1554.] Dress of the royal bride. 625 which the people raised a great shout, and prayed God to send them joy. The wedding-ring was laid on the book, to be hallowed. Some discussion had previously taken place in council regarding this ring, which the queen decided, by declaring she would not have it adorned with gems, "for she chose to be wedded with a plain hoop of gold, like any other maiden." King Philip laid on the book three handfuls of fine gold coins, and some silver ones. When the lady Margaret, her cousin, saw this, she opened the queen's purse, and her majesty was observed to smile on her as she put the bridal gold within it. Directly the hand of queen Mary was given to king Philip, the earl of Pembroke advanced, and carried before the bridegroom a sword of state, which he had hitherto kept out of sight. The royal pair returned hand in hand from the high altar. They seated themselves again in their chairs of state, where they remained till mass was concluded. At the proper period of the mass, Philip rose from his place and went to the queen, "and gave her the kiss of peace," for such was the custom. The titles of the royal pair were then proclaimed in Latin and English; after which, sops and wine were hallowed and served to them, of which they partook, and all their noble attendants. Don Philip took the queen's hand, and led her to the episcopal palace; both walked under one canopy when they returned from their marriage. The queen always took the right hand. The ceremonial in the cathedral lasted from eleven in the morning till three in the afternoon. The queen was dressed at her marriage in the French style, in a robe richly brocaded on a gold ground, with a long train splendidly bordered with pearls and diamonds of great size. The large rebras sleeves were turned up with clusters of gold, set with pearls and diamonds. Her chaperon, or coif, was bordered with two rows of large diamonds. The close gown, or kirtle, worn beneath the robe, was of white satin, wrought with silver. On her breast the queen wore that remarkable diamond of inestimable value, sent to her as a gift from king Philip whilst he was still in Spain, by the marquis de los Naves. So far, the dress was in good taste, but scarlet shoes and brodequins, and a black velvet scarf, added to this costume by the royal bride, can scarcely be considered improvements. The chair on which queen Mary sat is still shown at Win 1 John Elder's letter. He, doubtless, had his information from the mother of his pupil lord Darnley, lady Margaret, countess of Lennox. Elder wrote a curious description of the royal wedding: he was present with the family he served. 2 The York herald only mentions the gold; the Italian narrator adds the silver, which was no doubt correct, as in the Roman catholic ritual,to this day, the bridegroom presents the bride with gold and silver money. it is the York herald who has preserved the little byVOL. II. chester cathedral: report says, it was a present from Rome, and was blessed by the pope. It looks shabbily modern to our eyes. The hall of the episcopal palace in which the bridal banquet was spread, was hung with arras striped with gold and silk; it had a stately daïs raised at the upper end, ascended by four steps. The seats for queen Mary and her spouse were placed on this, under one canopy, before which their dinner-table was set. Below the daïs were spread various tables, where the queen's ladies, the Spanish grandees, their wives, and the English nobility, were feasted. Bishop Gardiner dined at the royal table, which was served with plate of solid gold; and a cupboard of nine stages, full of gold vases and silver dishes, was placed full in view, for ornament rather than use. In a gallery opposite was placed a band of admirable musicians, who played a sweet concert till four heralds entered, attired in their regal mantles, and, between the first and second courses, pronounced a congratulatory Latin oration in the name of the realm; likewise a panegyric in praise of holy matrimony. The Winchester boys had written Latin epithalamiums, which they recited; they were rewarded by the queen. After the banquet, king Philip returned thanks to the lords of the privy council and the other English nobility; and the queen spoke very graciously to the Spanish grandees and their noble ladies, in their own language. The tables were taken up at six o'clock, and dancing commenced; but the whole gay scene concluded at nine o'clock, when the queen and king Philip retired from the ball. While these grand state festivals were proceeding, private grudges and quarrels were fermenting among her majesty's Protestant and Catholic attendants. The "hot gospeller," Mr. Edward Underhill-whose lively journal gives the best idea of the interior of the palace during the reign of our first queen-regnant-was on duty in the presence-chamber at Winchester, and performed his office of assisting in carrying up the dishes at the wedding-banquet. He never chose to give up his post of guarding the queen's person, though his adversary, Norreys, who was promoted to the place of queen's usher, again renewed his persecutions. A day or two after the royal marriage, Norreys came from his station, at the door of the queen's private sitting-room, into the presencechamber, when the gentlemen-at-arms all made reverence to him, as his place required. He fixed his eyes on Edward Underhill, and asked him "What he did there?"