It is a sunburnt beauty,said mine host,well qualified to stand out rain and wind,but little calculated to please such critical gallants as yourself.She keeps her chamber,and cannot encounter the glance of such sunny-day courtiers as my noble guest.Well,peace be with her,my good host,answered Varney;our horses are impatient--we bid you good day.Does my nephew go with you,so please you?said Gosling.
Ay,such is his purpose,answered Richard Varney.
You are right--fully right,replied mine host--you are,I say,fully right,my kinsman.Thou hast got a gay horse;see thou light not unaware upon a halter--or,if thou wilt needs be made immortal by means of a rope,which thy purpose of following this gentleman renders not unlikely,I charge thee to find a gallows as far from Cumnor as thou conveniently mayest.And so I commend you to your saddle.The master of the horse and his new retainer mounted accordingly,leaving the landlord to conclude his ill-omened farewell,to himself and at leisure;and set off together at a rapid pace,which prevented conversation until the ascent of a steep sandy hill permitted them to resume it.
You are contented,then,said Varney to his companion,to take court service?Ay,worshipful sir,if you like my terms as well as I like yours.And what are your terms?demanded Varney.
If I am to have a quick eye for my patron's interest,he must have a dull one towards my faults,said Lambourne.
Ay,said Varney,so they lie not so grossly open that he must needs break his shins over them.Agreed,said Lambourne.Next,if I run down game,I must have the picking of the bones.That is but reason,replied Varney,so that your betters are served before you.Good,said Lambourne;and it only remains to be said,that if the law and I quarrel,my patron must bear me out,for that is a chief point.Reason again,said Varney,if the quarrel hath happened in your master's service.For the wage and so forth,I say nothing,proceeded Lambourne;it is the secret guerdon that I must live by.Never fear,said Varney;thou shalt have clothes and spending money to ruffle it with the best of thy degree,for thou goest to a household where you have gold,as they say,by the eye.That jumps all with my humour,replied Michael Lambourne;and it only remains that you tell me my master's name.My name is Master Richard Varney,answered his companion.
But I mean,said Lambourne,the name of the noble lord to whose service you are to prefer me.How,knave,art thou too good to call me master?said Varney hastily;I would have thee bold to others,but not saucy to me.I crave your worship's pardon,said Lambourne,but you seemed familiar with Anthony Foster;now I am familiar with Anthony myself.Thou art a shrewd knave,I see,replied Varney.Mark me--I do indeed propose to introduce thee into a nobleman's household;but it is upon my person thou wilt chiefly wait,and upon my countenance that thou wilt depend.I am his master of horse.
Thou wilt soon know his name--it is one that shakes the council and wields the state.By this light,a brave spell to conjure with,said Lambourne,if a man would discover hidden treasures!Used with discretion,it may prove so,replied Varney;but mark--if thou conjure with it at thine own hand,it may raise a devil who will tear thee in fragments.Enough said,replied Lambourne;I will not exceed my limits.The travellers then resumed the rapid rate of travelling which their discourse had interrupted,and soon arrived at the Royal Park of Woodstock.This ancient possession of the crown of England was then very different from what it had been when it was the residence of the fair Rosamond,and the scene of Henry the Second's secret and illicit amours;and yet more unlike to the scene which it exhibits in the present day,when Blenheim House commemorates the victory of Marlborough,and no less the genius of Vanbrugh,though decried in his own time by persons of taste far inferior to his own.It was,in Elizabeth's time,an ancient mansion in bad repair,which had long ceased to be honoured with the royal residence,to the great impoverishment of the adjacent village.The inhabitants,however,had made several petitions to the Queen to have the favour of the sovereign's countenance occasionally bestowed upon them;and upon this very business,ostensibly at least,was the noble lord,whom we have already introduced to our readers,a visitor at Woodstock.
