Minstrel Dick. A tale of the XIVth cent

Preface

. This little story makes no pretence to more than a historical background. It is not meant for a study of the conditions of parties or of political feeling in the last days of the Black Prince, hardly even for a picture of his character, except as it might have appeared to one devoted friend. Only one aspect of the situation is indicated, and only one thread of that followed, the object being to tell, as far as may be, its effect on one little life. The questions affecting trade at the time have only been touched upon as far as they afforded a background for Dick's history. All the eccle siastical side of the controversy has been entirely left on one side, from the fear of overweighting the story. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. SINGING FOR A SUPPER I II. COMRADES - - - - IO III. ROYAL FAVOURS - - - - - 17 IV.

THE CAGED LION - - - - - 28 V. PARADISE - - - - - - 34 VI. A GALLANT FROM THE NORTH - - - 43 VII. SIR AMYOT THE SWINEHERD - 5 1 VIII. MISGIVINGS - - - - 6l IX. CHURCH RESTORATION - - - 7 1 X. A FRESH START - - - - 82 XI. A REBEL - - - - - - 90 XII. THE COCK-SPARROW - - - - IOO XIII. THE SILVER THAMES - - - - I IO XIV. LONDON TOWN - - - - - Il8 XV. MALKIN - - - - - - 127 XVI. DESPERATE - - - - - 1 37 XVII. DICK'S TRUST - 146 XVIII. UP WITH THE LARK - - - - CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XIX. IN CONVENT WALLS - - - 1 67 XX. IN CHARGE - - - - - 179 XXI. IN PRISON ------ 188 XXII. A BOWER MAIDEN - - 201 XXIII. BROTHER LAWRENCE - - - 217 XXIV. CONVENT WALLS - - - 229 XXV. ON THE EVE OF THE BATTLE - - 236 XXVI. SWEET HOME ----- 246 XXVII. THE GOOD PARLIAMENT - - - - 257 XXVIII. THE PENDANT JEWEL . - - - 269 XXIX. THE PASSING OF THE PRINCE - •

Chapter I Singing

for a supper, A sturdy little boy, with sun-burnt limbs and face and sun-bleached hair, was sitting in the sunshine on a wide common near the town of Berkhampstead in Hertfordshire. The sky was blue over his head ; all around him were great clumps and thickets of furze and bramble, holly bushes and wild-cherries, tangles of shining green and early summer blossom. He looked away over low green hills and spacious woodlands. There was a great deal of free space around him — space was plentiful when England was younger by more than five hundred years ; nobody needed to preserve commons then, or, indeed, knew that they would ever be worth preserving. There were many places where sweet, rough green things followed their own wild will, and where noisy little birds could sing their hearts out together.

The little boy looked about him with clear, bold blue eyes ; his bare feet were stained with the red dish ground through which he had been walking, and his short green tunic was shabby and seemed too small for his strong, growing limbs. He listened to the skylarks as they filled the air with melody, and presently began himself, first to whistle in imitation of their notes, and then to sing in a sweet, strong voice which owed much to nature and something to training : 'Sing song — sing song sing Sweet sing, sweet spring.' He sang this musical nonsense over and over again to himself in the freshest of tones, till between the hollies and the brambles he saw a tall man coming towards him, fantastically and gaudily dressed, and with a shock of red hair under a smart velvet cap. ' Hallo, youngster,' he said, ' what be'st doing here ?' ' Singing,' said the lad coolly, and looking straight up into the new-comer's face. ' So I hear; and who taught 'ee to sing? ' I have heard say that it was the merles and the throstles,' said the boy. ' What do they call you ?' * Pretty Dick.' ' That's a queer name to go by.' ' No queerer than Red Giles,' said Dick. ' Oh, so !

