I humbly thank your Highness,
And am right glad to catch this good occasion
Most thoroughly to be winnow'd, where my chaff
And corn shall fly asunder.
_King Henry VIII._
Colvin, the English officer, to whom the Duke of Burgundy, with
splendid pay and appointments, committed the charge of his artillery,
was owner of the tent assigned for the Englishman's lodging, and
received the Earl of Oxford with the respect due to his rank, and to
the Duke's especial orders upon that subject. He had been himself a
follower of the Lancaster faction, and of course was well disposed
towards one of the very few men of distinction whom he had known
personally, and who had constantly adhered to that family through the
train of misfortunes by which they seemed to be totally overwhelmed. A
repast, of which his son had already partaken, was offered to the Earl
by Colvin, who omitted not to recommend, by precept and example, the
good wine of Burgundy, from which the sovereign of the province was
himself obliged to refrain.
"His Grace shows command of passion in that," said Colvin. "For, sooth
to speak, and only conversing betwixt friends, his temper grows too
headlong to bear the spur which a cup of cordial beverage gives to the
blood, and he, therefore, wisely restricts himself to such liquid as
may cool rather than inflame his natural fire of disposition."
"I can perceive as much," said the Lancastrian noble. "When I first
knew the noble Duke, who was then Earl of Charolois, his temper,
though always sufficiently fiery, was calmness to the impetuosity
which he now displays on the smallest contradiction. Such is the
course of an uninterrupted flow of prosperity. He has ascended, by his
own courage and the advantage of circumstances, from the doubtful
place of a feudatory and tributary prince, to rank with the most
powerful sovereigns in Europe, and to assume independent majesty. But
I trust the noble starts of generosity which atoned for his wilful and
wayward temper are not more few than formerly?"
"I have good right to say that they are not," replied the soldier of
fortune, who understood generosity in the restricted sense of
liberality. "The Duke is a noble and open-handed master."
"I trust his bounty is conferred on men who are as faithful and steady
in their service as you, Colvin, have ever been. But I see a change in
your army. I know the banners of most of the old houses in
Burgundy--How is it that I observe so few of them in the Duke's camp?
I see flags, and pennons, and pennoncelles; but even to me, who have
been so many years acquainted with the nobility both of France and
Flanders, their bearings are unknown."
"My noble Lord of Oxford," answered the officer, "it ill becomes a man
who lives on the Duke's pay to censure his conduct; but his Highness
hath of late trusted too much, as it seems to me, to the hired arms of
foreign levies, and too little to his own native subjects and
retainers. He holds it better to take into his pay large bands of
German and Italian mercenary soldiers, than to repose confidence in
the knights and squires who are bound to him by allegiance and feudal
faith. He uses the aid of his own subjects but as the means of
producing him sums of money, which he bestows on his hired troops. The
Germans are honest knaves enough while regularly paid; but Heaven
preserve me from the Duke's Italian bands, and that Campo-basso their
leader, who waits but the highest price to sell his Highness like a
sheep for the shambles!"
"Think you so ill of him?" demanded the Earl.
"So very ill indeed, that I believe," replied Colvin, "there is no
sort of treachery which the heart can devise, or the arm perpetrate,
that hath not ready reception in his breast, and prompt execution at
his hand. It is painful, my lord, for an honest Englishman like me to
serve in an army where such traitors have command. But what can I do,
unless I could once more find me a soldier's occupation in my native
country? I often hope it will please merciful Heaven again to awaken
those brave civil wars in my own dear England, where all was fair
fighting, and treason was unheard of."
Lord Oxford gave his host to understand, that there was a possibility
that his pious wish of living and dying in his own country, and in the
practice of his profession, was not to be despaired of. Meantime he
requested of him, that early on the next morning he would procure him
a pass and an escort for his son, whom he was compelled to despatch
forthwith to Nancy, the residence of King René.
"What!" said Colvin, "is my young Lord of Oxford to take a degree in
the Court of Love? for no other business is listened to at King René's
capital, save love and poetry."
"I am not ambitious of such distinction for him, my good host,"
answered Oxford; "but Queen Margaret is with her father, and it is but
fitting that the youth should kiss her hand."
