who with various feelings witnessed this interesting scene, - »So help me God,
gentlemen, as I think never sovereign had a truer servant than I have in this
noble Earl!«
    A murmur of assent rose from the Leicesterian faction, which the friends of
Sussex dared not oppose. They remained with their eyes fixed on the ground,
dismayed as well as mortified by the public and absolute triumph of their
opponents. Leicester's first use of the familiarity to which the Queen had so
publicly restored him, was to ask her commands concerning Varney's offence.
»Although,« he said, »the fellow deserves nothing from me but displeasure, yet,
might I presume to intercede« -
    »In truth, we had forgotten his matter,« said the Queen; »and it was ill
done of us, who owe justice to our meanest, as well as to our highest subject.
We are pleased, my lord, that you were the first to recall the matter to our
memory. - Where is Tressilian, the accuser? - let him come before us.«
    Tressilian appeared, and made a low and beseeming reverence. His person, as
we have elsewhere observed, had an air of grace and even of nobleness, which did
not escape Queen Elizabeth's critical observation. She looked at him with
attention, as he stood before her unabashed, but with an air of the deepest
dejection.
    »I cannot but grieve for this gentleman,« she said to Leicester. »I have
inquired concerning him, and his presence confirms what I heard, that he is a
scholar and a soldier, well accomplished both in arts and arms. We women, my
lord, are fanciful in our choice - I had said now, to judge by the eye, there
was no comparison to be held betwixt your follower and this gentleman. But
Varney is a well-spoken fellow, and, to say truth, that goes far with us of the
weaker sex. - Look you, Master Tressilian, a bolt lost is not a bow broken. Your
true affection, as I will hold it to be, hath been, it seems, but ill requited;
but you have scholarship, and you know there have been false Cressidas to be
found, from the Trojan war downward. Forget, good sir, this Lady Light-o'-Love -
teach your affection to see with a wiser eye. This we say to you, more from the
writings of learned men, than our own knowledge, being, as we are, far removed
by station and will,