Dost know me ? What brings you here on Berkhampstead Common all alone among the fuzzy bushes ?' ' I was looking for you.' ' For me ? And what do you please to want with me, youngster ?' ' My keep. I'm worth it.' ' Can you tumble and turn somersaults for a living ?' ' Try,' said Dick. He jumped up from the ground on which he had all this time been sitting, turned head over heels two or three times on the short turf, then stood upon his head and walked a few steps, and finally, bringing himself right side up again, stood with his hands on his hips looking at Red Giles. 'You've run away from your master. What travelling troop were you 'prenticed to ?' ' I haven't run away from my master — swear I haven't,' said Dick sturdily ; ' I can do better than that ; I can play with the balls, four at once — -I can sing ;' and having got his breath again, he sang : ' In the spring small birds sing ; Spring sing — sing spring.

Sweet buds blow, green leaves grow ; Blow grow — grow blow. Young lambs bleat, maids kiss sweet ; Sweet bleat — bleat sweet. Sing spring — sing song sing ; Sweet sing — sweet spring.' He carolled out the sunshiny nonsense in innocent, bold tones, and stopped with a smile ; but there was a wistful look in the brave little eyes, even while he said saucily : 'You'd better cage me; I've the best voice this side of Canterbury.' Red Giles eyed the little singer doubtfully. ' I'll lay a tester to a new rose-noble that thou canst sing Latin,' he said. ' Come now, give me a holy chant or so — a proper hymn for a holy day, and I'll see about taking thee with me.' Dick stood for a moment, evidently considering with himself. Then he suddenly made a spring, caught at Giles' outstretched hand, and swung himself, lightly and with a well-known motion, on to his shoulder; then, leaning towards his ear, he began to sing in a solemn whisper the first verse of the Dies Irœ. ' Dies iræ, dies ilia !' ' Now, then,' cried Giles, interrupting and pulling him down, ' from what abbey-school art thou mitching ?

I like not matters of which I see not the outcome, and thou hast not learnt to sing, nor to talk, in a furze bush. My troop of tumblers, gleemen and dancers is in the service of my lord the Prince of Wales, and has free quarters in Berkhamp stead Castle, and I've a character to keep up — I belong to the royal household.' A serious and awestruck expression appeared on Dick's brown face, and he answered with becoming modesty : ' Good Master Giles, I'll tell the bare truth. I know naught of my parents ; they died, I believe, of the pestilence near Abbot's Langley, and Goody Marget gave me bite and sup while I scared crows for the neighbours and fetched their errands. Then Rob the Gleeman came along on his way to Hertford Fair, and heard me sing, and took me from Goody to bring me up. So I went with him, and learned the trade, and, as you doubtless know, Master Giles, Rob is as good a teacher as can be, saving yourself.' ' Then thou'st run away from Rob ?' said Giles severely. ' No, sir. Father Cyprian he heard me sing, and said that it were fitter I should sing angels' music in the chapel than brawl catches at fairs.

And so I was put to the abbey-school, and to sing in the choir. But there were catches sung in the dormi tory, and Brother Lawrence flogged me soundly, and I've no mind to be a shaven crown, and so I set off to find Rob again. And till he comes, good Master Giles, if you'll take me into your royal com pany, I'll sing love-songs to the ladies, and jolly catches to the men-at-arms, and if so be I'm wanted, I'd take a turn in the chapel choir. I'm worth my keep.' The boy looked up as he spoke, with an irre sistibly comic expression of mischievous daring. 'Thou art a young limb, I see well,' said Giles, ' but, beshrew me, I've no turn for shavelings and blackfrocks myself. If / get any sauce from thee, thou'lt taste of the lash. Come on, and if his reverence the chaplain spies thee out, I'll say I've caught thee to keep thee safe for thy masters.' ' You've a rare bargain in me, master,' said Dick. ' I'll make your fortune for you.' ' Keep thy tongue for the public,' said Giles, ' and follow me.' Dick grinned, at the same time breathing a huge sigh of relief and satisfaction as he turned away from waste and woodland, and followed his new master towards the mighty keep and strong walls of Berkhampstead Castle, where the great Black Prince of Wales lay wearing out his long and weary days in mortal sickness, chafing much at his own forced in action, and still more at the actions of others which he could no longer control.

