Maud Stepney Rawson

“ Simultaneously with this disappointment came sharper sorrow—the death of Francis Talbot. The event presented itself to Lord Leicester as worthy of one of those flowery, humbugging, sententious, idiotic letters of which he wrote so many in his crowded life. This unscrupulous idler, living on the fat of the land and overheaped with gifts and favours, presents a very odd picture as he conjures an afflicted, upright, and overburdened contemporary to count up his blessings: “The Lord hath blessed you many ways in this world, and not least with the blessing of children for your posterity.” ”

“ This letter flies like a thunderbolt across the Shrewsbury heaven. The lady’s ambition, according to her enemy, acknowledges no bounds, is no respecter of persons. Mary she not only casts aside like an old glove, but she assumes a triumphant, hostile attitude towards her. Through Lord Leicester’s heir, Arabella will ensure the favour of the English throne, while other means will be used to secure the Scottish throne itself for the child. ”

“ Is it not by virtue of the past life and compassion of the great houses that the little ones achieve their beauty in miniature, and, lastly, their sweet appropriateness to the usages of modern life? The great house begat these little ones of to-day—no hovels, but decent homes—which spring up all over England and Scotland and Ireland—in the hollows or heights of downs, in richly watered places, on ridges, by the fringes of woods, upon the sea flank—creeping up almost impudently to the very skirts of the great “places” which have passed into the traditions of history. ”

“ Their children must amuse one another. In five days the close companionship between Charles and Elizabeth could not but grow, fostered by the cleverness of the girl’s mother. Free to go and come in gardens and woodland, young and lithe, eager to escape from rules and duties and tutors, to forget sad things—Elizabeth Cavendish, the grim details of Sheffield Castle, its alarums and excursions, Charles Stuart, the tragedies of his family—they wooed each other readily. ”

“ At thirty-seven, gifted with excellent good looks, an indomitable will, and a constitution robust and healthy, it was not the moment for such a woman to permit either her schemes or her zest in life to collapse. So she keeps to her road, moving no doubt daily between the old Chatsworth and the new, the beloved fabric which for her was at once the mausoleum of her greatest happiness, the eloquent witness of her aspirations for her children, and a lasting memorial of her Cavendish ambitions. So one beholds her working onward, building for the future, impatient no doubt of the present. ”

“ Elizabeth of England, called to the immense sacrifice of her womanhood for England, fell back in private on petty vanities, and had her reward in the love of the larger public of her day and in the enlightened homage of posterity to her sacrifice and her statesmanship. Elizabeth Shrewsbury justly refused to sacrifice herself to the official burdens put upon her earl, unjustly refused to go shares with him in their common responsibilities, and so in her the “combat for the individual” ran to exaggeration, with its harvest of sheer bitterness and errors. ”

“ A good courtier always paid this dole to his queen under the guise of a handsome gift, while the nobles and country gentry in their turn were the recipients from their tenants and friends of heterogeneous articles varying from capons, wine, and foodstuffs to gloves, clothes, or furniture.
No one in that great and rich family group, so full of promise, had any notion of the events which would call down upon the Countess the wrath of the Queen, or the fresh accusations which would be hurled against the Earl.
Life just now was as easy as Shrewsbury could ever hope to find it. ”

“ But a marriage between the niece and the guest was arranged and quickly carried through. A strange pitiful affair it must have been—that London wedding between the red-haired child and the sickly young man—a ceremony trailing after it a sorry hope of happiness in the midst of physicking and nostrums, weakness and watching, until the death of the bridegroom before the bride had reached her fourteenth year. His death left no apparent gap in my Lady Zouche’s household and no mark upon history. ”

“ They were forced to isolate themselves from their children to a great extent, lest the comings and goings connected with their own family should entice strangers or messengers of doubtful character. But the eyes of England were upon the Earl and his lady. Where Mary was there abounded romance, intrigue, and mystery. Spain, France, Scotland, all were watchful, waiting for the least news. And possibly the Queen’s command and the distinction conferred on the Shrewsburys carried them far along the painful task on which they had embarked. ”

“ And both women bear witness to that determination in their faces, in their tragic fates. That and the old “En ma fin est mon commencement” ring in your ears as you turn from the gallery and from the beautiful presence-chamber with its wonderful coloured plaster frieze to the little bedroom dedicated to the relics of the Scots Mary. The curtains she embroidered, the coverings for the chairs, the tapestry, the very bed in which she slept and tossed and wept, are all proudly cherished. Mary never stayed at Hardwick, pace Horace Walpole, nor possibly ever saw it. ”