"Enough spoken," said the veteran Lancastrian. "I trust, though winter
is fast approaching, the Red Rose may bloom in spring."
He then ushered the Earl of Oxford to the partition of the tent which
he was to occupy, in which there was a couch for Arthur also--their
host, as Colvin might be termed, assuring them that, with peep of day,
horses and faithful attendants should be ready to speed the youth on
his journey to Nancy.
"And now, Arthur," said his father, "we must part once more. I dare
give thee, in this land of danger, no written communication to my
mistress, Queen Margaret; but say to her, that I have found the Duke
of Burgundy wedded to his own views of interest, but not averse to
combine them with hers. Say, that I have little doubt that he will
grant us the required aid, but not without the expected resignation in
his favour by herself and King René. Say, I would never have
recommended such a sacrifice for the precarious chance of overthrowing
the House of York, but that I am satisfied that France and Burgundy
are hanging like vultures over Provence, and that the one or other, or
both princes, are ready, on her father's demise, to pounce on such
possessions as they have reluctantly spared to him during his life.
An accommodation with Burgundy may therefore, on the one hand, insure
his active co-operation in the attempt on England; and, on the other,
if our high-spirited princess complies not with the Duke's request,
the justice of her cause will give no additional security to her
hereditary claims on her father's dominions. Bid Queen Margaret,
therefore, unless she should have changed her views, obtain King
René's formal deed of cession, conveying his estates to the Duke of
Burgundy, with her Majesty's consent. The necessary provisions to the
King and to herself may be filled up at her Grace's pleasure, or they
may be left blank. I can trust to the Duke's generosity to their being
suitably arranged. All that I fear is, that Charles may embroil
himself"----
"In some silly exploit, necessary for his own honour and the safety of
his dominions," answered a voice behind the lining of the tent; "and,
by doing so, attend to his own affairs more than to ours? Ha, Sir
Earl?"
At the same time the curtain was drawn aside, and a person entered, in
whom, though clothed with the jerkin and bonnet of a private soldier
of the Walloon guard, Oxford instantly recognised the Duke of
Burgundy's harsh features and fierce eyes, as they sparkled from under
the fur and feather with which the cap was ornamented.
Arthur, who knew not the Prince's person, started at the intrusion,
and laid his hand on his dagger; but his father made a signal which
stayed his hand, and he gazed with wonder on the solemn respect with
which the Earl received the intrusive soldier. The first word informed
him of the cause.
"If this masking be done in proof of my faith, noble Duke, permit me
to say it is superfluous."
"Nay, Oxford," answered the Duke, "I was a courteous spy; for I ceased
to play the eavesdropper, at the very moment when I had reason to
expect you were about to say something to anger me."
"As I am a true Knight, my Lord Duke, if you had remained behind the
arras, you would only have heard the same truths which I am ready to
tell in your Grace's presence, though it may have chanced they might
have been more bluntly expressed."
"Well, speak them then, in whatever phrase thou wilt--they lie in
their throats that say Charles of Burgundy was ever offended by advice
from a well-meaning friend."
"I would then have said," replied the English Earl, "that all which
Margaret of Anjou had to apprehend, was that the Duke of Burgundy,
when buckling on his armour to win Provence for himself, and to afford
to her his powerful assistance to assert her rights in England, was
likely to be withdrawn from such high objects by an imprudently eager
desire to avenge himself of imaginary affronts, offered to him, as he
supposed, by certain confederacies of Alpine mountaineers, over whom
it is impossible to gain any important advantage, or acquire
reputation, while, on the contrary, there is a risk of losing both.
These men dwell amongst rocks and deserts which are almost
inaccessible, and subsist in a manner so rude, that the poorest of
your subjects would starve if subjected to such diet. They are formed
by nature to be the garrison of the mountain-fortresses in which she
has placed them;--for Heaven's sake meddle not with them, but follow
forth your own nobler and more important objects, without stirring a
nest of hornets, which, once in motion, may sting you into madness."
The Duke had promised patience, and endeavoured to keep his word; but
the swoln muscles of his face, and his flashing eyes, showed how
painful to him it was to suppress his resentment.
