KENILWORTH - Penn State University

Sir Walter ScottVarney hastily; “I would have thee bold to others, but notsaucy to me.”“I crave your worship’s pardon,” said Lambourne, “but youseemed familiar with Anthony Foster; now I am familiar withAnthony myself.”“Thou art a shrewd knave, I see,” replied Varney. “Markme—I do indeed propose to introduce thee into a nobleman’shousehold; but it is upon my person thou wilt chiefly wait,and upon my countenance that thou wilt depend. I am hismaster of horse. Thou wilt soon know his name—it is onethat shakes the council and wields the state.”“By this light, a brave spell to conjure with,” saidLambourne, “if a man would discover hidden treasures!”“Used with discretion, it may prove so,” replied Varney;“but mark—if thou conjure with it at thine own hand, itmay raise a devil who will tear thee in fragments.”“Enough said,” replied Lambourne; “I will not exceed mylimits.”The travellers then resumed the rapid rate of travelling whichtheir discourse had interrupted, and soon arrived at the RoyalPark of Woodstock. This ancient possession of the crown ofEngland was then very different from what it had been whenit was the residence of the fair Rosamond, and the scene ofHenry the Second’s secret and illicit amours; and yet moreunlike to the scene which it exhibits in the present day, whenBlenheim House commemorates the victory of Marlborough,and no less the genius of Vanbrugh, though decried in hisown time by persons of taste far inferior to his own. It was, inElizabeth’s time, an ancient mansion in bad repair, which hadlong ceased to be honoured with the royal residence, to thegreat impoverishment of the adjacent village. The inhabitants,however, had made several petitions to the Queen tohave the favour of the sovereign’s countenance occasionallybestowed upon them; and upon this very business, ostensiblyat least, was the noble lord, whom we have already introducedto our readers, a visitor at Woodstock.Varney and Lambourne galloped without ceremony intothe courtyard of the ancient and dilapidated mansion, whichpresented on that morning a scene of bustle which it had notexhibited for two reigns. Officers of the Earl’s household,liverymen and retainers, went and came with all the insolentfracas which attaches to their profession. The neigh of horses95