Kenilworth | Page 3

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KENILWORTH.
by Sir Walter Scott, Bart.

*
Note: Footnotes and references to the notes at the end of the printed
book have been inserted in the etext in square brackets ("[]") close to
the place where they were indicated by a suffix in the original text. The
notes at the end are now numbered instead of using pages to identify
them as was done in the printed text.
Text in italics has been written in capital letters.

*

INTRODUCTION
A certain degree of success, real or supposed, in the delineation of
Queen Mary, naturally induced the author to attempt something similar
respecting "her sister and her foe," the celebrated Elizabeth. He will not,
however, pretend to have approached the task with the same feelings;
for the candid Robertson himself confesses having felt the prejudices
with which a Scottishman is tempted to regard the subject; and what so
liberal a historian avows, a poor romance-writer dares not disown. But
he hopes the influence of a prejudice, almost as natural to him as his
native air, will not be found to have greatly affected the sketch he has
attempted of England's Elizabeth. I have endeavoured to describe her as
at once a high-minded sovereign, and a female of passionate feelings,
hesitating betwixt the sense of her rank and the duty she owed her
subjects on the one hand, and on the other her attachment to a
nobleman, who, in external qualifications at least, amply merited her
favour. The interest of the story is thrown upon that period when the
sudden death of the first Countess of Leicester seemed to open to the
ambition of her husband the opportunity of sharing the crown of his
sovereign.
It is possible that slander, which very seldom favours the memories of
persons in exalted stations, may have blackened the character of
Leicester with darker shades than really belonged to it. But the almost
general voice of the times attached the most foul suspicions to the death
of the unfortunate Countess, more especially as it took place so very
opportunely for the indulgence of her lover's ambition. If we can trust
Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, there was but too much ground for
the traditions which charge Leicester with the murder of his wife. In the
following extract of the passage, the reader will find the authority I had
for the story of the romance:--
"At the west end of the church are the ruins of a manor, anciently
belonging (as a cell, or place of removal, as some report) to the monks

of Abington. At the Dissolution, the said manor, or lordship, was
conveyed to one -- Owen (I believe), the possessor of Godstow then.
"In the hall, over the chimney, I find Abington arms cut in
stone--namely, a patonee between four martletts; and also another
escutcheon--namely, a lion rampant, and several mitres cut in stone
about the house. There is also in the said house a chamber called
Dudley's chamber, where the Earl of Leicester's wife was murdered, of
which this is the story following:--
"Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a very goodly personage, and
singularly well featured, being a great favourite to Queen Elizabeth, it
was thought, and commonly reported, that had he been a bachelor or
widower, the Queen would have made him her husband; to this end, to
free himself of all obstacles, he commands, or perhaps, with fair
flattering entreaties, desires his wife to repose herself here at his
servant Anthony Forster's house, who then lived in the aforesaid
manor-house; and also prescribes to Sir Richard Varney (a prompter to
this design), at his coming hither, that he should first attempt to poison
her, and if that did not take effect, then by any other way whatsoever to
dispatch her. This, it seems, was proved by the report of Dr. Walter
Bayly, sometime fellow of New College, then living in Oxford, and
professor of