Delay the chase--delay it for half an hour--and leave me, my lord." "How! leave you, madam ?" said Leicester,--"has my madness offended you ?" "No, Leicester, not so!" answered the Queen hastily; "but it is madness, and must not be repeated.

Go--but go not far from hence; and meantime let no one intrude on my privacy." While she spoke thus, Dudley bowed deeply, and retired with a slow and melancholy air.

The Queen stood gazing after him, and murmured to herself, "Were it possible--were it BUT possible!--but no--no; Elizabeth must be the wife and mother of England alone." As she spoke thus, and in order to avoid some one whose step she heard approaching, the Queen turned into the grotto in which her hapless, and yet but too successful, rival lay concealed.
The mind of England's Elizabeth, if somewhat shaken by the agitating interview to which she had just put a period, was of that firm and decided character which soon recovers its natural tone.

It was like one of those ancient Druidical monuments called Rocking-stones.

The finger of Cupid, boy as he is painted, could put her feelings in motion; but the power of Hercules could not have destroyed their equilibrium.