"You are misinformed, my lord," he said; "these men are not the
inoffensive herdsmen and peasants you are pleased to suppose them. If
they were, I might afford to despise them. But, flushed with some
victories over the sluggish Austrians, they have shaken off all
reverence for authority, assume airs of independence, form leagues,
make inroads, storm towns, doom and execute men of noble birth at
their pleasure.--Thou art dull, and look'st as if thou dost not
apprehend me. To rouse thy English blood, and make thee sympathise
with my feelings to these mountaineers, know that these Swiss are very
Scots to my dominions in their neighbourhood; poor, proud, ferocious;
easily offended, because they gain by war; ill to be appeased, because
they nourish deep revenge; ever ready to seize the moment of
advantage, and attack a neighbour when he is engaged in other affairs.
The same unquiet, perfidious, and inveterate enemies that the Scots
are to England, are the Swiss to Burgundy and to my allies. What say
you? Can I undertake anything of consequence till I have crushed the
pride of such a people? It will be but a few days' work. I will grasp
the mountain-hedgehog, prickles and all, with my steel-gauntlet."
"Your Grace will then have shorter work with them," replied the
disguised nobleman, "than our English Kings have had with Scotland.
The wars there have lasted so long, and proved so bloody, that wise
men regret we ever began them."
"Nay," said the Duke, "I will not dishonour the Scots by comparing
them in all respects to these mountain-churls of the Cantons. The
Scots have blood and gentry among them, and we have seen many examples
of both; these Swiss are a mere brood of peasants, and the few
gentlemen of birth they can boast must hide their distinction in the
dress and manners of clowns. They will, I think, scarce stand against
a charge of Hainaulters."
"Not if the Hainaulters find ground to ride upon. But"----
"Nay, to silence your scruples," said the Duke, interrupting him,
"know, that these people encourage, by their countenance and aid, the
formation of the most dangerous conspiracies in my dominions. Look
here--I told you that my officer, Sir Archibald de Hagenbach, was
murdered when the town of Brisach was treacherously taken by these
harmless Switzers of yours. And here is a scroll of parchment, which
announces that my servant was murdered by doom of the Vehme-gericht, a
band of secret assassins, whom I will not permit to meet in any part
of my dominions. Oh, could I but catch them above ground as they are
found lurking below, they should know what the life of a nobleman is
worth! Then, look at the insolence of their attestation."
The scroll bore, with the day and date adjected, that judgment had
been done on Archibald de Hagenbach, for tyranny, violence, and
oppression, by order of the Holy Vehme, and that it was executed by
their officials, who were responsible for the same to their tribunal
alone. It was countersigned in red ink, with the badges of the Secret
Society, a coil of ropes and a drawn dagger.
"This document I found stuck to my toilette with a knife," said the
Duke; "another trick by which they give mystery to their murderous
jugglery."
The thought of what he had undergone in John Mengs's house, and
reflections upon the extent and omnipresence of these Secret
Associations, struck even the brave Englishman with an involuntary
shudder.
"For the sake of every saint in heaven," he said, "forbear, my lord,
to speak of these tremendous societies, whose creatures are above,
beneath, and around us. No man is secure of his life, however guarded,
if it be sought by a man who is careless of his own. You are
surrounded by Germans, Italians, and other strangers--How many amongst
these may be bound by the secret ties which withdraw men from every
other social bond, to unite them together in one inextricable though
secret compact? Beware, noble Prince, of the situation on which your
throne is placed, though it still exhibits all the splendour of power,
and all the solidity of foundation that belongs to so august a
structure. I--the friend of thy house--were it with my dying
breath--must needs tell thee, that the Swiss hang like an avalanche
over thy head; and the Secret Associations work beneath thee like the
first throes of the coming earthquake. Provoke not the contest, and
the snow will rest undisturbed on the mountain-side--the agitation of
the subterranean vapours will be hushed to rest; but a single word of
defiance, or one flash of indignant scorn, may call their terrors into
instant action."
"You speak," said the Duke, "with more awe of a pack of naked churls,
and a band of midnight assassins, than I have seen you show for real
danger. Yet I will not scorn your counsel--I will hear the Swiss
envoys patiently, and I will not, if I can help it, show the contempt
with which I cannot but regard their pretensions to treat as
independent states. On the Secret Associations I will be silent, till
time gives me the means of acting in combination with the Emperor, the
Diet, and the Princes of the Empire, that they may be driven from all
their burrows at once.--Ha, Sir Earl, said I well?"
