The Last of the Barons — Complete

  CHAPTER IV. 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 andvirtue. 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 influencesecond, perhaps, only to the House of Nevile. Like Lord Montagu, heunited in happy combination the talents of a soldier and a courtier. Butas a statesman, a schemer, a thinker, Montagu, with all his craft, wasinferior to Hastings. In this, the latter had but two equals,--namely,George, the youngest of the Nevile brothers, Archbishop of York; anda boy, whose intellect was not yet fully developed, but in whom wasalready apparent to the observant the dawn of a restless, fearless,calculating, and subtle genius. That boy, whom the philosophers ofUtrecht had taught to reason, whom the lessons of Warwick had trained toarms, was Richard, Duke of Gloucester, famous even now for his skill inthe tilt-yard and his ingenuity in the rhetoric of the schools.

  The manners of Lord Hastings had contributed to his fortunes. Despitethe newness of his honours, even the haughtiest of the ancient noblesbore him no grudge, for his demeanour was at once modest and manly. Hewas peculiarly simple and unostentatious in his habits, and possessedthat nameless charm which makes men popular with the lowly and welcometo the great. [On Edward's accession so highly were the services ofHastings appreciated by the party, that not only the king, but many ofthe nobility, contributed to render his wealth equal to his new station,by grants of lands and moneys. Several years afterwards, when hewent 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; andHastings wounded no self-love by the assumption of unfashionable purism.He was regarded with small favour by the queen, who knew him as thecompanion of Edward in his pleasures, and at a later period accused himof enticing her faithless lord into unworthy affections. And certain itis, that he was foremost amongst the courtiers in those adventures whichwe call the excesses of gayety and folly, though too often leading toSolomon's wisdom and his sadness. But profligacy with Hastings had theexcuse of ardent passions: he had loved deeply, and unhappily, in hisearlier youth, and he gave in to the dissipation of the time with therestless eagerness common to strong and active natures when the heart isnot at ease; and under all the light fascination of his converse; orthe dissipation of his life, lurked the melancholic temperament of a manworthy of nobler things. Nor was the courtly vice of the libertine theonly drawback to the virtuous character assigned to Hastings by Comines.His experience of men had taught him something of the disdain of thecynic, and he scrupled not at serving his pleasures or his ambition bymeans which his loftier nature could not excuse to his clear sense.[See Comines, book vi., for a curious anecdote of what Mr. Sharon Turnerhappily calls "the moral coquetry" of Hastings,--an anecdote whichreveals much of his character.] Still, however, the world, whichhad deteriorated, could not harden him. Few persons so able actedso frequently from impulse; the impulses were for the most partaffectionate and generous, but then came the regrets of caution andexperience; and Hastings summoned his intellect to correct the movementof his heart,--in other words, reflection sought to undo what impulsehad suggested. Though so successful a gallant, he had not acquiredthe ruthless egotism of the sensualist; and his conduct to women oftenevinced the weakness of giddy youth rather than the cold deliberationof profligate manhood. Thus in his veriest vices there was a spuriousamiability, a seductive charm; while in the graver affairs of life theintellectual susceptibility of his nature served but to quicken hispenetration and stimulate his energies, and Hastings might have said,with one of his Italian contemporaries, "That in subjection to theinfluences of women he had learned the government of men." In a word,his powers to attract, and his capacities to command, may be guessed bythis,--that Lord Hastings was the only man Richard III. seems to haveloved, when Duke of Gloucester, [Sir Thomas More, "Life of Edward V.,"speaks of "the great love" Richard bore to Hastings.] and the only manhe seems to have feared, when resolved to be King of England.

  Hastings was alone in the apartments assigned to him in the Tower, whenhis page, with a peculiar smile, announced to him the visit of a youngdonzell, who would not impart her business to his attendants.

  The accomplished chamberlain looked up somewhat impatiently from thebeautiful manuscripts, enriched with the silver verse of Petrarch,which lay open on his table, and after muttering to himself, "It is onlyEdward to whom the face of a woman never is unwelcome," bade the pageadmit the visitor. The damsel entered, and the door closed upon her.

  "Be not alarmed, maiden," said Hastings, touched by the downcast bendof the hooded countenance, and the unmistakable and timid modesty of hisvisitor's bearing. "What hast thou to say to me?"

