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Rh his usual costume. Then followed the young monarch and his chevaliers, dressed after the Roman fashion—the cuirass of gold, the robes of frosted silver, the brodequins wrought with gold and silver mixed; and the casques were of silver, with white plumes tipped with scarlet. All were masked; but the King was easily distinguished by his snowy charger, whose mane was fantastically knitted with scarlet ribands. Together they rode round the circle, bending as they passed the Queen till the feathers swept the shining necks of their steeds. Again came the bold challenge of the trumpets, and the troop of the Duc de Guise appeared, marshalled in the same order, but garbed in blue and silver. Their leader's romantic temperature showed itself in one peculiarity; his horse, black as night when the summer's tempest is on the sky, was led behind by two gigantic Moors, who by sign and word subdued the beautiful and fiery animal to the slow step of the procession. Trappings and housings there were none; and the slight silken bridle, which looked like a fragile thread, needed indeed a skilful hand if meant to control the noble creature. A page of singular, almost feminine beauty, whose delicate complexion suited well the delicate colours of his azure cap and plume, bore the