which one could not well pass, especially of an evening, without a certain feeling of awe, which was anything but diminished if, as sometimes would happen, the numerous small glass panes of an adjoining window were made to rattle lustily in their loosened leaden frames by a strong gust of wind striking against them. The picture is a full-length portrait of the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart, by the Italian painter Federigo Zuccharo, taken in 1590, at the time of one of her first visits to Court, when she was between twelve and thirteen years of age, and still living for the greater part of the year in rural peace and retirement with her grandmother, the famous Countess of Shrewsbury, either at Sheffield or at Hardwicke Hall. It is a very good picture, and represents her, in the fulness of childlike beauty and simplicity, in a standing attitude, dressed in a long white gown, after the fashion of the times, and with ample light hair, of almost flaxen colour, flowing loosely down over her neck and shoulders. The expressions of winning beauty and of a superior intelligence, as depicted by the skilful artist, tally exactly with the information which can be gleaned here and there from history about her person and disposition.

Besides this picture, which is unquestionably both the most authentic and also the best, there are several others of Lady Arabella Stuart. There is one at Hardwicke Hall, which, however, seems to be nothing more than an indifferent copy of Zuccharo's original, excepting that the dress is somewhat different in shape and of a dark colour. There are also two miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard, which have been exhibited at the Kensington Museum. Notwithstanding that this artist enjoyed high favour during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and established a considerable reputation as a painter of miniatures, the two portraits by him of Lady Arabella Stuart do not seem to be among the best specimens of his art. The countenance of Lady Arabella does not appear so beautiful in them as in the portrait taken by the Italian, and she looks contiderably older. Still, there is in all

resemblance to prove that they refer to the same original. From the fact of the date of Zuccharo's picture being known, it is evident that the two miniatures by Hilliard were probably executed some five or six years later, most probably at the time when Lady Arabella was in London, at the Court of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth.

That the Lady Arabella Stuart was beautiful is shown by the three abovementioned portraits; and that she was also intelligent, amiable, and accomplished in mind, is proved by the testimonies of several of her contemporaries, as well as by the almost undivided interest and sympathy she excited during her time. Queen Elizabeth, by no means a bad judge in those matters, said of her, though evidently not looking upon her royal niece with an friendly eye :-"She is a girl of much talent, and speaks Latin, Italian, and French very well." This happened during her first appearance at Court, when she was only twelve years of age. Before September, 1588, Sir Charles Cavendish, her maternal uncle, wrote from Hampton Court to his mother, the Countess of Shrewsbury

over

"My Lady Arbell (Arabella) hath been once to Court. Her Majesty spoke twice to her, but not long, and examined her nothing touching her book. (IIere he was evidently mistaken). She dined in the presence; but my Lord Treasurer (Burghley) had her to supper; and at dinner, and dining with her and sitting over against him, he asked me whether I came with my niece. I said I came with her; then he spoke openly, and directed his speech to Sir Walter Raleigh, greatly in her commendation, as that she had the French, the Italian; played of instruments, danced and writ very fair; wished she were fifteen years old, and with that rounded Mr. (?) Raleigh in the ear, who answered it would be a happy thing. supper he made exceeding much of her; so did he in the afternoon in his great chamber publicly.... He has asked when she shall come again to Court."1

At

That no small political importance was attached to her person, and the possible chances she might eventually have owing to her royal descent, is shown by the following extract from a letter of Lord Pembroke, written in October, 1604,

1 Craik's Romance of the Peerage, vol. ii.

from Hampton Court to the Earl of Shrewsbury:-"So may your princess "of the blood grow a great queen, and "then we shall be safe from the danger "of mis-superscribing letters," thereby alluding to what he had previously said, that "a great ambassador is coming from "the King of Poland, whose chief errand "is to demand my Lady Arabella in marriage for his master." And probably she would have escaped all the misery that was in store for her, if this marriage with the King of Poland had been brought about; for she would then, at all events, not have been placed at the mercy of her cruel cousin, James I. But instead of becoming a foreign queen, she married, on the 13th of February, 1610, two years after her grandmother's death, Lord William Seymour, the Earl of Beauchamp's second son, at Greenwich, she being then thirty-three, he twenty-three years old. Notwithstanding this disproportion in their ages, it must unquestionably have been a true love-marriage; otherwise the two lovers would never have ventured to run so much risk in bringing about their union, nor would they have continued so faithfully attached to each other during their subsequent severe trials. "The great

66

match," writes Sir Dudley Carleton to Sir R. Winwood, July 25, 1610, "which was lately stolen betwixt the Lady "Arabella and young Beauchamp, pro"vides both of safe lodging; the lady "close prisoner at Sir Thomas Parry's "house at Lambeth, and her husband "in the Tower." Melville, the Presbyterian divine, who was already an inmate of that dreaded prison on account of an attack he had made on the ceremonial of the service in the Chapel Royal, welcomed him thither with this distich:-"Communis tecum mihi causa est carceris; Ara Bella tibi causa est, Araque Sacra mihi."