  At the sound of his voice, Sibyll Warner started, and uttered afaint exclamation. The stranger of the pastime-ground was before her.Instinctively she drew the wimple yet more closely round her face, andlaid her hand upon the bolt of the door as if in the impulse of retreat.

  The nobleman's curiosity was roused. He looked again and earnestly onthe form that seemed to shrink from his gaze; then rising slowly, headvanced, and laid his band on her arm. "Donzell, I recognize thee," hesaid, in a voice that sounded cold and stern. "What service wouldst thouask me to render thee? Speak! Nay! I pray thee, speak."

  "Indeed, good my lord," said Sibyll, conquering her confusion; and,lifting her wimple, her dark blue eyes met those bent on her, withfearless truth and innocence, "I knew not, and you will believe me,--Iknew not till this moment that I had such cause for gratitude to theLord Hastings. I sought you but on the behalf of my father, Master AdamWarner, who would fain have the permission accorded to other scholars,to see the Lord Henry of Windsor, who was gracious to him in other days,and to while the duress of that princely captive with the show of aquaint instrument he has invented."

  "Doubtless," answered Hastings, who deserved his character (rare in thatday) for humanity and mildness--"doubt less it will pleasure me, noroffend his grace the king, to show all courtesy and indulgence to theunhappy gentleman and lord, whom the weal of England condemns us to holdincarcerate. I have heard of thy father, maiden, an honest and simpleman, in whom we need not fear a conspirator; and of thee, youngmistress, I have heard also, since we parted."

  "Of me, noble sir?"

  "Of thee," said Hastings, with a smile; and, placing a seat for her,he took from the table an illuminated manuscript. "I have to thank thyfriend Master Alwyn for procuring me this treasure!"

  "What, my lord!" said Sibyll, and her eyes glistened, "were you--youthe--the--"

  "The fortunate person whom Alwyn has enriched at so slight a cost? Yes.Do not grudge me my good fortune in this. Thou hast nobler treasures,methinks, to bestow on another!"

  "My good lord!"

  "Nay, I must not distress thee. And the young gentleman has a fair face;may it bespeak a true heart!"

  These words gave Sibyll an emotion of strange delight. They seemedspoken sadly, they seemed to betoken a jealous sorrow; they awokethe strange, wayward woman-feeling, which is pleased at the pain thatbetrays the woman's influence: the girl's rosy lips smiled maliciously.Hastings watched her, and her face was so radiant with that rare gleamof secret happiness,--so fresh, so young, so pure, and withal so archand captivating, that hackneyed and jaded as he was in the vulgarpursuit of pleasure, the sight moved better and tenderer feelings thanthose of the sensualist. "Yes," he muttered to himself, "there are sometoys it were a sin to sport with and cast away amidst the broken rubbishof gone passions!"

  He turned to the table, and wrote the order of admission to Henry'sprison, and as he gave it to Sibyll, he said, "Thy young gallant, I see,is at the court now. It is a perilous ordeal, and especially to one forwhom the name of Nevile opens the road to advancement and honour. Menlearn betimes in courts to forsake Love for Plutus, and
many a wealthylord would give his heiress to the poorest gentleman who claims kindredto the Earl of Salisbury and Warwick."

  "May my father's guest so prosper," answered Sibyll, "for he seems ofloyal heart and gentle nature!"

  "Thou art unselfish, sweet mistress," said Hastings; and, surprisedby her careless tone, he paused a moment: "or art thou, in truth,indifferent? Saw I not thy hand in his, when even those loathlytymbesteres chanted warning to thee for loving, not above thy merits,but, alas, it may be, above thy fortunes?"

  Sibyll's delight increased. Oh, then, he had not applied that hatefulwarning to himself! He guessed not her secret. She blushed, and theblush was so chaste and maidenly, while the smile that went with itwas so ineffably animated and joyous, that Hastings exclaimed, withunaffected admiration, "Surely, fair donzell, Petrarch dreamed of thee,when he spoke of the woman-blush and the angel-smile of Laura. Woe tothe man who would injure thee! Farewell! I would not see thee too often,unless I saw thee ever."

  He lifted her hand to his lips with a chivalrous respect as he spoke;opened the door, and called his page to attend her to the gates.

  Sibyll was more flattered by the abrupt dismissal than if he had kneltto detain her. How different seemed the world as her light step wendedhomeward!