concluding his task, the earl rose and motioned Marmaduke to a stool
by his side, his great stature, which, from the length of his limbs,
was not so observable when he sat, actually startled his guest. Tall
as Marmaduke was himself, the earl towered [The faded portrait of
Richard Nevile, Earl of Warwick, in the Rous Roll, preserved at the
Herald's College, does justice, at least, to the height and majesty of
his stature. The portrait of Edward IV. is the only one in that long
series which at all rivals the stately proportions of the King-maker.]
above him,--with his high, majestic, smooth, unwrinkled forehead,--
like some Paladin of the rhyme of poet or romancer; and, perhaps, not
only in this masculine advantage, but in the rare and harmonious
combination of colossal strength with graceful lightness, a more
splendid union of all the outward qualities we are inclined to give to
the heroes of old never dazzled the eye or impressed the fancy. But
even this effect of mere person was subordinate to that which this
eminent nobleman created--upon his inferiors, at least--by a manner so
void of all arrogance, yet of all condescension, so simple, open,
cordial, and hero-like, that Marmaduke Nevile, peculiarly alive to
external impressions, and subdued and fascinated by the earl's first
word, and that word was "Welcome!" dropped on his knee, and kissing
the hand extended to him, said, "Noble kinsman, in thy service and for
thy sake let me live and die!" Had the young man been prepared by the
subtlest master of courtcraft for this interview, so important to his
fortunes, he could not have advanced a hundredth part so far with the
great earl as he did by that sudden, frank burst of genuine emotion;
for Warwick was extremely sensitive to the admiration he excited,--
vain or proud of it, it matters not which; grateful as a child for
love, and inexorable as a woman for slight or insult: in rude ages,
one sex has often the qualities of the other.