A ROMANCE. BY THE AUTHOR OF " WAVERLEY,' No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope? The Critic. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. EDINBURGH: PRINTED For archibaLD CONSTABLE AND CO.; AND JOHN BALLANTYNE, EDINBURGH; AND HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO., LONDON. ATLET 1821. KENILWORTH. CHAPTER I. Snug. Have you the lion's part written ? pray, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study. Quince. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roar ing. Midsummer-Night's Dream. WHEN the Countess of Leicester arrived at the outer gate of the Castle of Kenilworth, she found the tower, beneath which its ample portal arch opened, guarded in a singular manner. Upon the battlements were placed gigantic warders, with clubs, battle-axes, and other implements of ancient warfare, designed to represent the soldiers of King Arthur; those primitive Britons, by whom, according to romantic tradition, the Castle had |