Clean-built, strong and tall, the flinty walls of the castle stood up against the summer sky. It was doubly and trebly defended, for three wide moats and three strong walls surrounded it ; but at the present moment the gates were open, the draw bridges lowered, a busy crowd were passing to and fro, the guard was but nominally kept. Red Giles and his little companion were allowed to pass through the first gate with a nod and look of recognition from the sentinel, and then passed along beside the moat and the earthworks within the wall to more open ground, where a gipsy-like en campment contained those followers and hangers-on of the royal household who were allowed to enjoy the shelter of the castle precincts, and yet could hardly have found room within its actual walls. Here were carpenters and smiths and ' odd men,' of various kinds, the servants of servants in most cases, and here, in two or three hovels or sheds built up against the wall, of wood or of odd stones and clay, lived Red Giles and his royal troop of tumblers, gleemen and dancers.

Companies of this kind, providing a sort of ' variety entertainment,' were much regarded in an age when amusements were few and time hung heavy on idle people's hands. They went about from fair to fair, and from castle to castle, remaining often till the inhabitants were tired of their performances. Some of them had the luck to get permanently attached to the retinue of some great lord, occupying a lower rank than the privileged fools and jesters, but called upon occa sionally to entertain fair ladies in the absence of their lords, and gallant gentlemen in the absence of occupation. They amused the household when not required by their betters, and were fed with scraps and broken meat from the abundant and extravagant tables of the nobles, with whom it was a point of honour to keep open house.

When Red Giles was allowed to consider himself as part of the royal establishment, he felt himself at the head of his profession, and though he occa sionally attended feasts and fairs to pick up both ideas and coins, he regarded the castle as in some sort his home. He was a man of enterprise, and ' ran ' his little company with great skill. Pretty Dick was as easy to provide for as a performing dog, and was regarded from much the same point of view. ' Cuddy '11 look to you,' said Giles, and Cuddy, a big lad with a rosy face, turned round from the old horse which he had been feeding and grinned at Dick, who felt himself to have met with a kind reception.

Chapter II. Comrades

Dick had arrived at a favourable moment for study ing his new companions, for they were all sitting about round a fire in an open space between the huts, over which, in a large iron pot hung on three sticks in true gipsy fashion, something savoury was being cooked under the eye of a very old woman, bent nearly double, and wearing a red handkerchief tied over her head. A little black-eyed girl, just about his own age, smartly dressed in a yellow frock with spangles, was running about and helping her. ' Who's that ?' asked Dick, pointing to the girl. 'That's Malkin,' said Cuddy; and in another moment she darted up to Dick, repeating his question. ' What's your name ? What, Dick ? Are you going to stop with us ? What can you do ?' Dick. Chap.n COMRADES 11 ' I can sing,' said Dick, looking at her.

She was pretty but dirty, and gave him a friendly smile. ' Sing ? I dance,' she said ; ' I've danced for the Princess.' ' Is that fire — ours ?' said Dick, who was hungry, and wished delicately to inquire if he would get any dinner. 'Ay,' said Malkin. 'Old Gammer's cooking our victuals. You'd best keep on her blind side. She goes to the cooks and gets the bits from them, and she'll give you none if you don't fetch the firing, and carry the pots, and run when she calls.' Dick nodded. He appreciated the advantage of this ' tip,' and had soon told Malkin how Giles had found him on the common, and asked her to point out the other members of the little band. ' Oh, there — there's Hob and Rob. They're learn ing to tumble and walk on their heads ; they're not of much account, great awkward fellows.

And there's Roland ; he draws our waggon when we go to fairs, but he*s been to France, and been in battle when he was young. He's old, and his knees are broken ; but he's been a knight's charger, he has, once.' Dick looked with respect at the old white horse, munching his hay under a shed, while Malkin con tinued : COMRADES 12 ' And there is Towser, our dog. He keeps guard, and can walk on his hind-legs, and fetch and carry. Here, good Towser, thou'rt not to bite Dick ; he has joined the company.' Towser, a yellow nondescript, with a head like a poodle, looked critically at Dick, and gave no opinion on him, while Dick looked across at a tall old man with a long white beard, who was sitting in the sun at a little distance. ' Who's he ?' he asked. ' That's Master Alwyn, my grandfather,' said Malkin proudly. ' He was in France with King Edward, and recollects King Arthur too.