“ Lennox. Never, never.
Elizabeth. I would it were true, Charles. [The sound of the axe again interrupts them. There is laughter from men, who pass and repass and point out the lovers to each other.] There! They have seen us—the rude woodmen. We have no bower any more. [Hurries away from the tree.]
Lennox [in pursuit] . What mean you by this “woodman”...?
Elizabeth [holding out her hands for protection] . I mean there ... is no for ever.... They died, and the lilies and the branches died. Let us go home ... Charles, hide me ... from the woodman!
Lennox. Always, always! Elizabeth, stay with me. ”

“ But the more interesting part was that of the Earl’s lady, who stood as the social barrier between the outer world, so full of stirring incident, and the mock court indoors. How much to tell her Scottish majesty and how little, what gossip to retail and what to suppress, was no light task for a talkative, energetic lady, who knew the ins and outs not only of the English Court but the character of its mistress. Mary was always good company. Elizabeth gave her subjects plenty to talk about. ”

“ THE RED-HAIRED GIRL Among the hills and dales of Derbyshire, that great county of august estates, there came into the world in the year 1520 a certain baby girl. Her father, John Hardwick of Hardwick House, and her mother Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Leake of Hasland, in the same county, christened the child Elizabeth, naturally enough after her mother. Like the great Queen of England to whom she was senior, and with whom in after years she had so much traffic of a highly dramatic kind, this Elizabeth has come down to posterity under the shorter name of Bess. ”

“ Though the Duchess of Suffolk may have been genuinely interested in helping to find a husband for wistful young Elizabeth Cavendish, one cannot acquit her of a certain malice. Her part in the transaction wears a very innocent air. Nothing happened under her roof for which she could be called to book by the Queen. At the same time she was a hot Protestant and could not have felt any very great sympathy for the Lady Lennox, nor for Lady Shrewsbury, who, as regards mere creed, must always have been a religious opportunist. ”

“ Her sister-queen was too crafty to permit that. Shrewsbury, who found Mary calm and, at the outset, bearing household inconveniences cheerfully—hopeful that they were but temporary—gave her a little leash here and there. She evidently insisted on seeing Bess Shrewsbury. “The Queen continueth daily resort unto my wife’s chamber, where, with the Lady Leviston and Mrs. Seaton, she useth to sit working with the needle, in which she much delighteth, and in devising of works; and her talk is altogether of indifferent and trifling matters without ministering any sign of secret dealing and practice.” ”

“ You, Fiddler—drown the chatter with your music, if music you must make. Her Ladyship comes. You—boy, go to the bed-chambers above and help to carry down the napery which she will give you. Oh! there is more to accomplish than any hands can do. The stables are not yet ready, two of the scullions are drunk and must go, the carpenters are short of wood for the mending of the walls of my Lord’s guardroom, the roof of the dining-hall leaks, and the roll of canvas for the wall behind the dais, which is mossy and wet, has not come from France. ”

“ As for disfavour at Court, he could, as a strong and powerful private gentleman, take up his stand and keep up his vast property, though Elizabeth might wreak her annoyance on the young Cavendishes and Talbots. Had he summed up the courage to decide the matter after his own heart he would have lost nothing in the world’s esteem, been far better off in pocket, and possibly the barque of the Shrewsburys would have escaped the shoals and rocks of domestic bickerings, which in later middle-life led to such woeful wreckage of the vessel and the magnificent family crew. ”

“ Fame might move some to relieve her, and glory joined to gain might stir others to adventure much for her sake. Then joy is a lively infective sense, and carrieth many persuasions to the heart which ruleth all the rest. Mine own affection by seeing the Queen’s majesty, our sovereign, is doubled, and thereby I guess what sight might work in others.” This was the impression she made on a young and gallant courtier loyal enough to Elizabeth. Here, again, she is in the form of a veritable problem as viewed by her first warder, Knollys, who delivered her into Shrewsbury’s charge. ”

“ Elizabeth was accused of partiality by the Earl. Her own attitude towards him had been rather like that of some of his children, for she had always made use of his possessions to suit her own purpose without any intention of repayment. It is possible that from the innate stinginess of her disposition she may have resented the fashion in which he coupled accusations against his wife’s rapacity with his sore, justifiable complaint that Mary’s imprisonment had impoverished him. In a letter to Lord Leicester he can no longer control his feelings against the Queen. ”

“ Though her mother never forgave her for her defection, the fortunes of the girl—beautiful and of imposing personality—mended and brought her at last into the sunshine of Tudor favours. Henry VIII had compassion on his niece and made her playmate of Princess Mary, at which time she so won his affections that he settled an annuity upon her and her father. Subsequently she was first lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn, and was installed as one of the household of the baby Princess Elizabeth. ”

“ The Queen was very cruelly placed always between two parties—Mary’s friends and Mary’s enemies. To all, as her courtiers, she must preserve a certain show of grace and unswerving discretion, holding always the balance between the Argus-eyed alertness of the first and the many-winged suspicions of the last. These suspicions were often grossly exaggerated. There were some at least who desired the prisoner’s freedom, but not her usurpation of the English throne and a third religious revolution. ”

