Kings & rulers > Kenilworth > Volume 1

278
KENILWORTH.
my lords, we have all heard something of,) the
manly amusement of bear-baiting is falling into
comparative neglect; since men will rather throng
-to see these roguish players kill each other in jest,
than to see our royal dogs and bears worry each
other in bloody earnest—What say you to this,
my Lord of Sussex ?”
“ Why, truly, gracious Madam,” said Sussex,
“ you must expect little from an old soldier like
me in favour of battles in sport, when they are
compared with battles in earnest; and yet, by my
faith, I wish Will Shakspeare no harm. He is a
stout man at quarter-staff, and single falchion,
though, as I am told, a halting fellow ; and he
stood, they say, a tough fight with the rangers of
old Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecot, when he broke
his deer-park and kissed his keeper’s daughter.”
“ I cry you mercy, my Lord of Sussex,” said
Queen Elizabeth, interrupting him ; “ that mat¬
ter was heard in council, and we will not have this
fellow’s offence exaggerated—there was no kiss¬
ing in the matter, and the defendant hath put the
denial on record. But what say you to his pre¬
sent practice, my lord, on the stage ? for there lies
the point, and not in any way touching his former
errors, in breaking parks, or the other follies you
speak of.”
“ Why truly, Madam,” replied Sussex, “ as I
said before, I wish the gamesome mad fellow no
injury. Some of his whoresome poetry, (I crave
your Grace’s pardon for such a phrase,) has rung
. in mine ears as if they sounded to boot and saddle.
—But then it is all froth and folly—no substance
©r seriousness in it, as your Grace has already
well touched. What are half a dozen knaves,
with rusty foils and tattered targets, making but
a mere mockery of a stout fight, to compare to
the royal game of bear-baiting, which hath been
graced by your Highness’s countenance, and that