CHAPTER FOUR.
LIFE IN LONDON.
"Whan we cam' in by Glasgow toun, We were a comely sicht to see,-- My luve was clad in velvet black And I mysel' in cramoisie."
Old Ballad.
A fortnight after the events recorded in the last chapter, Lovell Towerwas in the confusion of great preparations for the approaching wedding.Friar Andrew was despatched to York fair to purchase twenty yards ofscarlet cloth, fourteen yards of tawny satin, eight of purple satin, andthe same number of blue cloth of silver, with jewels and rich furs. Allwas cutting-out and fitting-on, with discussions about trimmings,quintises, and head-dresses. Richard Pynson was sent hither and thitheron errands. Sir Geoffrey himself superintended the purchase of a newpillion, and ordered it to be covered with green velvet. Lord Marnell,who did not often come to Lovell Tower himself, sent over a trustymessenger every day to inquire if Mistress Margery had rested well andwas merry. From the latter condition she was very far. At length thepreparations were completed; and on a splendid summer day, when thebirds were singing their most joyous melodies, Margery Lovell wasmarried, in Bostock Church, to Sir Ralph Marnell, Baron Marnell ofLymington, Knight of the Garter. The bride was attired in blue cloth ofsilver, trimmed with miniver; and her hair, as was then the custom atweddings, was not confined by any head-dress, but flowed down her back,long and straight. The bridegroom was dressed in cramoisie--crimsonvelvet--richly trimmed with bullion, and wore three long waving plumesin his cap, as well as a streamer of gold lace. If any one who may readthese pages should inquire why Margery chose blue for her wedding-dress,I may answer that Margery would have been greatly astonished if any onehad recommended white. White at this period was not only a mourningcolour, but mourning of the very deepest character.
No pains were spared to make this a merry wedding, and yet it certainlycould not be called a joyous one. All the inhabitants of Lovell Towerknew well that the bride was very far from happy; Sir Geoffrey and DameLovell were naturally sorry to lose their only child; Friar Andrewmourned over his favourite and his kettle of furmety; while RichardPynson had his own private sorrow, to which I need not allude further inthis place.
The bridal feast was held at Lovell Tower, and all the neighbours wereinvited to it. The festivities were prolonged to a late hour; and atfive o'clock next morning everybody was busy helping the bride to packup. Everybody thought of everything so well, that there was very littleleft for her to think of; but she did think of one thing. When Margeryset out for her new home in London, the book went too.
The journey to London from the North was in those days a long andwearisome one. There were no vehicles but litters and waggons. Margerytravelled part of the way in a litter, and part on a pillion behind herbridegroom, who rode on horseback the whole way. He had with him aregular army of retainers, besides sundry maidens for the Lady Marnell,at the head of whom was Alice Jordan, the unlucky girl who, at our firstvisit to Lovell Tower, was reprimanded for leaving out the onions in theblanch-porre. Margery had persuaded her mother to resign to her for apersonal attendant this often clumsy and forgetful but reallywell-meaning girl. It was a Friday evening when they arrived in London;and Margery was much too tired to think of doing anything but rest herwearied head in sleep.
As early as four o'clock the next morning, she was roused by Londoncries from a happy dream of Lovell Tower. "Quinces! sweet quinces! ripequinces!"
"Any kitchen-stuff, have you, maids?"
"Cakes and ale! cakes and ale!"
"Cherry ripe! cherry ripe!"
"Come buy, pretty maids, come buy! come buy!" with an undercurrent ofthe long rhymed cry of the hawker of haberdashery, of which Shakespearehas given us a specimen as regards the English version--
"Lawn, as white as driven snow; Cyprus, black as e'er was crow," etcetera.
Margery lay still, and listened in silence to all these new sounds. Atlength she rose and dressed herself, with the assistance of Alice, whowas seriously dissatisfied with the narrow streets and queer smells ofthe town, and spared no comment on these points while assisting heryoung mistress at her toilette. Having dressed, Margery passed into anantechamber, close to her bedroom, where breakfast was served. Thisrepast consisted of a pitcher of new milk, another pitcher of wine, adish of poached eggs, a tremendous bunch of water-cress, a large loaf ofbread, and marchpanes--a sweet cake, not unlike the modern macaroon.Breakfast over, Margery put on her hood, and taking Alice with her, shesallied forth on an expedition to examine the neighbourhood of her newhome. One of Lord Marnell's men-servants followed at a short distance,wearing a rapier, to defend his mistress in case of any assault beingmade upon her.
