The recital of the adventure which had just taken place in the streets of Newark, and the apprehension of Slingsby, may well be supposed to have produced considerable excitement amongst the party from Oakham, who had seen that worthy gentleman pursuing their good friend Matthew Lakyn over the heath near Witham; and Messrs. Smallit and Polty were extremely anxious to accompany Sir Harry West's servant to the presence of the King as witnesses. To this suggestion, however, Matthew Lakyn gave no encouragement, and Sir Robert Cecil's man, who made his appearance exactly at the hour appointed, put a decided negative upon it, saying that the court was already more crowded than it would bear.

Hurrying through the dark streets of Newark, Lakyn and his companion were soon in the King's ante-chamber, where they found good Master Slingsby guarded by some of the constables of the place. The few hours of imprisonment which he had undergone, and perhaps the conversation of those who held him in custody, had worked a great change in the demeanour of that personage; and he was now evidently inclined to treat the charge as a more serious affair than he had thought it at first. He would fain have spoken to Lakyn, and beckoned him to come across the room; but the constables rebuked him sharply, and one of the attendants of the King exclaimed, "No, no; no cogging here!"

A minute or two after, the door of the King's chamber, against which was stationed a halberdier, was thrown open by some one within, and a voice called, "Bring in the prisoner and the witnesses;" and entering the adjoining room, after Slingsby had been led forward by the officers, Lakyn found himself in the presence of the King. James was seated in a large arm-chair, dressed in the same garments which he had worn in the morning, with hands and face not particularly well washed, and an air of slovenly untidiness about his whole person. In fact, he was distinguished from the rest of the court principally by being more unlike a gentleman than any one present. On his right hand stood Sir Robert Cecil, on his left, some other officers of the crown. A bishop, and two or three clergymen, were also in the room; and the circle on the King's right was extended by the mayor and corporation of Newark, who had that night been graciously admitted to his presence. Before him, at the moment Lakyn entered, stood the tall dark man whom we have seen as Slingsby's companion on the road; and with him the monarch seemed conversing in a familiar tone, though his eye wandered constantly from the person whom he was addressing to those who came in at the door, following them round the room, till they had taken their stations at the opposite side.

"Your petition, man," he said, speaking to the man who stood before him, "shall have all due consideration; and, depend upon it, rightful and even justice shall be done; but I would fain ask you a question or two thereanent. You call yourself an English gentleman, and your petition smacks of the humanities. I dare to say, now, you have had a good education?"

"Much pains have been bestowed upon it, sire," replied the stranger.

"And, if a king may be so bold as to ask," said James, with the same broad Scottish accent of which he found it difficult to divest himself, "where was it carried on, Master Winter, if such be your name?"

The man hesitated for a moment or two, and then replied, "At Oxford, sire."

"And at what college, man?" demanded the King, turning a shrewd look towards Cecil.

"At Corpus Christi College, your majesty," answered the personage to whom the question was addressed.

"A very learned place," replied James, "though somewhat given, we have heard, to the doctrines of popery. But our memory, man, is very long and troublesome; and, as we take great delight in the progress of our subjects, especially in those studies which are vulgarly called the humanities, we have diligently perused the names of all the scholars at our two universities in the kingdom of England, and we cannot just readily recollect the name of Winter amongst those who matriculated at Oxford within the last five-and-twenty years. It is true that the memory of a king ought, by God's grace, to be better than that of a subject. However, we may fail, as all men; so just recollect yourself, and see if you have not studied also in Rome, France, or Brabant. It is not so easy to deceive us, man, as some folks think; and you have so much the look of what is profanely termed a seminary priest, that we would fain take further informations concerning you."

Master Winter, as he called himself, turned as pale as ashes, and began in a hesitating manner to acknowledge that he had studied some time on the Continent.

"Doubtless, doubtless," cried the King, "and have taken all the degrees and orders. Are you ready, sir, to receive the oath of supremacy, acknowledging that in this realm of England the supreme rule and governance of affairs ecclesiastical are in the king alone? What! you make no answer! Well, then, you see you are found out. My Lord Bishop,--having now opened the examination of this man, so that your lordship may clearly see and learn the course in which we would have it conducted, we give the case over to you for farther investigation; and should it turn out, as we believe, that a papistical priest has dared to intrude himself into our sacred presence, we will have him committed to be dealt with according to law. Let him be put in charge of a pursuivant, and perhaps to-morrow we may hold farther discourse with him, in the hope of opening his blinded eyes, and reclaiming him from his errors. Stand down, sir. Let the other fellow be brought forward--not so near, not so near. He is as ill-looking a body as ever I set eyes on. Where are the witnesses?"

