Page:The Lady's Book Vol. V.pdf/39

 BERTHA, 37

that. Wherefore must I not discourse with my lips? "

“Thou wilt know anon, “said Angilbert, walking rapidly away and disappearing in the thicket.

The tall mediator was by this time at a considerable distance, striding swiftly along, while he used the branch with which he had extinguished the fray as a walking staff. The Greek, leaping upon his horse, galloped after him, apparently with the purpose of repeating his interrogatories; but just as he was about to overtake him, he saw him enter by a gate that had appeared a part of the interlaced shrubbery, which in this part of the forest served for an inclosure. The tall cavalier did not answer a word to the shouts of the curious stranger, but, locking the gate deliberately after him, walked on without turning his head; and when his pursuer reached the enclosure, he found it at once too high to be overleaped and too strong to be broken, and was therefore fain to return to the road, by nearly the same route as he had come.

By dint of hard riding, he rejoined the cavalcade before it entered the palace, and, in contemplating the animated scene around, soon forgot the annoyance which the churlishness of the French cavaliers had given him. Immense galleries, surrounded by pillars, ran all round the building; and in particular, the portico, extending from the palace to the chapel, appeared to be finished with extraordinary art. Such was the extent of these galleries that they afforded shelter to the whole of the troops and inferior officers attending the court. They were divided, however, into regular compartments, each of which was appropriated for the assembling place of a particular company or class of men. the left was seen the royal guard, constantly under arms; and in the same compartment nuinerous officers attached to the court amused themselves with pacing up and down between the marble columns, and retailing the news of the day, while waiting for orders from their superiors. There, and in the other galleries, stoves were placed at convenient distances, and were seen surrounded by crowds of retainers, clients, and strangers, whom official duty, business, or curiosity, had brought to the palace.

In the interior, stupendous halls for the administration of justice, the reception of ambassadors, and other purposes, conferred an air of princely grandeur upon the building; and beyond these was the private apartment of the king, into which access could only be obtained by entering through seven doors. This chamber, nevertheless, was so contrived that Charles could see every individual who entered or quitted the palace; and hence, in a great measure, the strict order and decorum which prevailed throughout, where the officers were every instant aware that they were under the eye of the king. Beyond this was the wardrobe of the palace, for the white habits of the newly baptized, and the robes of the domestic officers, a new suit of which, made of serge or cloth, was presented to them every Easter.

A staircase led downwards to the stables, the menagerie, the aviaries, and dog kennels; and here the spacious baths, surrounded with flights of marble steps and magnificent couches, excited in their hot springs the temptation which had induced the king to pile around them these wonders of art and industry. The great gallery leading to t'e church, which gave its name to the palace, was supported by columns of marble, the materials of which had been brought from Rome and Ravenna. The doors and rails of the chapel were of gilt bronze; and it was ornamented with marble pillars, beautiful mosaics, and vases and candelabras of gold and silver in gorgeous profusion. *

It was only by means of hurried glances and questions that the inquisitive Greek saw and learned so much; for when the cavalcade had entered the palace, the pomp and bustle increased to a degree which seemed to have an almost stunning effect upon its boldest members.

The door of a magnificent hall was at length thrown open, and the embassy, floating slowly in, prepared to pay homage to the mighty chief of the French. A man of a portly and warlike presence was seated on a throne, at the farther end of the room, dressed in superb robes furred with ermine. He was surrounded by a thousand lords, clothed from head to foot in cloth of gold, and, in that regal state, and proud, bold bearing, looked “every inch a king. “This personage, however, was only the Constable of the Palace; and the ambassador, agitated and confounded, passed on to another hall, of which this appeared to be but the ante chamber.

Here a spectacle of the same kind, but more magnificent in its details, awaited the strangers; and if they had not been prevented, the ambassador and his whole train would have fallen on their knees before the Count of the Palace in his ordinary hall of justice. In the third hall the Grand Master of the table presided in still loftier state; and in the fourth, the Grand Chamberlain appeared to leave no higher step to the very summit of regal splendour.

When the fifth door opened, a kind of hushing whisper was heard, and the voices of the crowd, nay, their very breathing, sank into profound silence. The procession entered the hall with no other noise than that produced by the rustling of their robes, the beating of their hearts, and the soft, measured tread of their feet upon the mingled flowers and rushes which carpeted the floor. Bucklers, cuirasses, and other arms were suspended from the roof, and the walls were hidden with what might have seemed the riches of a world. On a seat, without arms or supporters, the throne of the ancient sovereigns of France, t sat the renowned Charlemagne, with twenty diademed kings standing around him, and the high nobles of his empire. Crown on head and scep- ---


 * Eginhard, in Vit. Carol. Magn.; in prœmat. Alcrin. de Carol. Magn. t. 2. Collect. Duchesnian, p. 188; Antoine Mieville, Voy. dans l'Anc. France.

† So constructed to signify that a king must be able to support himself without assistance.