Lord Marnell's house was very near the country, and in a quiet andsecluded position, being pleasantly situated in Fleet Street. Greenfields lay between the two cities of London and Westminster. There wasonly one bridge across the river, that silver Thames, which ran, soclear and limpid, through the undulating meadows; and the bridge wasentirely built over, a covered way passing under the houses for wheeledvehicles. Far to the right rose the magnificent Palace of Westminster,a relic of the Saxon kings; and behind it the grand old Abbey, and thestrong, frowning Sanctuary; while to the left glittered the walls andturrets of the White Tower, the town residence of royalty. Margery,however, could not see the whole of this as she stepped out of herhouse. What first met her eyes were the more detailed and less pleasantfeatures of the scene. There were no causeways; the streets, as a rule,would just allow of the progress of one vehicle, though a few of theprincipal ones would permit the passage of two; and the pavementsconsisted of huge stones, not remarkable either for evenness orsmoothness. A channel ran down the middle of the street, into whichevery housewife emptied her slops from the window, and along which dirtywater, sewerage, straw, drowned rats, and mud, floated in profuse andodoriferous mezee. Margery found it desirable to make considerable useof her pomander, a ball of various mixed drugs inclosed in a goldnetwork, and emitting a pleasant fragrance when carried in the warmhand. As she proceeded along the streets which were lined with shops,the incessant cry of the shopkeepers standing at their doors, "What doyou lack? what do you lack?" greeted her on every side. The vehicleswere of two classes, as I have before observed--waggons and litters, thelitters being the carriages of the fourteenth century; but the waggonswere by far the most numerous. Occasionally a lady of rank would ridepast in her litter, drawn by horses whose trappings swept the ground; ora knight, followed by a crowd of retainers, would prance by on hishigh-mettled charger. Margery spent the happiest day which she hadpassed since her marriage, in wandering about London, and satisfying hergirlish curiosity concerning every place of which she had ever heard.Lord Marnell frowned when Margery confessed, on her return, that she hadbeen out to see London. It was not fit, he said, that she should go outon foot: ladies of rank were not expected to walk: she ought to haveordered out her litter, with a due attendance of retainers.
"But, my lord," said Margery, very naturally, "an't please you, I couldnot see so well in a litter."
Lord Marnell's displeased lips relaxed into a laugh, for he was amusedat her simplicity; but he repeated that he begged she would remember,now that she _had_ seen, that she was no longer plain Mistress MargeryLovell, but Baroness Marnell of Lymington, and would behave herselfaccordingly. Margery sighed at this curtailment of her liberty, andwithdrew to see where Alice was putting her dresses.
As it was approaching evening, Lord Marnell's voice called herdownstairs.
"If thou wilt see a sight, Madge," he said, good-naturedly, as sheentered, "come quickly, and one will gladden thine eyes which neversawest thou before. The King rideth presently from the Savoy to theTower."
Margery ran to the window, and saw a number of horses, decked, as wellas their riders, in all the colours of the rainbow, coming up the streetfrom the stately Savoy Palace, which stood, surrounded by green fields,in what is now the Strand.
"Which is the King's Grace, I pray you?" asked she
, eagerly.
"He weareth a plain black hood and a red gown," answered her husband."He rideth a white horse, and hath a scarlet footcloth, all powderedover with ostrich feathers in gold."
"What!" said Margery, in surprise, "that little, fair, goodly man, withthe golden frontlet to his horse?"
"The very same," said Lord Marnell. "The tall, comely man who ridethbehind him, on yon brown horse, and who hath eyes like to an eagle, isthe Duke of Lancaster. `John of Gaunt,' the folk call him, by reasonthat he was born at Ghent, in Flanders."
"And who be the rest, if I weary you not with asking?" said Margery,rather timidly.
"In no wise," answered he. "Mostly lords and noble gentlemen, of whomthou mayest perchance have heard. The Earl of Surrey is he in the greencoat, with a red plume. The Earl of Northumberland hath a blue coat,broidered with gold, and a footcloth of the same. Yon dark,proud-looking man in scarlet, on the roan horse, is the Duke of Exeter[Sir John Holland], brother to the King's Grace by my Lady Princess hismother, who was wed afore she wedded the Prince, whose soul God rest!Ah! and here cometh my Lord of Hereford, Harry of Bolingbroke[afterwards Henry IV], the Duke of Lancaster's only son and heir--and ason and heir who were worse than none, if report tell truth," added LordMarnell, in a lower tone. "Seest thou, Madge, yon passing tall man,with black hair, arrayed in pink cloth of silver?" [See note 1].
"I see him well, I thank your good Lordship," was Margery's answer; butshe suddenly shivered as she spoke.
"Art thou cold, Madge, by the casement? Shall I close the lattice?"