The subsequent escape, flight, and recapture, together with the final sufferings and the untimely death of the poor Lady Arabella Stuart, must be too well known to require repetition here. But, though there is nothing now to be said upon the subject of the Lady

it is necessary, in order to complete our narrative, that we should state some particulars which have come into our possession about-well, reader, about -her ghost.

Tradition could hardly have assigned

a more appropriate place than the Castle of Bolsover as the dwelling-place of the famous lady's spirit, excepting, perhaps, the neighbouring hall at Hardwicke; for this place as well as the latter belonged to her family, and she may very likely have visited its charming site more than once during the earlier years of her life, when she used to live in Derbyshire, if she did not actually reside there for any length of time. It is, at all events, whispered about among the people of the neighbourhood that the mansion and ruins of Bolsover enjoy the privilege of being haunted by her ghost; and there are all sorts of strange stories afloat, which one has no right to disbelieve or to deny, as long as they cannot be positively disproved. Here, at all events, is one perfectly true story of an incident which happened some thirty years ago. At that time, the master and mistress of Bolsover were, on a fine summer evening, walking upon the terrace in front of the Norman keep, waiting the arrival of some friends, who had written to say that they would pay them a short visit on their way to Scotland, when three carriages full of visitors drove up to the gate in rapid and unexpected succession, besides those who had previously made known their intention of coming. This sudden accession to the number of guests-all of whom, excepting the party which had arrived first, expressed a wish to stay for several days-necessitated, of course, all sorts of additional domestic arrangements-such as preparing more bedrooms, enlarging the dinner-table, &c.so that for once again the old Norman fortalice resounded with the various noises of joyous hospitality. Its antiquated chambers were again occupied, from the ground-floor and servants' hall to the loopholed garrets, in such a manner as probably had never been known since the memorable occasion when the loyal

Charles I. within its walls. The evening was spent in a very pleasant manner; everybody was of good cheer, and the conversation was of the liveliest kind, turning chiefly upon the past glories of Bolsover, and the vicissitudes of its venerable battlements, as well as the eventful and romantic lives of many of its former occupants-amongst whom, as a matter of course, the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart was especially mentioned. Sundry stories of her ghost were probably alluded to; and, after having duly discussed her sad fate, and inspected her full-length portrait by Zuccharo, then hanging, as already mentioned, over the door of one of the numerous and intricate passages, the company retired to rest for the night to their various chambers. With the exception of two of the guests, the other inmates of Bolsover Castle seem during that night to have enjoyed their usual amount of undisturbed slumber. Whether these two had been more excited than the others by the subjects of their conversation, or whether the strangeness of the building, which must strike every new-comer, had affected their imagination more forcibly than that of the remainder of the visitors, cannot now be ascertained; at all events, they did not retire to bed at once. Mrs. S., an elderly Scotch lady, after having extinguished her bedroom candle in order to enjoy the view more fully, took up a position in her bedroom close to a small window, from which she continued to look out upon the beautifully moonlighted landscape. This dormer-window is upon the second-floor, under the high tower, but at no great elevation, and just above the broad walk, which now replaces the old breastwork upon the top of the Bailey-wall. It looks towards the north, so that Mrs. S. no doubt enjoyed the full view of this walk during her midnight meditation, as well as the more distant prospect over the picturesque valley of Scarsdale which extends below. Miss M,-a young lady who seems to have felt equally disinclined to rest, but who was evidently more enterprising than the calm

after having changed her evening dress for a more comfortable sort of attire, determined to sally forth upon a reconnoitring expedition, to which she was tempted by the delightful weather and the bright moonlight After some little trouble she managed to get out of the house through a little door which leads out upon the broad walk upon the Baileywall from the first floor, but at the opposite end to that where Mrs. S.'s room was situated, towards which she was consequently walking after having left the keep. At first the whole of her attention was absorbed by the adjoining ruins of the palatial part of Bolsover, as well as by the strange summer-house cut in stone and the old fountain which still serve to ornament the garden within the semicircle of the wall. But, having gradually approached the northern end, and being now about fifty yards distant from the northern tower, she was very much startled, on looking up, to perceive, right in front of her, what she could not deem to be anything else than a spectral apparition. She saw the alarmingly distorted features of a woman, festooned by an ample and old-fashioned nightcap, glaring at her as she fancied with a pair of fierce eyes from close behind the aforesaid dormer window. Her emotion in consequence of this utterly unexpected surprise was pected surprise was so strong, that, though of a stout heart, she could not help standing still, at the same time throwing back her head and extending her arms. In consequence of this movement, her light-coloured hair, the long tresses of which she had allowed to fall loosely over her neck and shoulders, as well as her long white mantle spread out to both sides, gave her an attitude and look strongly resembling those of Lady Arabella Stuart, as represented upon the picture which hung in the passage. Although the hideous vision which so much disturbed her had vanished even more suddenly than she aad perceived it, Miss M. did not tarry

ng upon the Bailey-wall after this auventure, but turned back as best she could to her chamber, there to await the return of daylight, and the solution of

