consign this unhappy lady to the stricter care of the Bishop
of Durham. Lady Arabella was so subdued at this distant separation, that
she gave way to all the wildness of despair; she fell suddenly ill, and
could not travel but in a litter, and with a physician. In her way to
Durham, she was so greatly disquieted in the first few miles of her
uneasy and troublesome journey, that they would proceed no further than
Highgate. The physician returned to town to report her state, and
declared that she was assuredly very weak, her pulse dull and
melancholy, and very irregular; her countenance very heavy, pale, and
wan; and though free from fever, he declared her in no case fit for
travel. The king observed, "It is enough to make any sound man sick to
be carried in a bed in that manner she is; much more for her _whose
impatient and unquiet spirit heapeth upon herself far greater
indisposition of body than otherwise she would have_." His resolution,
however, was, that "she should proceed to Durham, if he were king!" "We
answered," replied the Doctor, "that we made no doubt of her
obedience."--"Obedience is that required," replied the king, "which
being performed, I will do more for her than she expected."[337]

The king, however, with his usual indulgence, appears to have consented
that Lady Arabella should remain for a month at Highgate, in
confinement, till she had sufficiently recovered to proceed to Durham,
where the bishop posted, unaccompanied by his charge, to await her
reception, and to the great relief of the friends of the lady, who hoped
she was still within the reach of their cares, or of the royal favour.

A second month's delay was granted, in consequence of that letter which
we have before noticed as so impressive and so elegant, that it was
commended by the king, and applauded by Prince Henry and the council.

But the day of her departure hastened, and the Lady Arabella betrayed no
symptom of her first despair. She openly declared her resignation to her
fate, and showed her obedient willingness, by being even over-careful in
little preparations to make easy a long journey. Such tender grief had
won over the hearts of her keepers, who could not but sympathise with a
princess whose love, holy and wedded too, was crossed only by the
tyranny of statesmen. But Arabella had not within that tranquillity with
which she had lulled her keepers. She and Seymour had concerted a
flight, as bold in its plot, and as beautifully