valour of Edward; what
with the effect of his splendid person, towering above all present by
the head, and moving lightly, with each impulse, through the mass of
a mail that few there could have borne unsinking, this assertion
of absolute power in the midst of mutiny--an army marching to the
gates--imposed an unwilling reverence and sullen silence mixed with
anger, that, while it chafed, admired. They who in peace had despised
the voluptuous monarch, feasting in his palace, and reclining on the lap
of harlot-beauty, felt that in war all Mars seemed living in his
person. Then, indeed, he was a king; and had the foe, now darkening the
landscape, been the noblest chivalry of France, not a man there but had
died for a smile from that haughty lip. But the barons were knit heart
in heart with the popular outbreak, and to put down the revolt seemed to
them but to raise the Woodvilles. The silence was still unbroken, save
where the persuasive whisper of Lord Hastings might be faintly heard in
remonstrance with the more powerful or the more stubborn of the chiefs,
when the tread of steps resounded without, and, unarmed, bareheaded, the
only form in Christendom grander and statelier than the king's strode
into the hall.

Edward, as yet unaware what course Warwick would pursue, and half
doubtful whether a revolt that had borrowed his name and was led by his
kinsmen might not originate in his consent, surrounded by those to whom
the earl was especially dear, and aware that if Warwick were against him
all was lost, still relaxed not the dignity of his mien; and leaning on
his large two-handed sword, with such inward resolves as brave kings
and gallant gentlemen form, if the worst should befall, he watched the
majestic strides of his great kinsman, and said, as the earl approached,
and the mutinous captains louted low,--

"Cousin, you are welcome! for truly do I know that when you have aught
whereof to complain, you take not the moment of danger and disaster. And
whatever has chanced to alienate your heart from me, the sound of the
rebel's trumpet chases all difference, and marries your faith to mine."

"Oh, Edward, my king, why did you so misjudge me in the prosperous
hour!" said Warwick, simply, but with affecting earnestness: "since in
the adverse hour you arede me well?"

As he spoke, he bowed his head, and, bending his knee, kissed the hand
held out to him.

Edward's face grew radiant, and, raising the earl, he glanced prou