While the man Winter was removed to the other side of the room, Lakyn, Sir Robert Cecil's servant, and two other persons, who had been standing near in the crowd when the attempt to cut off the pouch was made, advanced, and were examined by the King touching the whole transaction. The facts were clearly proved beyond a doubt; and it was also shown that the man had not denied the attempt.

"Well, sir, and what have you to say for yourself now?" demanded James. "Have you any evidence to rebut this charge?"

"May it please your majesty," replied Slingsby, "I do not deny that I attempted to cut off the pouch; but----"

"What! then you make confession, man?" said the King. "This is the eighth or ninth time since we left Berwick that robbery has been committed upon persons attending our court, and, now we have got you, we will make an example, depend upon it."

"I wished but to see what the pouch contained, your majesty," exclaimed Slingsby, in a dolorous tone.

"Just like all other robbers and plunderers," answered James; "they all want to see what the purses they take contain, and the more the better."

"But, but," cried the man, "it was only curiosity."

"Hout tout!" exclaimed James, "such curiosity as that must be stopped with a rope," (or, as the King expressed it, with a "wuudie,") "and being the sovereign judge, to whom all other judges in this realm are merely subservient, or assistant, having tried the case ourselves, and finding this man taken in the act, and not making denial of his guilt, we shall proceed to pass sentence upon him according to law, ordering him to be taken back to prison, and thence, to-morrow morning, at six of the clock, to the place of public execution, there to be hanged by the neck until he be dead. Let a warrant be prepared, directed to our Recorder of the town of Newark, for due execution of our sentence."

Every person in the room looked almost as much aghast as the unhappy prisoner; for such a gross and unheard-of violation of the laws of England seemed to every one more dangerous than if a thousand cut-purses had escaped.

"But, sire----" exclaimed Cecil, stepping forward.

"Not a word, Sir Robert--not a word," cried the King. "We will have no pleading for him. He is taken in the fact, confesses his crime, and it is but right and befitting to make our English subjects know that we hold the sword of Justice with a firm hand, and will not fail to strike at all offenders against the law. Take the man away--let the warrant be made out and executed without fail. As we are a crowned king, we will not bate a tittle of our sentence."

The courtiers looked in each other's faces, and the unhappy Slingsby was dragged away, endeavouring to stammer forth some appeal to the King's mercy and to the laws of the land. But no one attended to him; and so great was the popular excitement in favour of a new monarch, that, although such an act had not been committed since the darkest period of British history, no one ventured to oppose it, and the warrant was made out according to the King's command.

James himself seemed not to entertain the slightest doubt or hesitation in regard to his own proceedings, nor indeed any sorrow or compunction for the fate of the unhappy man whom he had just doomed to death.

"Well, now," he cried, addressing Lakyn, "the cut-purse being disposed of, let us see the pouch, man."

Lakyn, who held it in his hand--for the strap by which it was suspended had been quite cut through--immediately presented it to the King upon his knee; and James, taking it from him, without further ceremony undid the loop and button, and put his hand into the inside. Feeling, however, that some degree of ridicule might attach to him for displaying the same curiosity which he had condemned so severely the minute before, he began a discourse in justification of his own proceeding, full of all those quaint niceties and hair's-breadth distinctions on which he prided himself. He explained, in the first place, in broad general terms, that conduct which might be criminal in a subject was perfectly justifiable in a king. He then went on to show more at large that the impropriety or propriety of a man's actions depended entirely upon the circumstances and the position of the man himself, exemplifying his truisms with various homely and strangely contrasted instances, from the rights of a schoolmaster in birch and cane to the rights of a monarch on the throne; and certainly in both cases he was inclined to stretch prerogative sometimes beyond its just limits. He ended, however, after a discourse of a quarter of an hour, during which time his fingers still remained in the bag, by declaring that evidently the man's pretext of curiosity was false and absurd. "For why," asked the King, "should he have a greater desire to see what was in one bag than in another?"

