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Show if CONDENSED 1 CLASSICS I ! KENILWORTH i. By SIR WALTER SCOTT : ! it Crndemntton y A Rn. Dr. R. Pcm Bmh. Chelsea. Mass. J. T iel-XKMM-x-:-M-:-:":-:-JjC THERE could be no fitter svtting for a story of love and tragedy than that afforded by the court of England during the reign ot Elizabeth. Eliza-beth. It was the heyday of gorgeous costuming cos-tuming and an age saturated with the occult. Everyone patronized the astrologers as-trologers and the alchemists. The queen coupled with the dignity and strength of the monarch the foibles of the weak. It was her policy to play one favorite against another and thereby there-by secure the working of her own strong will, but she often gave way to furious temper and she was most susceptible sus-ceptible to flattery. She was forever undecided between her duty to her subjects sub-jects and her attachment to Robert Dudley, the earl of Leicester, whom, it was commonly reported, she really real-ly intended to marry, for he was a courtier par excellence, and his ambition ambi-tion to share the throne overpowered every other purpose of his. life. He had, however, been secretly wedded to Amy Robsart, and so, to further his chances to be king, he consorted with one Richard Varney, and plotted the murder of his wife, which was accomplished accom-plished at Abingdon manor. These threads of fact, with many others of fancy, Scott wore into the fabric of "Kenilworth." The story opens at an inn kept by one Gosling, whose nephew, Michael Lambourne, a swaggering drunkard, returns after years of absence and finds that Tony Foster, an old crony, who lighted the fires when Latimer and Ridley were burned, Is keeping guard over a beautiful woman at Cumnor mansion. Lambourne gains admission there, accompanied by Tressllian, a knight of peerless character, who is in search of her to whom he has been betrothed be-trothed and who has been lured away from her father's house. Lambourne becomes an accomplice In crime with Foster, and Tressllian meets the mysterious mys-terious lady, who proves to be none other than Amy Robsart, for it was she who was his promised bride. He tries to persuade her to return to her father, but in vain, and, in attempting at-tempting to escape from the premises he meets Richard Varney, master of horse to Leicester, a shrewd calculating calculat-ing villain, who is a constant spur to the earl's ambition to be king. Tressilian naturally concludes that Amy is this fellow's mistress and, drawing his sword, overcomes and would have slain him but for the timely time-ly arrival of Lambourne, when he was obliged to flee, and, knowing the queen's interest in such affairs, he resolves re-solves to obtain her intervention in Amy's behalf. And here Scott makes use of a superstitious su-perstitious bent of the age. Tressilian's horse loses a shoe and a blacksmith cannot be found until an imp of a boy leads the way to a mysterious farrier, named Wayland Smith, who is thought by those who know him to be an emissary emis-sary of Satan and who turns out to be an alchemist with a laboratory underground, un-derground, and who is persuaded to enter the employ of Tressilian and with him visits Sir Hugh Robsart, who signs a warrant of attorney to help to secure Leicester's powerful influence influ-ence in persuading the queen to free Amy from Varney. Tressilian and Wayland soon after this make a visit to Lord Sussex, and when he, for a seeming discourtesy to the queen's physician, is called to court for explanation, they accompany him. Sussex, upon examination, is fully exonerated, and thereupon calls the queen's attention to the fact that Amy Robsart is cruelly held prisoner, and forthwith Varney and Leicester are summoned into the royal presence. And before the latter has opportunity to speak, Varney affirms that Amy i his wife; and, as everyone Is cognizant cog-nizant of Leicester's confusion, Varney Var-ney assures Elizabeth that it is due to the earl's transcendant love for her gracious self. The case is apparently apparent-ly settled, and Varney Is ordered to appear at the coming festivities at Kenilworth, and to bring with htm the woman who has been the occasion of so much trouble. Here is a problem 1 Amy will never consent to be received ns Varney's wife. She must somehow be detained at Cumnor ! It resolves Into a battle of the alchemists. al-chemists. Demetrius, In Varney's employ, prepared pre-pared n drug for Amy. but Wayland. as TressiMnn's servant, enters her apartments as a peddler and provides an nntldote for the poison. He also apprises her of the enemies by whom she is surrounded and with him she flees from Cumnor. The time of the great carnival ;it Kenilworth is near nt hand. Multitudes Multi-tudes are on their way thither. Every avenue of approach is crowded. Way-land Way-land and Amy attach themselves to a group of strolling players, and after many interesting experiences, reach the castle where she is by chance lodged In a room In Mervyn's tower, vhich had been assigned to Tressilian. Here she writes a letter to Leicester, Leices-ter, beseeching him to come to her and, after tying It with a true love knot of her hair, intrusts It to Wayland to deliver, but it is stolen from him. Meanwhile Tressilian bad occasion to- return to his room, and is dura-founded dura-founded to find Amy there; but as