The nobles and courtiers who had attended the Queen on her pleasure
expedition were invited, with royal hospitality, to a splendid banquet
in the hall of the Palace. The table was not, indeed, graced by the
presence of the Sovereign; for, agreeable to her idea of what was at
once modest and dignified, the Maiden Queen on such occasions was wont
to take in private, or with one or two favourite ladies, her light and
temperate meal. After a moderate interval, the court again met in the
splendid gardens of the Palace; and it was while thus engaged that
the Queen suddenly asked a lady, who was near to her both in place and
favour, what had become of the young Squire Lack-Cloak.
The Lady Paget answered, "She had seen Master Raleigh but two or
three minutes since standing at the window of a small pavilion or
pleasure-house, which looked out on the Thames, and writing on the glass
with a diamond ring."
"That ring," said the Queen, "was a small token I gave him to make
amends for his spoiled mantle. Come, Paget, let us see what use he has
made of it, for I can see through him already. He is a marvellously
sharp-witted spirit." They went to the spot, within sight of which,
but at some distance, the young cavalier still lingered, as the fowler
watches the net which he has set. The Queen approached the window, on
which Raleigh had used her gift to inscribe the following line:-"Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall."
The Queen smiled, read it twice over, once with deliberation to Lady
Paget, and once again to herself. "It is a pretty beginning," she said,
after the consideration of a moment or two; "but methinks the muse
hath deserted the young wit at the very outset of his task. It were
good-natured--were it not, Lady Paget?--to complete it for him. Try your
rhyming faculties."
Lady Paget, prosaic from her cradle upwards as ever any lady of the
bedchamber before or after her, disclaimed all possibility of assisting
the young poet.
"Nay, then, we must sacrifice to the Muses ourselves," said Elizabeth.
"The incense of no one can be more acceptable," said Lady Paget; "and
your Highness will impose such obligation on the ladies of Parnassus--"
"Hush, Paget," said the Queen, "you speak sacrilege against the immortal
Nine--yet, virgins themselves, they should be exorable to a Virgin
Queen--and therefore--let me see how runs his verse-'Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall.' Might not the answer (for fault of a better) run thus?-'If thy mind fail thee, do not climb at all.'"