"Why, may it please your majesty," replied Lakyn, "I do think the man said true in that, for knowing that I was bearing a letter to your Majesty's Court from the Lady Arabella Stuart,--that is, not to say that he did know it, but he might, for all I can say to the contrary.--However, he followed me all the way down from Cambridgeshire, and as there were more people with him, I can't help thinking it was a plot to get the letter and see the contents."

"Ha!" cried the King, turning pale--"a plot already? Did we not tell you, Sir Robert, did we not tell you, Taylor, that it would not be long first?--Why, what's the matter there? The man seems to have tumbled down," and he pointed with his hand to the other side of the room, where there was a good deal of bustle about the spot where the personage who called himself Winter had been standing in custody of a pursuivant.

"What's the matter there, I say?" cried the King. "Will nobody answer their Sovereign Lord and Master?"

"It is the priest, your Majesty," said the pursuivant; "he has fallen down in a swoon, after complaining much of the heat."

"Let him take care that he get not to a hotter place," answered James; "but take him out, man, take him out, and keep him in the ante-room till further orders.--Now, man, what is this you tell me?" he continued, turning to Lakyn; "a plot, did you say?"

Lakyn, according to the King's command, and in answer to his manifold questions, detailed all that had occurred since he had left Sir Harry West's house, and the reasons which made him suspect that he had been watched and pursued. On one point, however, it must be acknowledged, he was not quite sincere with the King, never hinting the slightest suspicion that the man whom he had seen in the King's presence under the name of Winter, was one of those by whom he had been dogged.

The truth is, however, that good Matthew Lakyn had, in common with other Englishmen, a great respect for the laws of the land, and loved not to see them violated, whether by King or commoner. James's dealing with the man Slingsby had shocked all his notions of an Englishman's rights and privileges; and he was resolved that he would not willingly bring another under the rod of a monarch who seemed inclined to make such an arbitrary use of his power. His account seemed to give the King great satisfaction, however; for there are many men whose minds, like the body of a ferret, are so constituted as to find themselves most at ease when twisting in and out, through long and intricate holes; and nothing pleased the first of our Stuart race so much as tracing the small lines and narrow connexions of any plot or intrigue.

While making these inquiries, the King had drawn forth the letter of the Lady Arabella, and kept turning it in his hand with an evident inclination to open it, although he must have seen clearly that it was not addressed to himself. The presence of Cecil, however, restrained him from the pitiful act; and after one or two woful looks of irresolution, after thrusting his hand once or twice into his pocket, and twitching the ties of his stuffed doublet, he gave the letter to his English councillor, saying, "There, Sir Robert, there! This epistle is addressed to you, though by my soul, man,--" and he added an oath which for so pious a monarch was neither very reverent nor cleanly,--"I know not why our cousin has not addressed herself to us. Read, read, man; and let us hear the contents as far as may be in discretion."

Cecil immediately took the letter, and without displaying in any degree the hesitation which he really felt, he merely opened it, and having spread it forth, put it into the king's hand.

"Well and dutifully done, Sir Robert," said James, with a gracious inclination of the head, and then commenced reading as follows in a tone which, though somewhat subdued, rendered the words audible to those who were immediately about his person, commenting from time to time, as he proceeded, after his own peculiar fashion.

"'Sir Robert, my very good friend,--This is to let you know, that being on my way, as in duty bound, to present my humble services to his Majesty the King, and to congratulate him on his accession to the throne of this realm of England,'--Rightly said, for we were in full possession of Scotland before; but she should have added Ireland and France. She is but a young thing, however, and the letter is not that ill written.--'I have been informed that his Majesty at York published a proclamation, forbidding the approach of any to his court except those specially called. Knowing that obedience to the commands of our Sovereign Lord is the first duty of a subject, I have stopped at the house of my old and respected friend, Sir Harry West.'--A wise and elderly person, I trust, ha, Sir Robert? For it does not do for maidens of the blood-royal to sojourn at the house of flaunting courtiers."

"A very wise and reverend gentleman, sire," replied Cecil, "of three score years, or thereabouts."