-" Marry, sir!" replied the undaunted Protestant, "what do you do here?"""You are very short with me," observed Norreys. "I will forbear," rejoined Underhill, “out of respect for the place you be in: if you were of the outer chamber, I would be shorter with you. You were the door-keeper when we waited at the queen's table. Your office is not to find fault with me for doing my duty. I am at this time appointed to serve her majesty by those who are in authority under her, who know me well."-" They shall know 1554.] The hot gospeller on guard. 627 you better," returned his foe, "and the queen also." Mr. Calverley, one of Underhill's comrades, brother to Sir John Calverley of Cheshire, then interposed, saying, "In good faith, Mr. Norreys, you do not well; this gentleman, our fellow, hath served queen Mary a long time. He has been ever ready to venture his life in her service, and at the last troubles was as forward as any one to guard her. He is now appointed, at very great charges (as we all are), to serve her again. Methinks you do more than the part of a gentleman to seek to discharge him."—“ Ye all hold together," muttered Norreys. "Else were we worse than beasts," retorted Calverley. And master Norreys retreated, grumbling, to his post at the queen's door. If he ever carried his threats into execution, of telling tales to her majesty of the valiant "hot gospeller," it is certain that he never succeeded in injuring him. The Spanish fleet sailed for the coast of Flanders the next day, having first landed eighty genets belonging to Philip, of such perfect beauty that they could not be surpassed. A number of Spaniards, to the amount of four thousand, who had intended to land in England with their prince, were extremely disappointed at finding that their presence was forbidden in the island by the queen's marriage-articles. Four or five hundred persons, among whom were a number of fools and buffoons (belonging to the suites of the grandees of high rank immediately attendant on Philip), were permitted, however, to come on shore. This was the sole Spanish force that accompanied the queen's bridegroom. CHAPTER VI. QUEEN Mary and her spouse went to Basing-house the morning after their marriage, and were splendidly entertained there by the lord treasurer, Paulet marquis of Winchester. They finally left Winchester within a week of the marriage, and went to Windsor-castle, where a grand festival of the Garter was held on Sunday, August 5, in celebration of the admission of king Philip to the order; indeed, he then took place as its sovereign, for at all the other festivals at which queen Mary was present, even on the day of St. George, she took no other part than witnessing the scene from a side-window,1 although, in her maiden reign, she had headed the procession of the knights in St. James's chapel on the anniversary of St. George that year. The Tuesday after the queen's marriage, the court at Windsor-castle assisted at a species of hunting little practised in England: toils were raised in Windsor-forest four miles in length, and a great number of deer slaughtered. The queen 1 Machyn's Diary, pp. 60, 85, 134. , and her spouse removed to Richmond-palace August and staid there till the 27th, when they embarked on the Thames, and rowed in great pomp to Southwark, where they landed at Gardiner's palace; and passing through Southwark-park to Suffolk-place (once the pleasant residence of her aunt Mary and Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk), they sojourned there for the night.1 At noon, next day, they crossed Londonbridge on horseback, attended by a stately retinue of English nobles and Spanish grandees. They were received in the city with the usual display of pageantry; among which the circumstance most noted was, that a figure representing Henry VIII. held a book, as if in act of presentation to the queen, on which was inscribed VERBUM DEI. The queen was offended, and the words were obliterated so hastily with a painting-brush, that the fingers of the figure were wiped out with them. Philip brought over a quantity of bullion, sufficient to fill ninety-seven chests, each chest was a yard and a quarter long. This treasure was piled on twenty carts it was displayed with some ostentation on this occasion, in its progress to