FROM A DRAWING BY AD. LALAUZE.
VARNEY, LEICESTER AND AMY ROBSART—"kenilworth"
WALTER SCOTT
Kenilworth
FIVE
THE central figure in "Kenilworth" is that of Queen Elizabeth of England, but the real heroine is Amy Robsart. She was the daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart. The Earl of Leicester, infatuated by her charms, married her secretly. He then established her at Cumnor Place, a lonely manor house. There she lived alone with one or two attendants. But she bore her solitude with pleasure as long as she was sure that Leicester loved her.
However, Leicester and the Earl of Surrey were rivals for the favor of Queen Elizabeth. In fact, each hoped that he might wed her; and, therefore, Leicester did not want his marriage to Amy made public.
Edmund Tressilian, who had been engaged to Amy, discovered her hiding place, and, not knowing that she was married, tried in vain to induce her to return home. Then he appealed to the queen; and when a disclosure of the truth seemed inevitable, Richard Varney, Leicester's closest friend, affirmed that Amy was his wife. Varney was then ordered to appear with her at the approaching revels at Kenilworth Castle, which belonged to the Earl of Leicester.
Leicester and Varney went to Amy and endeavored to persuade her to pose for a short time as Varney's wife.
"'How, my Lord of Leicester,' said the lady, disengaging herself from his embraces, 'is it to your wife you give the dishonourable counsel to acknowledge herself the bride of another—and of all men, the bride of that Varney?'