"That is right--that is right," continued the King, "and, indeed, she shows a just discretion in all things. Would that all our subjects would take example by her implicit obedience to our best commands. But what says she farther?" and he proceeded to read,--"'Sir Harry West, where I was driven to take refuge, as I shall shortly explain to you. I do beseech you, therefore, Sir Robert, to lay my humble duty before the King, and to petition him that I may be permitted to approach him in person, not alone to pay respect and reverence to him, of which he must be well assured, both on my part and that of all his subjects, but also to communicate to him certain discourses which were held to me in an inn near this place, where I had thought to spend the night. Now, though these discourses were light and foolish, and unworthy the attention of so great a King, yet, as they seemed to me of a treasonable kind of folly, and were also Popish, and contrary to the established religion of the realm, I did not choose to abide under the same roof with the strangers who had held them; but, notwithstanding, it being a dark night, and tempestuous weather, came on to this house of Bourne, where I have been kindly and hospitably entreated. Judging that the matter which drove me from the inn should be revealed to his Majesty before any other person, I will not enter into farther particulars; but beg you to solicit for me his gracious permission, not venturing to write to him myself, to present myself in his court, according to my duty. Yours, most assuredly,

'Arabella Stuart.

'From the house of Sir Harry West, at
Bourne, this ---- of May, 1603.'"

"A well composed and very judicious letter," said the King; "though in her inexperience this young lady has committed one error, which we shall, notwithstanding, freely pardon, as it was not of malice,--namely, that she did not cause the immediate arrest of these persons, but in all others she has conducted herself discreetly. You will be pleased to answer her, Sir Robert, telling her that as we tend towards your good house of Theobald's, we shall be glad to see her there, and hear more from her, letting her know that we commend her prudence and obedience, and do her grace accordingly. Now, man, where's the warrant? Please God, we will sign it without farther delay."

"It is usual, sire," said Cecil, resolved to make one effort, "to put a man upon his trial before----"

"Hout! puddings' ends!" cried the King. "What! taken flagrante delicto, and making confession of his crime? Give me the warrant, man; if I am a crowned king, and there be hemp in England, he shall end his days in a tow before noon to-morrow."

The warrant was accordingly placed before the King, whose face had grown somewhat red at even the slight opposition he had met with. A small table, with pen and ink, was brought forward, and with a quick and determined hand James signed a paper, which might at any other time have shaken the throne of England.

"There!" he said, when he had done. "Convey that to the Recorder of Newark, and let him disobey at his peril. Answer the lady's letter to-night, Sir Robert, and take good care of her messenger, who seems a sober and prudent person."

"Your Majesty was pleased to say," replied Cecil, "that there was another letter to be remembered; but, whether you will be pleased to answer it yourself, or commit the task to a secretary, I know not?"

"What talk you of? what talk you of?" exclaimed the King, somewhat impatiently. "By my soul! I will write no more letters to-night."

"It was concerning that excellent good soldier and politic gentleman, Sir Walter Raleigh," replied the courtier, "and his application to be permitted to wait upon your Majesty."

"Fie now, Sir Robert, to trouble me with such matters," replied the King. "Let the man wait. He has no title, I trow, to be importunate."

"Certainly not, sire," replied Cecil; "but persons who have been greatly favoured by monarchs do sometimes presume, and Sir Walter, as you know, was a prime favourite of the late queen, as, indeed, his merits well deserved. Doubtless her majesty gave no heed to the charge of atheism against him, and forgave his hatred against my Lord of Essex. But, as your Majesty knows, being captain of the guard, he may think he has some claim----"

"None but our pleasure, man! none but our pleasure!" cried the King. "His malice at Essex, poor fellow! will be no grace in our eyes; and as to his atheism, that shall be inquired into. We will have none such about the Court. Tell him to mind the proclamation; and, hark ye, gossip, there may be a new captain of the guard some day. Make the letter short, and do not say too much; we will do everything civilly, but I am thinking we can find a captain of the guard amongst our own friends;" and with these words began the ruin of Raleigh.

The King soon after rose, and retired to rest; the courtiers remained for a few minutes conversing with apparent frankness over the strange scene which they had just witnessed, yet none of them venturing to give his real opinion to his neighbour; but Sir Robert Cecil afforded no one an opportunity of misrepresenting his words, for, after merely ordering his son to take care of Lakyn, he quitted the room, to write the letters, according to the King's command.