attendants in one of the lower rooms, the abbot proceeded up the massive
stone staircase, and along a broad and lengthy passage, darkly panelled
with thick oak, then pushing aside some heavy arras, stood within one of
the state chambers, and gave his fervent benison on one within. This was
a man in the earliest and freshest prime of life, that period uniting
all the grace and beauty of youth with the mature thought, and steady
wisdom, and calmer views of manhood. That he was of noble birth and
blood and training one glance sufficed; peculiarly and gloriously
distinguished in the quiet majesty of his figure, in the mild attempered
gravity of his commanding features. Nature herself seemed to have marked
him out for the distinguished part it was his to play. Already there
were lines of thought upon the clear and open brow, and round the mouth;
and the blue eye shone with that calm, steady lustre, which seldom comes
till the changeful fire and wild visions of dreamy youth have departed.
His hair, of rich and glossy brown, fell in loose natural curls on
either side his face, somewhat lower than his throat, shading his
cheeks, which, rather pale than otherwise, added to the somewhat grave
aspect of his countenance; his armor of steel, richly and curiously
inlaid with burnished gold, sat lightly and easily upon his peculiarly
tall and manly figure; a sash, of azure silk and gold, suspended his
sword, whose sheath was in unison with the rest of his armor, though the
hilt was studded with gems. His collar was also of gold, as were his
gauntlets, which with his helmet rested on a table near him; a coronet
of plain gold surmounted his helmet, and on his surcoat, which lay on a
seat at the further end of the room, might be discerned the rampant lion
of Scotland, surmounted by a crown.

The apartment in which he stood, though shorn of much of that splendor
which, ere the usurping invasion of Edward of England, had distinguished
it, still bore evidence of being a chamber of some state. The hangings