the Tower to be coined. The citizens were much pleased with this replenishment to their currency, dreadfully exhausted and debased by Henry VIII. and the regencies of his son. The queen, after holding her court at Whitehall, dismissed for a time the crowds of English nobility and gentry who had assembled, from all parts of the country, to celebrate her marriage. The death of the duke of Norfolk interrupted the nuptial festivities, since Mary ordered a court mourning for him," "because," adds Heylin, "she loved him entirely." On occasion of this mourning she retired to Hampton-court, where she remained for some time in profound retirement with her husband. Here an important change took place in the customs of English royalty, which gave mortal offence to the people. "Formerly," murmured the populace, "the gates of the palace where the royal family resided were set open all day long, and our princes lived in public; but since the Spanish wedlock, Hampton-court gates are closed, and every man must give an account of his errand before entering." The royal pair did not seclude themselves at Hampton-court to indulge in the luxuries of the table, if their diet may be judged by one of the bills of fares which has survived them. The dinner was on a maigre-day, and consisted of "salt salmons, porpus, fresh sturgeon, roast eels, perches, boiled grabs [crabs], buttered eggs, apples, and oatmeal, with twelve gallons of cream." dinner succeeded as queer a dessert, consisting of “ scrape cheese with sugar, apples with carnayes [surmised to be carraways], pears with pysketts [peascods], damsons (black and white), wafers, filberts; and for beverage, ipocras, six gallons." To the Within a few weeks of her marriage, Queen Mary's prisoner at Woodstock duly qualified herself for sharing in any gaieties the royal court 3 Gutch's Curiosa, vol. ii. p. 2. 1 Machyn. 2 Heylin's Reformation, p. 209. 1554.] Sends for Elizabeth to court. 629 might offer. Elizabeth had called for the Roman Catholic priest,1 and, falling on her knees, made confession of her innocence of all treason against the queen, and then received the Roman Catholic sacrament upon it. Hitherto she had been permitted to use Henry VIII.'s Common Prayer, at Woodstock, in English, with the exception of this political prayer inserted by Henry VIII. among the beautiful aspirations of the Litany, "From the tyranny of the bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities, deliver us.' Now Elizabeth ridded her devotional services of every particle of English, and used the Roman services in Latin, joining in every office of the Roman church, to the astonishment of her faithful but crusty castellan, who duly informed queen Mary of the conversion of his charge, at the same time earnestly praying his royal mistress to be released from the care of her. The queen's answer proves how happy the news had made her. There is little doubt that she would have received her sister earlier, but some very serious bodily affliction, requiring surgical treatment, which Elizabeth would only discuss with an ancient medical attendant of the royal family, whom she sent at her entreaty, prolonged her stay at Woodstock. The meeting took place between queen Mary and the princess Elizabeth, at Hamptoncourt, in the autumn of 1554, instead of the spring of 1555 as affirmed hitherto. Queen Mary received the princess Elizabeth, who had been brought under a strong guard from Woodstock, in her bedchamber at Hamptoncourt, at ten o'clock at night. When the princess entered the queen's presence, she fell on her knees, and protested, with streaming eyes and in earnest language, "her truth and loyalty to her sovereign majesty, let whosoever assert the contrary!" Queen Mary replied, somewhat sharply, "You will not confess your offence, I see, but rather stand stoutly on your truth. I pray God your truth may become manifest!""If it is not," said the princess, "I will look for neither favour nor pardon at your majesty's hands.”—“ Well, then,” said the queen, “you stand so stiffly on your truth, belike you have been wrongfully punished?"-"I must not say so to your majesty," replied Elizabeth. “But you will report so to others, it seemeth," rejoined Mary. "No, an' please your majesty," replied the princess. "I have borne, and must bear, the burden thereof; but I humbly beseech your grace's good opinion of me, as I am, and ever have been, your majesty's true subject." The queen turned away with a half soliloquy in Spanish, uttering audibly "God knoweth ! "2 If the intercepted correspondence between Elizabeth and the French ambassador was at that moment in Mary's thoughts, she could scarcely have said less. The story goes, that king Philip had interceded for Elizabeth; that he caused her to be sent for that she might partake the 1 Bedingfeld Papers, Sept. 14, 1554; edited by Rev. C. R. Manning. |