knighthood of the hath to the heroes of Agincourt, not to the vendors
of cloth and spices."

"Ah, my poor knights of the Bath!" said Edward, good-humouredly, "wilt
thou never let that sore scar quietly over? Ownest thou not that the
men had their merits?"

"What the merits were, I weet not," answered the earl,--"unless,
peradventure, their wives were comely and young."

"Thou wrongest me, Warwick," said the king, carelessly; "Dame Cook was
awry, Dame Philips a grandmother, Dame Jocelyn had lost her front
teeth, and Dame Waer saw seven ways at once! But thou forgettest,
man, the occasion of those honours,--the eve before Elizabeth was
crowned,--and it was policy to make the city of London have a share in
her honours. As to the rest," pursued the king, earnestly and with
dignity, "I and my House have owed much to London. When the peers of
England, save thee and thy friends, stood aloof from my cause, London
was ever loyal and true. Thou seest not, my poor Warwick, that these
burgesses are growing up into power by the decline of the orders above
them. And if the sword is the monarch's appeal for his right, he must
look to contented and honoured industry for his buckler in peace.
This is policy,--policy, Warwick; and Louis XI. will tell thee the
same truths, harsh though they grate in a warrior's ear."

The earl bowed his haughty head, and answered shortly, but with a
touching grace, "Be it ever thine, noble king, to rule as it likes
thee, and mine to defend with my blood even what I approve not with my
brain! But if thou doubtest the wisdom of this alliance, it is not
too late yet. Let me dismiss my following, and cross not the seas.