He can tell you tales and romances, and say every ballad that ever was written.' Dick listened with interest. The wars of King Edward and King Arthur seemed alike far away to him, and, alas ! the glory of the one was almost as much in the past as that of the other. Gammer here indicated that her stew was read}', and Dick had his share of a more savoury feast then he had ever enjoyed before. The favours of the royal cooks were not to be despised. When the last remains of the stew had vanished, Giles brought out from one of the huts a bundle of old clothes, and, flinging them down in the sunshine, began to turn them over to see if anything smarter COMRADES 13 than his present shabby tunic could be found for Dick. The cast-off doublet and leggings of one of the royal pages having been produced, Dick was desired to dress himself in them, and felt himself in red slashed with green a very pretty fellow, and as gay as a royal page himself ; and although the garments would have been much the better for the wash-tub, they were a great improvement on his own.

Then he was told to follow Red Giles, who, with Hob and Rob, were going to do some tumbling in the inner court of the castle. He followed quite content, and rather curious as to what he might see, over two more drawbridges, both fearlessly lowered, as far as the large inner court, which was full of people, specimens of the stuff of which that ' Merry England ' was made which yet contained so many poor and miserable folk. In Dick's eyes the scene was splendid. Gaily dressed young gentlemen were lounging on the steps before the great hall door. He had never seen so much gold and steel, and silk and velvet ; the beggar crouching near and begging for alms was too familiar a figure to attract his notice. Here stalwart men-at-arms, bronzed with the suns of France and scarred with French weapons, were drilling tow-headed, red-cheeked recruits, fresh from COMRADES 14 the plough.

There some of the castle chaplains, composed and dignified, were looking askance at a preaching friar, who had made his way in, a wild and haggard figure, haranguing the country-folk, who were bringing in eggs, poultry, and vegetables for the use of the royal household. Idlers of all kinds, servants, soldiers, squires, and pages, were hanging about on the look-out for amusement, talking, grumbling, laughing. As Dick squatted on the ground in the clearer space, where the acrobats were performing, he could see everyone, and he used his eyes, as was his wont, to some purpose. He should know that fierce soldier, swearing strange oaths at his loutish recruits, anywhere, and that substantial yeoman, stout, well dressed, but gloomy of countenance, talking to the tall, slender gentleman who was sitting on a bench with a book in his hand.

The gentleman's deep-red dress made a patch of colour in the sunshine against the white wall behind him. He had a pale and thoughtful face, and Dick watched him, he hardly knew why, in the intervals of noticing the performance of Hob and Rob, and of wishing Red Giles would give him a chance of showing that he could beat them. Still, no doubt a time would come. Little Dick hugged himself over his day's work — food and clothes, and a pro spect. He liked his luck. COMRADES 15 Presently, when the tumbling had gone on for some time, Giles beckoned the boy and gave him his orders, and clear and strong Dick's little pipe rose up above the rough and noisy hum of the crowd, right into the blue sky, as if he had been a skylark. ' In the spring small birds sing.' There was a sudden hush. The gentleman in the red suit started into an attentive attitude, and listened ; the bystanders came nearer.

Dick sang his very best ; his moment had come, and he did not mean to lose it. The spring song was succeeded by a ' merry catch,' much more merry than wise, which pleased the rough crowd hugely ; but Dick sang it just as simply and cheerily, ' like a bird ' in very truth. He had hardly finished it, when a hand was laid on his shoulder, and, looking up, he saw the gentleman in red gazing at him with kindly but inquiring eyes. ' Where didst get thy skylark, good Giles ?' he said, in softer and more delicate accents than Dick had ever heard before. ' I snared him out on the common under a furze bush, Sir Walter,' said Giles, bowing. ' Truly, he has a sweet pipe.' ' And who taught thee to sing ?' said Sir Walter to the boy. COMRADES 16 ' Rob the Gleeman, sir, first of all,' said Dick. ' And since ?

