Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/188

 172 REIGN OF EL.'ZtiZETH. [011.64. women to make a show at Court, and things of that kind. The Peers have been required to bring their families to London. A magnificent gallery is being erected in the palace at Westminster. Fourteen car- riages have been built for the ladies, and ten thousand pounds' worth of Drake's plunder have been laid out. .... She has desired the merchants to sell their silks and velvets and cloth of gold at a quarter less by the yard than the usual price, that the Court may appear to better advantage. 1 Obviously she means nothing but vanity and idle trifling.' Elizabeth was as innocent as Mendoza believed her to be of greatness of purpose, but he gave her insuffi- cient credit for cunning and small sagacity. The ambassadors came ; they were received by Lord Cobham at Dover, on the lyth of April, and conducted to Gravesend, where the Earls of Hertford and Northum- berland and thirty other lords and gentlemen, were waiting with the royal barges. They were carried up the river amidst acclamations from shore and ship, and two hundred guns were fired from the Tower as they passed under London Bridge. Somerset House had been fitted up in splendour for their reception. Dinners, balls, bear-baits, bull-fights, and music parties were lavished upon them day after day, as Mendoza had fore- told. When they spoke of business they were put off 1 ' Ha mandado que todos los mercaderes vendan al cuarto menos cada vara de lo que solian, assi de tela de oro conio terciopelo y otras sedas, diciendoles que quiere quo le hagan este servicio para que con mas commodidad se puedan adere^ar y vestir las damas y gentiles hombres del Reyno.' Don B. do Mendoza al JBey, 6 y 16 Avril : MSS. Simancat.