FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   463   464   465   466   467   468   469   470   471   472   473   474   475   476   477   478   479   480   481   482   483   484   485   486   487  
488   489   490   491   492   493   494   495   496   497   498   499   500   501   502   503   504   505   506   507   508   509   510   511   512   >>   >|  
twofold rebel? In fact, the queen would perhaps have fallen into Gloucester's artful snare, despite all the arguments and even the half-menaces [Louis would have thrown over Margaret's cause if Warwick had demanded it; he instructed MM. de Concressault and du Plessis to assure the earl that he would aid him to the utmost to reconquer England either for the Queen Margaret or for any one else he chose (on pour qui il voudra): for that he loved the earl better than Margaret or her son.--BRANTE, t. ix. 276.] of the more penetrating Louis, but for a counteracting influence which Richard had not reckoned upon. Prince Edward, who had lingered behind Louis, arrived from Amboise, and his persuasions did more than all the representations of the crafty king. The queen loved her son with that intenseness which characterizes the one soft affection of violent natures. Never had she yet opposed his most childish whim, and now he spoke with the eloquence of one who put his heart and his life's life into his words. At last, reluctantly, she consented to an interview with Warwick. The earl, accompanied by Oxford, arrived at Tours, and the two nobles were led into the presence of Margaret by King Louis. The reader will picture to himself a room darkened by thick curtains drawn across the casement, for the proud woman wished not the earl to detect on her face either the ravages of years or the emotions of offended pride. In a throne chair, placed on the dais, sat the motionless queen, her hands clasping, convulsively, the arms of the fauteuil, her features pale and rigid; and behind the chair leaned the graceful figure of her son. The person of the Lancastrian prince was little less remarkable than that of his hostile namesake, but its character was distinctly different. ["According to some of the French chroniclers, the Prince of Wales, who was one of the handsomest and most accomplished princes in Europe, was very desirous of becoming the husband of Anne Nevile," etc.--Miss STRICKLAND: Life of Margaret of Anjou.] Spare, like Henry V., almost to the manly defect of leanness, his proportions were slight to those which gave such portly majesty to the vast-chested Edward, but they evinced the promise of almost equal strength,--the muscles hardened to iron by early exercise in arms, the sap of youth never wasted by riot and debauch. His short purple manteline, trimmed with ermine, was embroidered with his grandfather's favourite device, "
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   463   464   465   466   467   468   469   470   471   472   473   474   475   476   477   478   479   480   481   482   483   484   485   486   487  
488   489   490   491   492   493   494   495   496   497   498   499   500   501   502   503   504   505   506   507   508   509   510   511   512   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Margaret
 
Warwick
 
arrived
 
Edward
 
Prince
 
princes
 

accomplished

 

character

 

handsomest

 
French

chroniclers
 

distinctly

 

According

 
person
 

throne

 

motionless

 
offended
 

detect

 
wished
 

ravages


emotions

 

clasping

 

convulsively

 

prince

 

remarkable

 

namesake

 
hostile
 

Lancastrian

 

figure

 

features


fauteuil

 

graceful

 

leaned

 
exercise
 

hardened

 

muscles

 
evinced
 
promise
 

strength

 
wasted

embroidered
 

ermine

 

grandfather

 

favourite

 

device

 

trimmed

 

manteline

 

debauch

 
purple
 

chested