Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1843-08-19
THE COUNTESS WE'LL.
BY MAJOR C. CAMPBELL.

BY MAJOR c. CAMPBELL.
The death of King Stephen, and the
accession of Henry the Second to the
throne, elected that spirit of turbulence
and rebellion among the mobiles which then
rendered the heart of England an arena
for perpetual feud, treachery, and revolt
Among the Flemish army under the COM
mand of Leicester, who aided the rebel
lion Of the princes, was nobleman of i'm
mense wealth. To this chef of one of the
proudest families in Flanders, De Bigod,
with that calculating policy which charac-
terized all his actions, betrothed his only
daughter, without studying the nature of
her sentiments towards her rude and i'll
nurtured wooer. The Countess Constance
de Bigod-deprived at an early age of a
mother whose existence possessed but the
one charm, the affections of a devoted
child-had been reared in that magnificent
splendor so dear to her father; but the at
mosphere of arrogance and opulence faint
ed not the innate nobility of her nature;
and she sprang up in the forest of Franz
lingham, as fair and as pure as its own
wild flowers. Nor, while mixing in the
court revelries, which she was at times
obliged to attend, did she imbbe single
breath of the polluted air in which the
heart and mind of her father foated-as
the ,night-vulture lives in, and exults over,
the carrion which rots beneath it, Beloved
by her dependents, she yet found in her
associates no congeniality of mind or dis.
position to draw forth the deep loneliness
of her nature, until, amidst the gay crowd
of knights and gallants that accompanied
her father on his triumphant return 10
Birmingham, she met the young Richard
de We're, the favorite gentleman of Henry
the Second. OF noble exterior and gentle
manners, there was moreover nameless
something that attracted the cnuness's at.
tention; and that mutual sympathy which
showed itself between congenial souls in
despite of all the reasonings common place
argument brings against an influence uni
versally acknowledged, though little under
stood, soon led TO perfect understanding
Of their feelings for each other. But
neither offiksSere slow to perceive that
Richard de Vere's attentions TO his child
! we're utterly distasteful TO the earl. The
truth was not for some time known to
: them, that the mother of Richard, in early
: youth, had rejected Earl Hugh fer the
S more smsahy, if less powerful, De We're
4 and the hssstof De Bigod could only throt
, with hatred towards The son of the woman
) who had scornfully refused his had. The
: consequence was, that when Richard sough
I an interview with the earl, and declared
r his passion for Constance, he was at once
' and with the most pointed hauteur, reject
: ed; while his daughter was for the frs
o time told that she was soon to be the bride
S of the Baron de Clichy.
+ But the lovers still met-daily, almos
s hourly, in the regal trail of Henry IL; anc
d ere long the conspiracies, which were ma
a turing under the auspices of the ungratefu
y De Bigod against the monarch, occupied
d so entirely the time and attention of tn
y earl. that he utterly forgot that his daughte
y was left to the unrestrained society of he
y lover; while his own restoration to tn
e sovereigns favor was cause sufficient for
e temporary suspension of his friendly inter
% course with the Baron de Clichy, wit
J. whom, nevertheless, a clandestine CORES