relief, reciting how that the glorious beams from his Majesty's person
had stricken dumb this weaker divinity. Having finished, the heat being
intense, and they mightily encumbered with garments, did presently turn
their backs on the king's majesty, making all speed towards the gateway
for shelter. This breach of good manners was not unnoticed by the
monarch, who said, wittily, we suppose, for it was much applauded, that
these gods were not of High Olympus, but of the nether sort, inasmuch as
they had turned tail upon their subject.

James and his company, passing through the ponderous and embattled
gateway, entered into the great quadrangle, an area, it is reported, of
sufficient size to contain six hundred men. Here he alighted, and was
conducted in great state to the oaken chamber, where, royalty being very
hot, a tankard of Rhenish wine, mingled with rosewater, was handed to
him; of this he partook but sparingly, calling to Buckingham for a cup
of muscadine and eggs.

Goring and Finett were not idle, but each of them fully employed in
their respective vocations. Sir John had been pierced by a pair of dark
eyes from the crowd upon the staircase, and Goring was making all haste
for the royal hunt, his Majesty having signified that he would on that
same evening kill a stag. James was, generally, as quick to resolve as
he was impotent to execute; vacillating, and without any fixed purpose,
in matters that required decision and promptitude of action.

With his usual pusillanimity the king went through the business of the
hunt, the deer being literally driven into the very teeth of the dogs.
An hour having been thus occupied, he commanded that they should return,
highly satisfied with his own skill and intrepidity. Ascending the hill
with his favourite, Goring, and discoursing pleasantly on this noble
pastime, the king turned round on the sudden, as though recollecting
something he had lost.

"What! Jack Finett. Quhere? quhere, I say, is my Sienna balsam?" said
he, laying a deep emphasis on the guttural. This sally was acknowledged
with delight by the courtiers. But "Jack" had not been seen or even
remembered. Some trick or device was doubtless intended, and the king
held himself in readiness for the expected surprise; but none was
forthcoming. No magazine of mirth exploded; no mine was sprung; and
James entered into his chamber without any visible expression of
jocoseness issuing from the fertile brains of Sir John Fi