arate pieces, the conquest of Saxon
England. Over each head, to enlighten the ignorant, the artist had taken
the precaution to insert a label, which told the name and the subject.
The ceiling was groined, vaulted, and emblazoned with the richest
gilding and colours. The chimneypiece (a modern ornament) rose to the
roof, and represented in bold reliefs, gilt and decorated, the signing
of Magna Charta. The floor was strewed thick with dried rushes and
odorous herbs; the furniture was scanty, but rich. The low-backed
chairs, of which there were but four, carved in ebony, had cushions
of velvet with fringes of massive gold; a small cupboard, or beaufet,
covered with carpetz de cuir (carpets of gilt and painted leather),
of great price, held various quaint and curious ornaments of plate
inwrought with precious stones; and beside this--a singular contrast--on
a plain Gothic table lay the helmet, the gauntlets, and the battle-axe
of the master. Warwick himself, seated before a large, cumbrous desk,
was writing,--but slowly and with pain,--and he lifted his finger as
the Nevile approached, in token of his wish to conclude a task probably
little congenial to his tastes. But Marmaduke was grateful for the
moments afforded him to recover his self-possession, and to examine his
kinsman.

The earl was in the lusty vigour of his age. His hair, of the deepest
black, was worn short, as if in disdain of the effeminate fashions of
the day; and fretted bare from the temples by the constant and early
friction of his helmet, gave to a forehead naturally lofty yet more
majestic appearance of expanse and height. His complexion, though dark
and sunburned, glowed with rich health. The beard was closely shaven,
and left in all its remarkable beauty the contour of the oval face and
strong jaw,--strong as if clasped in iron. The features were marked and
aquiline, as was common to those of Norman blood. The form spare, but of
prodigious width and depth of chest, the more apparent from the fashion
of the short surcoat, which was thrown back, and left in broad expanse
a placard, not of holiday velvet and satins, but of steel polished as a
mirror, and inlaid with gold. And now as, concluding his task, the earl
rose and motioned Marmaduke to a stool by his side, his great stature,
which, from the length of his limbs, was not so observable when he sat,
actually startled his guest. Tall as Marmaduke was himself, the earl
towered [The faded portrait of Ri