When the company reassembled the following morning at breakfast, every body perceived that Miss M. could not have slept very well, and what seemed stranger was that Mrs. S.'s manner, who looked still more fatigued, had undergone totally an incomprehensible change. She who had been so agreeable by her cheerful cordiality, and had said only the evening before that it was her intention to stay for some days longer in this charming and interesting place, was now so cold and reserved that it almost annoyed the host and hostess, who were among her oldest and her best friends. From this it became evident to everyone that something strange must have taken place during night, but of what nature nobody could as yet discover.

As, among the arrivals of the previous day, there was only one party of guests who intended proceeding on their journey in the afternoon, all the posthorses (for it was before the existence of railways in Derbyshire), excepting one pair, had been dismissed either to Sheffield or to Chesterfield. These

horses Mrs. S. sent for from the village, and, without giving any previous intimation, ordered them to be put to her carriage; whereupon she took an abrupt leave, without giving or asking for any explanation, and hastened on her departure, never again to revisit the dreaded regions of Bolsover. The poor lady died about ten years after this, without ever, as far as is known, having received a clue to the curious, and in itself harmless incident, which must have tasked her nerves and temper in such a severe manner. When the sensation caused by such, at the time, strangely unaccountable, and, to the rest of the party, sadly puzzling, behaviour, had subsided, and the confusion arising out of the misappropriation of posthorses had been obviated, the real truth began to transpire little by little from what Miss M. chose to mention; but it took years before the whole matter came out, and could be thoroughly sifted. It need hardly be said, that the two ladies had mutually mistaken each other for the wandering spirit of Lady Arabella Stuart.

CHAPTER V.

FEMININE CHARACTER.

SIR DOUGLAS Ross was considerably startled when, on the drawing-room door being opened, in lieu of receiving the usual commonplace and easy welcome accorded to morning visitors, he beheld Lady Charlotte sobbing bitterly in the depths of a very comfortable French causeuse, in which she was rather lying than sitting when the two gentlemen arrived. She lifted her embroidered handkerchief from her eyes for an instant, as if disturbed by their entrance, and then recommenced her weeping. The soft-eyed girl, who had sung the German " Good-night" the previous evening, was standing by her chair, with an expression of mingled perplexity and sympathy: she murmured, "Dear mamma, here are friends," in an expostulating tone, put out one hand shyly to greet Kenneth, leaning with the other on the back of her mother's chair, and repeated the words, "Here are friends."

"Zizine! Zizine! Zizine!" sobbed Lady Charlotte.

Mamma, Zizine will do very well; you will see she will do very well; I will attend to her myself."

"How can you talk such nonsense, my dear Gertrude? I am sure she will die! Zizine! my poor little Zizine!"

Puzzled beyond measure, and wondering whether a little sister, grandchild, or favourite niece was the subject of lamenting, Sir Douglas made rather a stiff bow, and said hurriedly, "We have come at a most unfortunate moment; I hope there is no serious cause of anxiety; we will call again later in the day.'

away; don't leave me; I am sure Mr Ross would not think of leaving me at such a time! He is always so friendly. Pray don't go-pray don't; it makes me worse, the idea of your going! It makes me worse!"

"Mamma will be better presently," added the daughter, in a low, vexed voice; and she glanced from Kenneth, who was biting his lip to repress the dawn of one of his insolent smiles, and looked appealingly in the graver face of his uncle.

"Can we do anything?" asked the latter, kindly.

I

"Oh, no! pray sit down. I will endeavour to be more composed-pray don't go no one can do anything; it is most afflicting; but don't go. The fact is, Antonio has been so tormented by my English servants (and I am sure I would send every one of them away sooner than Zizine should suffer), -that he utterly refuses to stay with me. offered him double what he engaged for as courier, but he won't! He said (it was so cruel of him!) he said "—and here a renewed burst of sobbing interrupted the explanation" that—that it was ridiculous to expect him to stay for the sake of a 'piccola bestia' (that was what he called Zizine), when he was made quite triste, day and night, by the enmity of my servants. Now, you know, they have no enmity at all to him; only they don't like him; and if he had any generosity he wouldn't consider his own feelings in the matter, but mine think what a goose he must be to go and fret in that way about nothing! And Zizine will die; I know she will die !"

"Who is Zizine?" exclaimed Sir Douglas at last, with a little impatience in his voice.