Who taught thee thy first song ? Those notes come not from a wild-bird's throat ?' Here Giles, with an air of mystery, beckoned the gentleman to one side, and whispered in his ear. He nodded, smiled, shook his head, as if but half convinced, and made Dick sing again and again for him. And Dick sang his very best, for there was something in the gentleman's eyes and voice which fascinated him. Sir Walter gave him a tester as he turned away, which in itself was a pleasant thing, and then Red Giles summoned him, and they went back to their quarters, as the stout yeoman, who had been wait ing with some impatience, resumed possession of Sir Walter, and continued the story which Dick's voice had interrupted. ' Thou'st done well, young one,' said Giles, ' and I shall not make thee too cheap. Now thou canst run around, or help Cuddy give Roland his hay.' C HAPTER III.

ROYAL FAVOURS. A week or two later Dick was squatting on the ground in front of the shed where the old horse was kept, listening with intent eyes and ears to Master Alwyn telling tales of noble knights and fair ladies. Malkin, at some little distance, was receiving a dancing lesson from Gammer, who, old and bent as she was, had once been a famous dancer, and was a strict teacher, having no mercy on Malkin's pouts, or even on her tears, when she failed to attain perfection. Perhaps old Alwyn was pleased with an attentive listener, perhaps he was glad to refresh his own memory with the tales for which the public taste was less eager than it used to be ; but so soon as he found that Dick could be held spellbound by his long romances, to which Malkin never listened at all, and which Giles only valued in long, dull winter evenings, when all other forms of entertainment failed, and the household cried out for some sort of pastime, he was never unwilling to relate them.

Dick listened to tales of the great Sir John Chandos, and of the gallant Constable of France, who had a familiar spirit to help him in his under takings, and when the turn came of Sir Lancelot du Lac, and the fair enchantress Vivien, and the great wizard Merlin, there seemed no particular reason why Master Alwyn should not have met with these also, in the long-past days of his youth, when he had seen the ' fair fields of France.' The feats of their noble lord, the Prince of Wales, were legendary to the child, to whom he was but a name of mystery and wonder, for very few of those among whom Dick lived had ever seen the sick Prince, and Malkin had to make the most of the one occasion when she had danced before the Princess. Dick never wondered what part the old man before him had played himself in those days of wonder; he only knew that the tales interested him.

But, in truth, at the hands of old Master Alwyn Dick's real education began. Something began to stir in him which did not belong to the happy-go lucky life which he shared, like his voice, with the birds. The little sleeping soul behind those clear, bold blue eyes was ready to waken. Master Alwyn was a tall old man, thin and withered ; he was lame and weak, his face seemed almost lost in his long white hair and beard ; but when the tale grew tragic, or the ballad came to its most stirring verse, his eyes would open wide and flash, and Dick gazed into them fascinated. Just now he was hearing how the magic sword Excalibur, gleaming with jewels, held in a white hand, had been given to King Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. ' Has my lord the Prince got it now, here, in the castle ?' asked Dick, with keen curiosity. ' Nay,' said Alwyn ; ' would that he had !

No mortal hand now holds Excalibur, nor have living eyes seen it.' ' But you have seen it, Master Alwyn, or how can you tell what it is like ?' said Dick. Master Alwyn did not think it needful to deny explicitly that he had ever seen Excalibur. He looked at the boy and shook his head. ' Nay,' he said again, ' thou dost not know much about seeing. Listen, and I will tell thee what became of Excalibur.' As Dick listened, with wide eyes and parted lips, a hand touched his shoulder, and, looking up, he saw the same tall gentleman in the dark-red suit who had noticed him singing in the castle court. Old Alwyn paused, and rose stiffly from his seat, but the newcomer signed to him to sit still. ' Ha, Master Alwyn,' he said, ' hast thou a new scholar here ?' 'The old man loves to tell his old tales, Sir Walter, and the child cares to listen.' ' And well he may, since thou canst give him such good entertainment,' said Sir Walter. ' He could not go to a better school.

