Kings & rulers > Kenilworth > Volume 1

264
KENILWORTH.
said he, “ Matlam, be but a clog on your gayer
hours since my late severe illness.’’
“ And have you been indeed so very ill ?” said
Elizabeth, looking on him with more attention
than before; “ you are in faith strangely altered,
and deeply am 1 grieved to see it. But be of good
cheer—we will ourselves look after the health
of so valued a servant, and to whom we owe so
much. Masters shall order your diet; and that
we ourselves may see that he is obeyed, you must
attend us in this progress to Kenilworth.”
This was said so peremptorily and at the same
time with so much kindness, that Sussex, how¬
ever unwilling to become the guest of his rival,
had no resource but to bow low to the Queen in
obedience to her commands, and to express to
Leicester, with blunt courtesy, though mingled
with embarrassment, his acceptance of his invita¬
tion. As the Earls exchanged compliments on
the occasion, the Queen said to- her High Trea¬
surer, “ Methinks, my lord, the countenances of
these our two noble peers resemble that of the
two famed classic streams, the one so dark and
sad, the other so fair and noble—My old Master
Ascham would have chid me for forgetting the
author—It is Caesar, as I think.—See what ma¬
jestic calmness sits on the brow of the noble Lei¬
cester, while Sussex seems to greet him as if he
did our will indeed, but not willingly.”
“ The doubt of your Majesty’s favour,’’ an¬
swered the Lord Treasurer, “ may perchance oc¬
casion the difference, which does not—as what
does ?—escape your Grace’s eye.”
“ Such doubt were injurious to us, my lord,”
replied the Queen. “ We hold both to be near
and dear to us, and will with impartiality em¬
ploy both in honourable service for the weal of
our kingdom. But we will break their farther