"I am not cold, good my Lord, I thank you," said Margery, in a differenttone; "but I like not to look upon that man."
"Why so?" asked Lord Marnell, looking down from his altitude upon theslight frail figure at his side. "Is he not a noble man and a goodly?"
"I know not," answered Margery, still in a troubled voice. "There is athing in his face for which I find not words, but it troubleth me."
"Look not on him, then," said he, drawing her away. She thanked him forhis kindness in showing and explaining the glittering scene to her, andreturned to her supervision of Alice.
A few days after this, the Prioress of Kennington, Lord Marnell'ssister, came in her litter to see her young sister-in-law. Margery wassurprised to find in her a lady so little resembling her country-formedidea of a nun. She wore, indeed, the costume of her order; but herdress, instead of being common serge or camlet, was black velvet; herfrontlet and barb [see Note 2] were elaborately embroidered; her longgloves [see Note 3] were of white Spanish leather, delicately perfumed,and adorned with needlework in coloured silks; she wore nearly as manyrings as would have stocked a small jeweller's shop, and from hergirdle, set with the finest gems, were suspended a pomander richlyworked in gold and enamel, a large silver seal, and a rosary, made ofamethyst beads, holding a crucifix, the materials of which werealabaster and gold.
In those palmy days of Romanism in England, nuns were by no means sostrictly secluded as now. They were present at all manner offestivities; the higher class travelled about the country very much asthey chose, and all of them, while retaining the peculiar shape andcolour of the prescribed monastic costume, contrived to spend a fortuneon the accessories and details of their dress. The Prioress ofKennington, as I have just described her, is a specimen of nearly allthe prioresses and other conventual authorities of her day.
This handsomely-dressed lady was stiff and stately in her manner, anduttered, with the proudest mien, words expressive only of the mostabject humility. "If her fair sister would come and see her at her poorhouse at Kennington, she would be right glad of so great honour."Margery replied courteously, but she had no desire to see much of thePrioress.
Lord Marnell took his wife to Court, and presented her to the King--theQueen was dead--and the Duchess of Gloucester [Eleanor Bohu], his aunt.The King spoke to Margery very kindly, and won her good opinion by sodoing. The Duchess honoured her with a haughty stare, and then"supposed she came from the North?" in a tone which indicated that sheconsidered her a variety of savage. The ladies in waiting examined andquestioned her with more curiosity than civility; and Margery's visit toCourt left upon her mind, with the single exception of King Richard'skindness, a most unpleasant impression.
In the winter of 1396, King Richard brought home a new queen, thePrincess Isabelle of France, who had attained the mature age of eightyears. Margery watched the little Queen make her entrance into London.She was decked out with jewels, of which she brought a great quantityover with her, and fresh ones were presented to her at every place whereshe halted. Alice, with round eyes, declared that "the Queen's Grace'sjewels must be worth a King's ransom--and would not your good Ladyshipwish to have the like?"
Margery shook her head.
"The only jewels that be worth having, good Alice," said she, "be gemsof the heart, such like as meekness, obedience, and charity. And intruth, if I were the chooser, there be many things that I would haveafore jewels. But much good do they the Queen's Grace, poor child! andI pray God she rest not content with gauds of this earth."
Before that winter was over, one thing, worth more than the Queen'sjewels in her eyes, was bestowed upon Margery. Something to take careof--something to love and live for. A little golden-haired baby, whichbecame, so far as anything in this world could become so, the light andjoy of her heart and soul.
Margery soon learned to value at its true worth the show and tinsel ofLondon life. She never appeared again at Court but once, to pay herrespects to the new Queen, who received her very cordially, seated on athrone by her husband. The small Queen of eight "hoped she was quitewell, and thought that England was a very fine country." The king spoketo her as kindly as before, offered her ipocras [see Note 4] and spices,and on the close of the interview, took up his little Queen in his arms,and carried her out of the room. Margery had, indeed, no opportunity tovisit the Court again; for the young Queen was educated at Windsor, andvery rarely visited London. And Lady Marnell, tired of the hollowglitter of high life, and finding few or none in her own sphere withwhom she could complacently associate, went back with fresh zest to herbaby and the book.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. These descriptions are taken from the invaluable illuminationsin Creton's _Histoire du Roy Richart Deux_, Harl. Ms. 1319. Creton wasa contemporary and personal friend of King Richard.
Note 2. The frontlet and barb were pieces of white linen, the formerworn over the forehead, the latter over the chin.
Note 3. Gloves were just becoming fashionable in the fourteenth centuryfor common wear. Before that, they were rarely used except when thewearer carried a falcon on the wrist.
Note 4. A sweet wine or liqueur, generally served at the "void."