the court
of the brilliant Edward ere the scene itself allures and separates us
from our guide; his mission is, as it were, well-nigh done. We leave,
then, for a while this bold, frank nature-fresh from the health of
the rural life--gradually to improve, or deprave itself, in the
companionship it finds. The example of the Lords Hastings, Scales, and
Worcester, and the accomplishments of the two younger Princes of York,
especially the Duke of Gloucester, had diffused among the younger
and gayer part of the court that growing taste for letters which
had somewhat slept during the dynasty of the House of Lancaster; and
Marmaduke's mind became aware that learning was no longer the peculiar
distinction of the Church, and that Warwick was behind his age when he
boasted "that the sword was more familiar to him than the pen." He had
the sagacity to perceive that the alliance with the great earl did not
conduce to his popularity at court; and even in the king's presence,
the courtiers permitted themselves many taunts and jests at the fiery
Warwick, which they would have bitten out their tongues ere they would
have vented before the earl himself. But though the Nevile sufficiently
controlled his native candour not to incur unprofitable quarrel by
ill-mannered and unseasonable defence of the hero-baron when sneered at
or assailed, he had enough of the soldier and the man in him not to be
tainted by the envy of the time and place,--not to lose his gratitude to
his patron, nor his respect for the bulwark of the country. Rather, it
may be said, that Warwick gained in his estimation whenever compared
with the gay and silken personages who avenged themselves by words for
his superiority in deeds. Not only as a soldier, but as a statesman, the
great and peculiar merits of the earl were visible in all those measures
which emanated solely from himself. Though so indifferently educated,
his busy, practical career, his affable mixing with all classes, and
his hearty, national sympathies made him so well acquainted with the
interests of his country and the habits of his countrymen, that he was
far more fitted to rule than the scientific Worcester or the learned
Scales. The Young Duke of Gloucester presented a marked contrast to the
general levity of the court, in speaking of this powerful nobleman. He
never named him but with respect, and was pointedly courteous to
even the humblest member of the earl's family. In this he appeared to
advantage