But now, Pretty Dick, if that is thy name, with Red Giles' permission, I am come to fetch thee to sing within the castle walls.' Dick looked up at Sir Walter. He was much less gaily dressed than most of the knights and squires whom Dick had seen since his arrival. He was pale, and his brown locks were dashed with gray ; but his smile was wonderfully sweet, and his large hazel eyes had a strange look, half dreamy, half pene trating, but altogether kind. It seemed to Dick that this gentle and stately person must belong to the stately and wonderful times of which old Alwyn had been telling him. Giles came forward, and the knight said a few words to him, upon which Dick was sent to put on his performing dress, and desired to follow his honour, Sir Walter Percy, and do exactly as he was told. Dick smiled and trotted after the knight, till Sir Walter beckoned him up to his side, and asked him a kindly question or two — as to how, when he grew bigger, he thought he should like to earn his living. ' I could learn to tumble well, sir,' said Dick, who had never stopped before to think what he should like. ' Or else ' — as the glittering guards caught his eye — ' I might go to the wars and fight.' ' And wouldst not like to learn music, and hear it also ?' ' No, your honour,' said Dick promptly, somewhat to the knight's disappointment. ' And wherefore not ?' ' I should need be a monk, sir, and be shut up in school.

I can do many things, sir. I can scare birds, I can feed pigs and mind them, and I can tumble, sir, and sing full twenty different songs.' The music was as yet in Dick's voice only, and had not reached his soul. Sir Walter smiled, and said : ' Well, thou art to sing now, when I bid thee, thy very best.' Dick was a bold boy, and he felt no fear as he followed the kind knight across the court, and into the castle itself by a small side-door, up a winding stair, and past more than one man-at-arms on guard, to whom the knight gave a pass-word, till at length a door was opened, and he found himself in a large long room, the like of which he had never seen or imagined. The walls were hung with many-coloured tapestry ; there was a bright wood-fire burning on the hearth ; there were tables and chairs ; and the window, which looked inwards to the inner court and gardens of the castle, was wide enough to let in the air and light.

The ceiling of the room was carved and coloured, and there were coloured rugs on the floor. Between the window and the hearth was a couch adorned with embroidered coverlets, in scarlet, blue, and gold, and on the couch lay a tall man, raised up against silken cushions. He had a grand face, with noble outlines, pale and worn, with eyes which, when suddenly turned on the little boy, so fascinated him that he stared back in return, too much wonderstruck to be bashful. Sir Walter took off his cap and bowed. ' My lord,' he said, with a new softness in his tones, ' this is the child. Shall he sing for your grace ? He knows naught,' he added, ' of the com pany in which he finds himself The sick man nodded, and said quickly 'Tell him to sing.' There were other people in the room, but Dick noticed none of them ; he was making a stupendous discovery.

Surely, he was going to sing to the Prince ! Sir Walter beckoned him forward, and said cheerfully : ' Now, Pretty Dick, sing that spring song which I heard from you down below.' Dick came a few steps forward, and, with his eyes still fixed on the Prince's face, and his hands straight down at his sides, began to sing. He was too much surprised to be frightened, and the notes came out, as was their wont, pretty much of themselves, and, under the spur of the altogether new excitement, they were even stronger and sweeter than usual. ' Well done !' said the Prince. Dick was quite sure that it really was the Prince by the time he had done singing. ' That is as sweet as fresh air in a sick room. Sing again.' Dick, feeling, fortunately, that a ' merry catch ' would be out of place, embarked on a ballad, getting through the doleful parting and untimely death of the lovers described in it just as sweetly, and no more sadly, than when he trilled the notes of spring. 'Good!' said the Prince.