aronets' ladies.

[1] These, according to Clarendon, were the errors of Archbishop
Laud.

CHAP. III.

Man may the sterner virtues know,
Determin'd Justice, Truth severe,
But female hearts with Pity glow,
And Woman holds affliction dear.

Crabbe.

The bells of Ribblesdale had hardly finished the merry peal which
announced the joy of the villagers, that their sweet rose-bud, Isabel de
Beaumont, was married to the strange gentleman, whom they had long
thought a prince in disguise, come to make their good Doctor a Bishop,
when an unexpected dispatch from London cast the deepest gloom on the
bridegroom's joy.

In this letter De Vallance conjured his friend to postpone his intended
return till his affairs took a brighter aspect.--The King at first bore
the sad tidings of his favourite's death with such apparent
tranquillity, that he proceeded unruffled to his devotions; yet
reflecting on the circumstances of the deed, and deeply affected by an
interview with the widowed Duchess, who with her orphan children had
thrown herself at his feet and implored justice, he now cherished such
an appetite for revenge that it was suspected many lives would scarce be
deemed a fit atonement. He discharged the Duke's debts out of his privy
purse, he promised to provide for his servants, and frowned on all who
had ever been his enemies. Thomas Felton had at first denied having any
accomplice, and enthusiastically called himself the champion of an
injured people; yet it was expected that the close interrogatories to
which he would be exposed would overawe his firmness, and perhaps
prevail on him to name some innocent persons as abettors of the crime.
At all events Evellin must remain in privacy during the storm of the
King's anger, which now agitated him so violently that he would attend
to no other business till the Duke's murder was thoroughly
investigated.--De Vallance concluded with describing the impatience
which both himself and Lady Eleanor felt to restore him to his honours;
and he trusted that the Queen's growing influence would be useful in
recalling to the recollection of the King a person he had once highly
favoured, while he saw in Buckingham an insolent minister rather than a
devoted friend.

Weary of delay, eager to vindicate his honour, yet at the same time
conscious of his own impetuosity, and confiding in the management of his
fri