so little of peril to life and limb as that gentle
student, in the reveries of his lonely closet; and
therefore, all unsuspicious, and seeing but diversion
to Adam’s recent gloom of despair, an opening
to all his bright prospects, Sibyll attired herself
in her holiday garments, drew her wimple closely round
her face, and summoning Madge to attend her, bent
her way to the Tower. Near York House, within
view of the Sanctuary and the Palace of Westminster,
they took a boat, and arrived at the stairs of the
Tower.
Lord Hastings.
William Lord Hastings was one of the most remarkable
men of the age. Philip de Comines bears testimony
to his high repute for wisdom and virtue. Born
the son of a knight of ancient lineage but scanty lands,
he had risen, while yet in the prime of life, to a
rank and an influence second, perhaps, only to the
House of Nevile. Like Lord Montagu, he united
in happy combination the talents of a soldier and a
courtier. But as a statesman, a schemer, a thinker,
Montagu, with all his craft, was inferior to Hastings.
In this, the latter had but two equals,—namely,
George, the youngest of the Nevile brothers, Archbishop
of York; and a boy, whose intellect was not yet fully
developed, but in whom was already apparent to the
observant the dawn of a restless, fearless, calculating,
and subtle genius. That boy, whom the philosophers
of Utrecht had taught to reason, whom the lessons
of Warwick had trained to arms, was Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, famous even now for his skill in the tilt-yard
and his ingenuity in the rhetoric of the schools.
The manners of Lord Hastings had contributed to his
fortunes. Despite the newness of his honours,
even the haughtiest of the ancient nobles bore him
no grudge, for his demeanour was at once modest and
manly. He was peculiarly simple and unostentatious
in his habits, and possessed that nameless charm which
makes men popular with the lowly and welcome to the
great. [On Edward’s accession so highly were
the services of Hastings appreciated by the party,
that not only the king, but many of the nobility,
contributed to render his wealth equal to his new
station, by grants of lands and moneys. Several
years afterwards, when he went with Edward into France,
no less than two lords, nine knights, fifty-eight
squires, and twenty gentlemen joined his train.—Dugdale:
Baronage, p. 583. Sharon Turner: History
of England, vol. iii. p. 380.] But in that day a
certain mixture of vice was necessary to success;
and Hastings wounded no self-love by the assumption
of unfashionable purism. He was regarded with
small favour by the queen, who knew him as the companion
of Edward in his pleasures, and at a later period
accused him of enticing her faithless lord into unworthy
affections. And certain it is, that he was foremost
amongst the courtiers in those adventures which we
call the excesses of gayety and folly, though too
