Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/165

] most of them clever artificers from Holland and Flanders, had been busily engaged for several months in erecting a palace of wood for their reception. Henry went, of course, in all the splendour and state that his realm could supply, and Francis and the French court came to their rendezvous in equal pomp of circumstance and luxury of apparel. In Henry's train, besides all his guards and servants, rode one cardinal, one archbishop, two dukes, one marquis, eight earls, and eighteen lords, with all their followers, besides multitudes of knights and gentlemen. The queen, besides the ladies, officers, and servants of her household, was attended by three bishops, one earl, three lords, thirty-three knights, one duchess, seven countesses, fifteen baronesses, nineteen ladies of knights, and many gentlewomen, with all their attendants.

The suite, or, as it might truly be termed, the court of the cardinal, was scarcely less numerous or dazzling than that of the king. Never had the Court of England displayed such magnificence, demonstrating in it the affluence of the country and the ostentation of the monarch.

The wooden palace which had been erected near the castle of Guisnes for the English Court was square, surrounding a court, and each side of the building was 328 feet in length. This building was covered on the outside with sail-cloth, so painted as to resemble squared stone. The walls and roof were adorned with a multitude of statues of warriors, each discharging some weapon as in defence. Over the great gateway stood the figure of a colossal savage, armed with a bow and arrow, and below it this inscription: "Cui adhæreo præest" (He to whom I adhere prevails). This motto was chosen by Henry, for Wolsey had the sole direction of all the preparations and the ordering of all the proceedings and pageants on this occasion, and the words were intended to intimate that the monarch who allied himself to Henry would be the one to gain the ascendancy in Europe: a truly acceptable assurance to Francis, could he rely upon it.



The palace within was lined with richest silks and tapestry of Arras. It was divided into halls, state-rooms, a most sumptuous chapel, and rooms for the accommodation of the royal family and principal guests. The coilings were covered with silk, or richly painted, the floors decorated with Turkey carpets, and the whole was furnished in the most regal style, and the tables were loaded with massive plate. The altar of the chapel blazed with real or imitative jewels, and its walls glowed with the most gorgeous embroidery. On each side of the gate, on one side, stood a fountain of embowered work, gilt with fine gold, from which flowed red and white wines and hippocras, on which stood a statue of Bacchus, having this inscription: "Faicte bonne chère quy voudra" (Make merry who will). Contiguous to the palace were erected suitable lodges for all the great officers of the household, and other buildings for the ewery, pantry, cellar, buttery, spicery, larder, poultry, and pitcher-house; and in the plain around were pitched 2,800 tents, many of them large and magnificent, covered with cloth of gold or silk. But even yet we should form no adequate idea of the extent of the concourse of great people, or the magnificence of the spectacle, did we not take into the view the houses of the town of Guisnes decorated for the occasion, and so crowded by people of rank and fortune that many who lived in fine castles at home were obliged to lodge in barns and sleep on straw and hay.

To the people of the Continent it was a sight not every day to be had, to behold the King and Queen of England, and all its collected nobility in their highest grandeur; and foreign princes and princesses and nobility flocked thither from all parts, as they flock now-a-days to the coronation of a Russian emperor, and either were entertained by the proud and prodigal English king, or swelled