on the river; for our order reached
him when he was just returned from certain visits in London, and he held it
matter of loyalty and conscience instantly to set forth again. So hark ye,
Master Raleigh, see thou fail not to wear thy muddy cloak, in token of
penitence, till our pleasure be farther known. And here,« she added, giving him
a jewel of gold, in the form of a chessman, »I give thee this to wear at the
collar.«
    Raleigh, to whom nature had taught intuitively, as it were, those courtly
arts which many scarce acquire from long experience, knelt, and, as he took from
her hand the jewel, kissed the fingers which gave it. He knew, perhaps, better
than almost any of the courtiers who surrounded her, how to mix the devotion
claimed by the Queen, with the gallantry due to her personal beauty - and in
this, his first attempt to unite them, he succeeded so well, as at once to
gratify Elizabeth's personal vanity, and her love of power.14
    His master, the Earl of Sussex, had the full advantage of the satisfaction
which Raleigh had afforded Elizabeth on their first interview.
    »My lords and ladies,« said the Queen, looking around to the retinue by whom
she was attended, »methinks, since we are upon the river, it were well to
renounce our present purpose of going to the city, and surprise this poor Earl
of Sussex with a visit. He is ill, and suffering doubtless under the fear of our
displeasure, from which he hath been honestly cleared by the frank avowal of
this malapert boy. What think ye? were it not an act of charity to give him such
consolation as the thanks of a Queen, much bound to him for his loyal service,
may perchance best minister?«
    It may be readily supposed, that none to whom this speech was addressed,
ventured to oppose its purport.
    »Your Grace,« said the Bishop of Lincoln, »is the breath of our nostrils.«
The men of war averred, that the face of the Sovereign was a whetstone to the
soldier's sword; while the men of state were not less of opinion, that the light
of the Queen's countenance was a lamp to the paths of her councillors; and the
ladies agreed, with one voice, that no noble in England so well deserved the
regard of England's royal Mistress as the Earl of Sussex - the Earl of
Leicester's right being reserved entire; so some of the more