"It is well thought, my lord, but it may be unhappily spoken. You are
in a position where one word overheard by a traitor might produce
death and ruin."
"I keep no traitors about me," said Charles. "If I thought there were
such in my camp, I would rather die by them at once, than live in
perpetual terror and suspicion."
"Your Highness's ancient followers and servants," said the Earl,
"speak unfavourably of the Count of Campo-basso, who holds so high a
rank in your confidence."
"Ay," replied the Duke, with composure, "it is easy to decry the most
faithful servant in a court by the unanimous hatred of all the others.
I warrant me your bull-headed countryman, Colvin, has been railing
against the Count like the rest of them, for Campo-basso sees nothing
amiss in any department but he reports it to me without fear or
favour. And then his opinions are cast so much in the same mould with
my own, that I can hardly get him to enlarge upon what he best
understands, if it seems in any respect different from my sentiments.
Add to this, a noble person, grace, gaiety, skill in the exercises of
war, and in the courtly arts of peace--such is Campo-basso; and, being
such, is he not a gem for a prince's cabinet?"
"The very materials out of which a favourite is formed," answered the
Earl of Oxford, "but something less adapted for making a faithful
counsellor."
"Why, thou mistrustful fool," said the Duke, "must I tell thee the
very inmost secret respecting this man, Campo-basso, and will nothing
short of it stay these imaginary suspicions which thy new trade of an
itinerant merchant hath led thee to entertain so rashly?"
"If your Highness honours me with your confidence," said the Earl of
Oxford, "I can only say that my fidelity shall deserve it."
"Know, then, thou misbelieving mortal, that my good friend and
brother, Louis of France, sent me private information through no less
a person than his famous barber, Oliver le Diable, that Campo-basso
had for a certain sum offered to put my person into his hands, alive
or dead.--You start?"
"I do indeed--recollecting your Highness's practice of riding out
lightly armed, and with a very small attendance, to reconnoitre the
ground and visit the outposts, and therefore how easily such a
treacherous device might be carried into execution."
"Pshaw!" answered the Duke.--"Thou seest the danger as if it were
real, whereas nothing can be more certain than that, if my cousin of
France had ever received such an offer, he would have been the last
person to have put me on my guard against the attempt. No--he knows
the value I set on Campo-basso's services, and forged the accusation
to deprive me of them."
"And yet, my lord," replied the English Earl, "your Highness, by my
counsel, will not unnecessarily or impatiently fling aside your armour
of proof, or ride without the escort of some score of your trusty
Walloons."
"Tush, man, thou wouldst make a carbonado of a fever-stirred wretch
like myself, betwixt the bright iron and the burning sun. But I will
be cautious though I jest thus--and you, young man, may assure my
cousin, Margaret of Anjou, that I will consider her affairs as my own.
And remember, youth, that the secrets of princes are fatal gifts, if
he to whom they are imparted blaze them abroad; but if duly treasured
up, they enrich the bearer. And thou shalt have cause to say so, if
thou canst bring back with thee from Aix the deed of resignation of
which thy father hath spoken.--Good-night--good-night!"
He left the apartment.
"You have just seen," said the Earl of Oxford to his son, "a sketch of
this extraordinary prince, by his own pencil. It is easy to excite his
ambition or thirst of power, but well-nigh impossible to limit him to
the just measures by which it is most likely to be gratified. He is
ever like the young archer, startled from his mark by some swallow
crossing his eye, even careless as he draws the string. Now
irregularly and offensively suspicious--now unreservedly lavish of his
confidence--not long since the enemy of the line of Lancaster, and the
ally of her deadly foe--now its last and only stay and hope. God mend
all!--It is a weary thing to look on the game and see how it might be
won, while we are debarred by the caprice of others from the power of
playing it according to our own skill. How much must depend on the
decision of Duke Charles upon the morrow, and how little do I possess
the power of influencing him, either for his own safety or our
advantage! Good-night, my son, and let us trust events to Him who
alone can control them."