for though his person were not of the tallest, it was well up to the middle stature of men; and albeit one of his shoulders might be somewhat higher than it's fellow, yet he had a shrewd eye who did discover it, and a passing malicious wit who reported it to be a great deformity. As for his face, in good sooth it had none evil expression in it; though it was marked with much serious anxiety, and was pale and discoloured from weariness and an agitated mind, which scared his brief slumbers with fearful dreams, and gave occasion to his enemies to say that he was haunted by a guilty conscience. Nevertheless, his step and demeanour were full of pomp and royalty; so that it wanted not for any one to say even unto "that me, though but a simple cloister-bred youth, is the King!" since all men might well perceive that he could be of nothing less than the blood-royal, or the wearer of a crown. His habit was the close dress of red velvet which he wore under his armour, surmounted by a blue velvet robe lined with fair ermines, and choicely embroidered with the letter of his name in gold. The blue Garter of England embraced his knee, and the enamelled George thereof, hung to an azure scarf round his neck; whilst upon his head he wore a chapeau of red velvet and ermine, which threw his rich and full brown hair back upon his shoulders.

When Sir Gilbert De Mountford had gone forth from the tent, King Richard took up a lamp, and,

approaching me, gently grasped my hand, raised me, and drew me towards him, bidding me to fear nothing. Then, by the light he most curiously perused my features, and looked steadily at my visage for some brief space, though he spake not; whilst I, wondering much as to what this review of me might tend, somewhat faltered and looked downward. The King, observing this, deemed that I had trembled from fear of him, which nevertheless was not the case, since all his carriage was full gentle, and all his words of passing sweetness. Why, how now, fair youth?" said he; "art thou afeard, that thou fallest back and tremblest thus? for I did mark thee right well."

To this I answered that I feared not, and added that I shrank backwards only from the sense of mine own unworthiness; being altogether unused to worldly glories, and so might not stand unabashed in the presence of a Sovereign.

"Why that is well said, my pretty youth," answered Richard; "thou seemest to have a passing shrewd wit for one of thy years and cloister-breeding; and for thy face, it altogether unmans me to look upon it, since it brings back unto my mind the dear and beauteous features of one whom I shall never behold again upon earth. Thy mother, boy,”

"My mother!" hastily interrupted I with fervour, at this first mention of that most sweet word towards myself; "good my Lord," I continued, clasping the King's hand and again sinking on one knee, “tell me

of my mother, I implore you; say, I beseech you, where I may find her, and clasp her unto my heart.”

one;

The King seemed to struggle with divers sorrowful emotions, he permitted me to retain his hand, but he turned his face upward and covered it with the other; and at length replied in a sad and solemn voice, She is where I also may be before this day be ended." The recollection of her then seemed to rush upon his memory in a flood of grief, as he gazed upon me and added, "Oh! she was a wondrous fair and thou, for a boy, hast no slight semblance of her; by the holy St. Agnes! thou hast her clear blue eye, the very trick of her face: and she was a blessed creature, youth!-Nay, she is a blessed creature, for she is in Paradise! albeit our marriage was a hidden one. But, boy," interrupted he, in a fiercer tone, as I changed colour, and looked downwards with tears, "I do mistrust thee, and well believe that thou dost fear me. I wot that men tell strange tales of Richard Plantagenet, and thou, I deem, hast listened to them: say, hast thou not heard many speak evil things of me?"

I answered with a hesitating voice, that in the solitude of Ely Monastery the tidings which we heard of the world were but few and brief, and still more so to the Scholars and Novices; but this I said, because it greatly misliked me to tell him of the censure which common fame uttered against him.

"A wary answer," replied the King; "though

whiles thy speech saith thus, thine eyes, which have not yet learned to be of counsel with thy tongue, give altogether another response. The truth is, that thou hast heard me called murtherer, usurper, and tyrant; speak, boy, is it not so?"

I was much ashamed at being thus detected, and though it still pained me to acknowledge it, I dared no longer continue in my denial, for the which he lauded me; but demanded what I had heard of his crimes, and whether it were not that he had put his nephews in the Tower unto secret death. I now answered boldly that this had been reported, and, moreover, that he had caused their bodies to be crammed into coffins full of holes, and flung into the river of Thames in the night-tide.

"Now by holy Paul !" exclaimed the King fervently, and as methought with the indignation of innocence unjustly accused, "I would to God that every drop of that fair broad stream could be strained through a net of such small meshes, that not the puniest minnow might 'scape betwixt them; that all my subjects should know how guiltless I am of this murther! But slanders like these, boy, do ever dog the footsteps of royalty. The King upon his throne is a mark at which the base and envious of all degrees do shoot their bolts, if so be they bask not in the sunshine of his favour."

"I can well deem it, my gracious Lord," answered I, "for of such do we often read in the holy text."

"Aye," returned he, "and shouldest thou ever rise to greatness, prepare thee to encounter the like; should the fortunes of thy life be otherwise, let the avoidance of this slander be thy consolation."

Upon this I felt myself more than ever amazed, and at first somewhat doubted whether his speech were in sooth addressed to me, or whether I had heard him aright; I also sought in my mind for a fitting answer thereto, but found no words, until at length I said, "Methinks I would not desire to be a King; but every kind feeling of my soul is yearning to embrace my beloved, though unknown, parents."

"By the Blessed Virgin!" suddenly exclaimed the King, "he hath the very look and voice of my lost and deserted Matilda, melting with all the fervency of her ardent love, which again springs forth in the child of our dearest embraces.-I can counterfeit it no longer,-Youth !-Richard!-Plantagenet !-obscurity shall now cease to enwrap thee in it's veil,— IN ME BEHOLD THY FATHER!"

At this most wondrous avowal I felt a strange confusion run through all my veins; my heart beat quickly and powerfully, and my blood rushed forward unto my face as if with a sense of the high dignity I was born to, yet could I not choose but again sink before the feet of King Richard, and embrace his knees in silence and in tears. "I can well think, my fair son," said he at length, when his agitation first gave back to him the power of speech, "that wild