Page:History of fair Rosamond (1).pdf/22

22 asylum. But a lover's mind pictures a thousand fears; and Henry scarceyscarcely [sic] thought the massy walls of Woodstock a sufficient protection against the malice of the Queen and her emissaries. There was at that period at the court, a young Norman, named Theodore D'Agueville, who was skilled in architecture and design; and to him he committed the task of fortifying this retreat for Rosamond.—Theodore however proved false to his trust, and revealed to queen Eleanor, the secret of Rosamond's abode.

To the gardens also D'Agueville directed his attention: bower intersected bower; grove returned itself into grove, which were so intermingled with false and real turnings and passages, thaitthat it [sic] became nearly impossible to unravel the road; the mystery was, however simplified by marking the trees differently on the two sides—this mark, so minute as to escape even a close investigation, yet sufficiently distinct to strike instantly the well informdinformed [sic] eye, was the only clue to the labyrinth.

The best refutation to the absurd story that a silken clue led to the different windings of the grove, or the apartments, is, that silk was not then in use in this country.