' (as he was popularly termed) to the ducal rank, but by affiancing his daughter to the young Prince John of Gaunt, rendered him the sire of a lineage of kings. To give some idea of the splendid maintenance displayed at Tutbury Castle, there is an old cofferer's account extant, which estimates the expences of the pantry, buttery, and kitchen, alone, at the yearly cost of 40001.; while other items, consisting in purchases of silver cups, dishes, coffers, &c.; with vermillion and wax for torches; and, chiefly, the wardrobe expenditures for quantities of minever and other furs, cloths, velvets, and silks for the bishops, barons, and knights frequenting this princely residence, together with gifts to the Queen of England, French knights, Countess Warine's nurses, minstrels, esquires, &c., complete the annual expenditure of 80001.—a prodigious sum when we consider the difference between that time and our own!

Night leaned over the romantic thickets of Needwood, when two horsemen were seen in successive and earnest parleys with mine host of the Flaggon, in the lovely village of Yoxall; with the grey porter of Longcroft by the torch-light waters of its moat; with an old wood-cutter at Hadley; with a fisherman whom they encountered by the forest streams of Linbrook; and, lastly, with the seneschal of Byrkley Lodge. The deep disappointment they testified at the answers their enquiries received, and the speed at which they renewed their course, along the woodland path, might have bespoken them to be strangers repulsed in their endeavours to gain an asylum for the night; but as, through the opening thickets, the lights of Tutbury glistened over the gloom, the first speech of the taller horseman declared otherwise.

We will to the Court-to the Court, De Hanbury!-Edward will make a wilderness of the whole country, but he will aid me to reclaim her!"

"There will be no need," said his companion, soothingly, "surely the Lady Blauncheflor

"Oh, the Lady Blauncheflor-the Lady Blauncheflor!" interrupted the other" fool that I was to urge her so far! Had I but contented myself with praising her rejection of the Prince, all had been well; but I so hotly pressed her on the subject of thy suit, Sir Hugh, so insisted on the Los thou hast acquired in France; and the avowal of my obligations to thee, so nearly made me command her to wed thee-that I fear-I fear some rash word of mine has driven my dove to flight!"

The younger horseman sighed deeply and said

"It cannot be that the Prince hath lured her away; though young and fiery, he is too honourable."

"He is honour's minion," rejoined the other, "and, though mad in descending from his own orbit to her's, will nought that savours of ill-faith.But, see! the castle already glares upon us with its hundred eyes; we shall carry tidings of wonder and of dole into its chambers!"

Like some colossal lantern hung between earth and sky, the mighty circlet of Tutbury Castle revealed itself to their view, pierced with a thousand loops of ruddy lustre radiating in every direction, from the hill, upon the massy darkness, and by its interminable illumination proclaiming its extent. As, riding up the street, that wound round the waist of the hill, to the grand gateway on the north, they passed the deep Norman porch of the Priory Church, the belfry struck up a loud and merry peal. The taller horseman, as if stung to the quick, dashed the rowels into his steed, and, followed by his companion, galloped round to the turretted gateway. Proud over the rest of the pile soared the imperial Keep; but though its stately strength was entire, and the barbaric ornaments of window, pillar and arch still remained, it was in a later building, profuse in more delicate and luxuriant sculptures, that the royal festival was held. The approach to it lay by many a tower, through many a painted chamber, to a broad stone stair, with bannisters wrought in arches and foliage of granite, from whence a pair of studded oak doors, twenty feet high, poured, on opening, a golden flood of festal light through the vast archway of the hall, a mighty room, one hundred and ten feet long and proportionately broad. The roof, rising to eighty feet, was one

magnificent vault of Irish oak, laboured into huge ribs, that spanned the chamber in a succession of arcs, whose spandrils were pierced with the most elaborate carve-work, terminating in a cornice that was composed entirely of heraldic coats, and from whence, in cumbrous grandeur, down rolled the voluminous pageantry of arras, impictured with the story of Ahasuerus and Esther. The rare luxury of thick and gaudy turkey carpets, and gold broidered cushions of taffetta and damask, was every where seen; and of all the countless lights that flamed, from gold and silver candlesticks, upon the dazzling array of the guest tables, there was not one which was not in the hand of an attendant.

On the feast it were idle to enlarge, indeed such terms as 'Fylettes in Galentyne;' Vyaund Ryall;' 'Signettes ;' 'Capon of haute grece;' 'Sew Lumbarde;' Purpayes in frumente:' and so forth might puzzle the greatest proficient in the French cuisine. The raiment of the guests displayed so much of the magic of colour, that the eye wandered till it was bewildered over the peacock variegation of violet, silver, rosecolour, pale green, and gold; but here and there the paragon glow of the auriphrygiate, recently introduced, claimed a splendid distinction; the new-fashioned armilace, or short cloak, of superb dies, was every where seen; and you might notice, around the flowing hair of the young nobles, a garland of goldsmiths' work, enriched with emeralds, pearls, and rubies, so as to represent flowers: and, if we add that most displayed great cost of ornament on their broad golden girdles, and wore shoes crooking upwards, with crackOwes (as they were called) or clawbuckles fastened with gold and silver chains to their knees, we shall have said enough for this sketch of a festival, at a period when banquetting was carried to such an excess as to require sumptuary laws.

