<afe. 231 



The infant prince is about to be baptized, and this 

 with no greater ceremony than if he had been a poor 

 man's child. A poor man's child might have more to 

 gladden him, smiling faces and fresh air, but around this 

 son of a throneless monarch are sad countenances and 

 gloomy walls. No costly gifts are presented, and for 

 attendants there remain but one or two kind friends, 

 faithful among faithless thousands. No cloth of gold 

 adorns the Gothic font of hewn stone, round which the 

 little band of fond and faithful friends are gathered, 

 while the sacred ceremony is performed by the sub-prior, 

 who gives to the young prince the name of his father. 

 Those who promise for him, poor child, that he shall re- 

 nounce the pomps and pleasures of the world, when his 

 noble patrimony seems lost to him, are his grandmother 

 and the Lady Scrope, that devoted woman, who adheres to 

 the queen in all her trials. The good abbot, Thomas Mil- 

 ling, performs the office of godfather, no other man being 

 either willing or at hand to do the desolate one that service. 



Hark now to the sound of cheerful voices. They come 

 from those who no longer fear to be regarded as 

 adherents of the house of York. King Edward is 

 returned, and with him a gallant company of gentlemen 

 are seen pressing onward to the sanctuary. One mo- 

 ment more, the bolted doors fly open, and the king and 

 queen, with their three little girls, are preparing to leave 

 the sanctuary ; the infant prince, borne in the arms of 

 his nurse, and his blithe and gladsome sisters, making 