she expected Leicester would come In answer to her letter, she bound Tressilian Tres-silian not to speak or act in her behalf be-half for the next twenty-four hours, and he departed to witness the coming com-ing of the queen. Areording to history his-tory it was a wonderful preparation that Leicester made for the reception of Elizabeth at Kenilworth. The queen is adorned with count less-jewels less-jewels and attended by the ladies of the court ami valiant knights magnificently magnifi-cently attired, among whom Leicester glitters like a golden image. The procession pro-cession advances over a bridge built for the occasion, and here the courtiers cour-tiers dismount; a floating island reaches the shore and the "Lady of the Lake" announces that this is the first time she has ever risen to pay homage, but she could not refrain , from obeisance to her gracious majesty. majes-ty. Then, as the queen enters the castle, there is a discharge of fireworks, fire-works, new and wonderful in that age. and she moves on through pageants of heathen gods and heroes of antiquity an-tiquity to the great hall, which is hung 'with gorgeous silken tapestry, where she is seated by Leicester upon a royal throne, who after kissing her band and eulogizing her most profusely, profuse-ly, retires and shortly reappears apparelled ap-parelled from head to foot in dazzling white. The queen very shortly after sends for Varney, and asks why bis wife presumes to disobey the mandate of her sovereign and absent herself from the festivities, and he replies that she is indisposed and presents certificates to that purpose. These Tressilian madly asserts are false, but remembering remem-bering his promise to Amy to keep ' silent for twenty-four hours, he halts and stammers and the queen orders Raleigh to place him under restraint Then follows the banquet, served upon a most magnificent scale, and at Its close Varney seeks Leicester and assures him that the stars promise that he shall marry the queen, and he also notifies him that Tressilian has a mistress in Mervyn's tower. From here events hurry to a climax. The next morning Amy escapes from her room and is in hiding near the plaisance, when close at hand Leicester Leices-ter avows his love to Elizabeth, and Is given great encouragement; but, as they separate, the queen discovers-Amy, discovers-Amy, who declares that she Is not the wife of Varney, and that "Leicester knows all." Accordingly she is hurried to tLe presence of the earl, where Elizabeth Eliza-beth rages violently, but Leicester's marriage remains still unrevealed, and Amy is thought to be insane and she is placed in custody. Moreover, Leicester is angry with Amy for coming com-ing to Kenilworth and exposing him to the resentment of the queen, and he resolves to see her and insist that for the present she must consent to be known as Varney's wife. This proposition is scornfully refused. re-fused. Amy, no longer a child, but with the strength of injured womanhood, woman-hood, calls upon the earl as a man and as her lawful husband to take her to Elizabeth and acknowledge that she is his wife. Leicester yields to this masterly plea to his honor and prepares for the ordeal, but Varney, clearly perceiving per-ceiving that this involves his own personal per-sonal ruin, concludes that "either ho or Amy must die," and is not slow in deciding which it shall be. He persuades per-suades Leicester that Amy is conniving conniv-ing with Tressilian and so convinces him of her perfidy that the earl finally final-ly consents to her doom. That evening Leicester and Tressilian Tres-silian meet. The latter still believes that Varney holds Amy in his power, and he begins to plead for her. but his words and motives are misinterpreted. misinter-preted. Swords are drawn an they do battle, but are interrupted and meet again on the morrow in a secluded se-cluded spot. Just as Leicester is about to prevail, his sword U seized by the young rascal, Dicky Smudge, who delivers de-livers to him Amy's letter, vfhich he had stolen from Wayland. The tangle of affairs is unravelled and Amy is proclaimed as the countess of Leicester. Leices-ter. At this revelation, Elizabeth is beside be-side herself with rage. In the violence of her chagrin and anger she forgets for a while her royal dignity, and recovers command of herself only when Lord Burleigh warns her that "such weakness little becomes a queen." Meanwhile Varney fatally shoots the drunken Lambourne and conducts Amy to Cumnoc where she is confined in Foster's bedchamber, bedcham-ber, a mysterious room reached by a drawbridge, which she Is admonished never to attempt to cross; but when Tressilian and Raleigh come to tak-her tak-her to Kenilworth. and she hears the S'liiml of their horses' hoofs, she thinks if is the er.rl and rushes from her room, and Varney has so manipulated the drawbridge that she falls to her death. When, however, this villain learns how matters tm--e developed, he commits suicide. Ills alchemist is found dead in his laboratory und Tony Foster disappears and b's skeleton is found long afterward in a secret chamber where he hid his -el. I. Leicester retires from court for a season, sea-son, but later is again a favorite in waiting upon tin- queen, ate! dies at last by taking puison he had designed de-signed for another. (Copyright. 1!19 by Vost PeWlshlnic Co. The Uoston Post.) |