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King Edward had quitted his canopied state, and was courteously addressing the Duke of Lancaster s little daughter, who was engaged in childish play with her boyish betrothed; and Philippa of Hainault, whose preposterous crescent of head gear was more than emulated by the subordinate divinities of the banquet hall, had joined herself to the Lady de Ridware, when the seneschal suddenly entered, and in some haste whispered the noble host.

"Let some of you take horse forth

with and see to it," was Duke Henry's reply; and the seneschal vanished as he came. Lancaster then turned to the king, and addressed a few words in a low tone, at which his highness seemed much moved, and going up to the Lady de Ridware, who was in converse with the queen, announced that the Warder, while on his nightly post, had observed a strong light westward, and from his experience in the neighbouring halls and castles, had ascertained that the beacon on the great watchtower of the Ridware Hamstal (never lighted but on emergence) was now a blaze, and tossing its fiery plumage far and wide.

Language can but faintly image the frame of Lady Joanna; forgetful of the royal presence; and thinking only of the defenceless Blauncheflor, she was rushing from the hall, when Phillippa, hastening after her, used the most gra-, cious endeavours to pacify her alarm. The startling intelligence whispered from one to another, had now pervaded every part of the vast hall; the noble company had arisen and crowded towards the king; the harps of the minstrels were hushed; and, amidst this most admired disorder, in a moment, and as if dropped from the vaulted roof, or bursting from the floor below, a colossal figure, sheathed in the superb harness of Sir Bertram de Ridware, appeared under the vast arch of the hall door. Then might you see the groupes of richly attired ladies recoil with cries of terror, either fluttering together like startled swans, or fainting on the rich cushions and carpets; while the Lady Joanna with a harrowing exclamation, "It is my dead husband!" was borne in frightful convulsions from the hall.

Edward and Philippa alone stood unblenching; whether it were the gallant pride of their princely hearts, or the high necessity they felt, of at least assuming the superiority of kings, a slight start was all the outward sign Philippa shewed, while the king even advanced towards the mailed apparition, and in a dignified tone he said,

"The arms and cognizance Sir Bertram of the Hamstal hath so often signalized, can never be unwelcome to King Edward, if he come in the flesh; and if not," (here his voice lowered but faltered not), "brave spirit! wherefore art thou here?"

"Great king, and gracious master!" said the knight, taking off his cerveillere, and disclosing the war-bronzed features and grizzled hair of Sir Ber

tram, thy soldier and servant hath been restored from the dead, only to lose all that made life lovely; and to have that restored, he now kneels to him, who, under the King of kings, and Mary the Mother of God, can alone achieve it."

Our story must, however, quit reluctantly this extraordinary scene, leaving to imagination the sorrow and the joy, the condolence and congratulation, attendant on such unhoped reunion; and, merely premising that all search after the lovely Blauncheflor (though expedited by every exertion of the royal prerogative), proved unavailing; and that a solemn disavowal of all participation or even knowledge of her flight, was given in by the Prince of Wales, then warring in France; we must proceed to the tediously brief task of recapitulation. The body of Sir Bertram de Ridware had been found after the fight of Crecy (still bleeding but most severely wounded, and overwhelmed in his heavy harness), by a party of plunderers, who were roaming the field with the purpose of despoiling English and French indiscriminately. The eminent beauty of Sir Bertram's armour particularly attracted them, and having entirely stripped him, they were even disputing its possession, when they were disturbed by a body of English, headed by Lord Reginald Cobham and Lord Stafford, who had been dispatched by King Ed

ward with three heralds to examine the blazons of the slain, and two secretaries to write down their names. One of the marauders, however, despairing of the armour, and surmising that its owner must be a captive of no mean ransom, had seized the naked body of Sir Bertram, and, flinging it across his strongbacked destrier, fairly galloped off with him from the field. Sir Bertram's armour was soon distinguished by his friends, and a naked corpse found near it, but too horribly mangled to admit the possibility of recognition, was naturally enough concluded to be his, and as such honoured, mourned, and interred. Meanwhile, Sir Betram's captor fell in with a knight, a friend of his, a nephew of the Grand Prior of France, who had fallen in the battle. knight, who had dearly loved his uncle, and burned with vengeance for his death, offered the marauder so tempting a sum for the still insensible Sir Bertram, that he surrendered him at once. By this knight, de Ridware was conveyed to a strong hold in Picardy, where his wounds were carefully tended, with

This

the savage purpose of enabling him to bear all the rigours of a hopeless captivity. After a whole year spent in the sufferance of every insult and hardship, his brother in arms Sir Hugh de Hanbury, had by chance discovered his captivity, and at great personal risque accomplished his deliverance. During his imprisonment, De Ridware had, in accordance with the superstition of the age, made a solemn vow that if he might recover his freedom, he would, on reaching his domain, wander for a certain time about the precincts of his castle by way of penance for his sins, neither sleeping under a roof, nor eating at a board. In the accomplishment of this vow, he was much assisted by Sir Hugh de Hanbury; and, little dreaming of Blauncheflor's love embarrassments, had listened with high satisfaction to that knight's declaration of attachment to his, only child, and even promised him her hand.