“ Life at Sheffield could be varied only by letters from Gilbert, though his parents must to some extent have been cheered by the prospect of his speedily having another heir. His wife was attended by no less a person than the famous physician of my Lord of Leicester, a certain Mr. Julio, who seems, on all accounts, to have known a great deal too much about the unholy drugs which the Medici found so useful, though his skill as a physician could not be gainsaid. Gilbert Talbot at least seems flourishing. He is free to come and go; he is quite a “citizen of the world.” ”

“ After sickness, pleadings, and indignation, husband and wife were permitted to share confinement at Sheen. It would have been best for them if they had been kept there indefinitely. How Elizabeth ever came to free them in the midst of her suspicions and fears in regard to the marriage of Mary of Scotland is extraordinary. That she should actually have been prevailed upon to give the Earl and his eldest son a passport into Scotland is still more so. With the Darnley marriage began Lady Lennox’s long incarceration in the Tower itself—a more pitiful imprisonment than any she had experienced. ”

“ On either side of her hangs a portrait of James VI as a little boy. In one he carries a hawk—symbol of the passion for sport which seems to have been, save for his obstinacy, his only strong point; in the other he is in correct fashionable dress and plumed cap, and wears a tiny sword—symbol of the courage he never possessed, and forerunner of the full-grown weapon which he could carry with swagger, but dared not use on his mother’s behalf. Even as his little presence hedges Arabella in this gallery on both sides, so in life his position dominated hers most cruelly in years to come. ”

“ But some will say in your Lordship’s behalf that the Countess is a sharp and bitter shrew, and therefore like enough to shorten your life if she should keep you company. Indeed, my good Lord, I have heard some say so, but if shrewdness or sharpness may be a just cause of separation between a man and wife, I think few men in England would keep their wives long; for it is a common jest, yet true in some sense, that there is but one shrew in all the world and every man hath her; and so every man might be rid of his wife that would be rid of a shrew. ”

“ It was evident that a push must be made to protect the rights of the child. Queen Mary herself sent for the old lady’s jewels on behalf of her little niece, but on the other hand she urged her son’s guardians to put forward his claims. This was not with a view to destroying the chances of Arabella, but merely to assert his family rights, lest he should be regarded as a foreigner. A counterblast to this was the action of Elizabeth, who took the child under her protection. This fulfilled the heart’s desire of Elizabeth Shrewsbury. ”

“ The Earl was in receipt of all outside information in regard to Scotland and the English Court. It was patent that no help for Mary could come from James, well primed since his cradle by the lords who hated his mother. Bess Shrewsbury’s glorious dream of a throne for Arabella stared at her now as a somewhat sickly vision. The only hopes for the child were from an influential marriage. ”

“ Mary knew his power. Was not the villain in constant intercourse with Cecil, Elizabeth’s right hand? She knew also that marriage was the only way out of prison and back to her throne. Three husbands had failed her. Even Moray conceded that she “had been troubled in times past with children, young, proud fools, and furious men”—the anæmic Francis II, Darnley, and Bothwell. As a woman she could attract any man she chose. And the Duke of Norfolk was one of the premier gentlemen of England, inclined to espouse her faith, and had powerful friends among the nobles near the Border. ”

“ The poor Earl could only point to his Queen’s testimonial and console himself by thinking on his family doggerel:—
The Talbot true that is,
And still hath so remaynde,
Lost never noblenesse
By princke of spot distaynde:
On such a fixed fayth
This trustie Talbot stayth. For there is no real honour left to a house divided against itself. The quarrel of man and wife had become the property of the world. Matters must be patched up somehow with the aid of friends and Court officials. Everything, to the eye, was now put on a highly respectable basis. ”

“ We see that the Earl of Leicester was a person to be cultivated so long as his love affairs did not incur the Queen’s anger, and so long, in fact, as the love-making was not on his side. It must have been with a chuckle of satisfaction that the Earl received a letter from the favourite about this time, in which he specially commends the behaviour of the young Talbots and records the Queen’s high approval of them. All this was very soothing to their parents. The political situation was less acute. Many traitors were dead, and the banner of Mary of Scotland lay in the dust. ”

“ In an age when poisonings were rife and assassinations common they would have been suspected by all parties of all sorts of foul play. Mary’s loyal gentleman, John Beton, the prægustator, must have had enough to do at this time in tasting the dishes for the daily menus. Shrewsbury meanwhile kept a sharp look-out and at once suggested change of air. Mary, in spite of the pain in her side, symptom of a chronic malady, and one which always attacked her when she was the least out of health, was only too ready to move. This time the destination was Sheffield—the castle. ”