The road between Eton
and Windsor, then marked by straggling cottages with gardens
between them, with here and there a dwelling of a better kind, was
thronged with herds of cattle and their drivers, for a fair was held that
day in the town of Windsor, to which they were hastening. Then there
were country maidens and youthful hinds in their holiday apparel,
trooping towards the bridge. Booths were erected, near which, in the
Brocas meads, the rustic sports of wrestling, running, and casting the
bar were going forward, while numbers of boats shot to and fro upon
the river, and strains of music proceeded from a large gilt barge moored
to its banks. Nearer, and in the broad green plain lying beneath the
north terrace, were a company of archers shooting at the butts. But
these sights, instead of affording pleasure to Surrey, only sharpened
the anguish of his feelings by the contrast they offered to his present
position.
To distract his thoughts, he quitted the near view, and let his eye run
along the edge of the horizon, until it rested upon a small speck, which
he knew to be the lofty spire of Saint Paul's Cathedral. If, as he
supposed, the Fair Geraldine was in attendance upon Anne Boleyn, at
the palace at Bridewell, she must be under the shadow of this very
spire; and the supposition, whether correct or not, produced such quick
and stifling emotions, that the tears rushed to his eyes.
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