In his extraordinary interview with the Prince of Wales, under the yew tree in Hamstal churchyard, and the subsequent conference in the moonlight Pleasaunce, he had learned with high approbation, Blauncheflor's magnanimous conduct towards her royal wooer; and the result of the argument which Sir Bertram himself added, was the immediate departure of Edward (under a promise of secresy) for his dominions in Aquitane.

Delighted at his daughter's heroic self-denial, Sir Bertram would not wait for the expiration of his vow, ere he sought an interview with Blauncheflor. Both with a view to his personal safety, and also to deter intruders from his haunts, he had availed himself of his experience in the secret passages of his castle, to abstract his splendid harness from the gallery, and soon found that it procured him a free path wherever he wished to wander. The result of his interview with Blauncheflor we have partly seen; after the first alarm and rapture had subsided, he urged her on the subject of Sir Hugh de Hanbury's attachment, so strongly employing her own weapons against her, by shewing that her espousing another would at once render hopeless any further advances from the Prince, that poor Blauncheflor, in the distraction of her feelings, saw no resource from her father's affectionate importunity, but the execution of a design she had long en⚫ tertained.

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"If I have delayed thus long the hour when I might have the woeful pleasure of bidding him I love best farewell in this world, it was that I did not dare make trial of my soul's strength, until time and circumstance, and God's high grace (strong mediciners), had certified me I might do so, without judice to my resolution, and (what I prize higher), without stain to your Highness's honour. Your Highness hath now most worthily wedded; may all good angels pour the fulness of their golden vials on you and your generous spouse! I now dare to tell (and sure, if I blush it is not with shame), that it was the fear of proving an usurper to my country in yielding to your suit, or becoming false to your Highness in wedding another, that has forced me to fill with sorrow and displeasure the breasts of two tender parents (one now received from the dead), and to carry to the sanctuary of the Most High, a heart more than divided between earth and heaven. But heaven hath been kinder to me than I deserve. Ere you receive this, I am once more with my father and mother; and trust for their permission to spend my time at Hamstal in blameless maidhood, or if they will otherwise, to become a votary of the convent that hath sheltered me so long.

66 So, with her hearty commendations and prayers, writes,

"Your Highness's poor handmaiden, "BLAUNCHEflor de Ridware. "From my humble Cell, at St. Agatha's on the Swale."

END OF THE TALES OF THE TAPESTRY.

BENEFICENCE OF THE ROMAN EMPERORS.

For the Olio.

JULIUS CESAR remitted many taxes which had been imposed upon the Italians, and made them in some cases handsome presents; and Augustus, as we are informed by Tacitus, after he had reduced Egypt, brought so much money to Rome that the people were greatly eased by it. Tiberius, although a monster of vice, performed many acts worthy of a wise and good prince.

Twelve towns having been destroyed by an earthquake, this emperor remitted all excises and imposts for five years, and helped the inhabitants with large sums of money. The city of Sardis having been visited by a dreadful plague, he excused the people from paying any imposts or tribute for five years afterwards. The same emperor sharply rebuked Rectius, governor of Egypt, who had sent him a large sum of money which had been levied without orders; "I would have my sheep shorn," said he, "but not flayed!" Nay, he lent the people some money from his treasury, without receiving

interest.

Suetonius informs us, that Caligula scrupulously paid all the legacies which his predecessor had left to the Roman people, and remitted the tax of a hundredth penury on estates sold by auction. His kindness to the King of Commagene is well known. Claudius remitted many taxes, and among the rest, that on salt, for ever. Nero would in all probability have abolished almost every tax, but for the intervention of the senate. Galba was parsimonious, but his successor was liberal; and, throughout the history of Rome, we shall find that her emperors were anxious to conciliate the many, however arbitrary their conduct towards the few. While a nation was in transports in consequence of the remission of a tax or impost, the death of a senator, or a whole patrician family, was an event but little heeded, and still less regretted.

E. M. A.

ELOQUENCE OF LORD CHATHAM. For the Olio.

LORD CHESTERFIELD thus speaks of this distinguished man:-"His private life was stained by no vices, nor sullied by any meanness. His eloquence was of every kind; but his invectives were terrible, and uttered with such energy of diction and countenance, that he intimidated those who were the most willing and the best able to encounter him." Sir W. Chatham Trelawney used to observe of him, that it was impossible for the members of the side opposed to him in the House of Commons to look him in the face when he was warmed in debate: he seemed to bid them all a haughty defiance. "For my own part," said Trelawney, "I never dared cast my eyes towards his, for if I did, they nailed me to the floor."

Smollet says, that he displayed "such