Page:The Queens of England.djvu/142

 120 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. most extravagant manner, calling him "brother." This scene was very disgusting to the queen and her uncles, the Counts of Valois and Evereux, who had accompanied her. Thus, at the moment when they set their feet on their kingdom, the seeds of all their future miseries and crimes were planted. The nobles, seeking an opportunity to ruin Gaveston, saw the occasion in the queen's unconcealed displeasure. As if to give them the fullest plea of folly against him, Edward bestowed the costly presents of jewels, rings, and other highly valuable articles which the King of France had sent him, and which the queen very justly regarded as part of her dowry, on Gaveston. Noth- ing could display a more ominous imbecility, or one more likely to incense a young and beautiful wife. But this was not the full measure of Edward's ridiculous weakness and impolicy in regard to his favorite. At the coronation, when the office of bearing St. Edward's crown before the king should have been given to one of the princes of the blood royal, to the astonish- ment of every one, and to the unconcealed indignation of the nobility, Gaveston was found fulfilling this high duty, while Henry of Lancaster bore the royal rod surmounted with the dove, and Thomas of Lancaster bore the Curtana, or sword of mercy. These were the king's near relatives, and the insult to them and to the whole assembly was the more felt by their being placed on a level with a man like Gaveston. But still more, Gaveston took upon himself to arrange all the ceremonies and routine of the coronation and its attendant festivities, and these were executed in so shameful a manner that there was a universal murmur. It was three o'clock before the coronation was over ; the dinner hour .was delayed till it was quite dark, and the hungry courtiers were excited to a high degree of wrath. When the viands did appear, they were so vilely cooked and so clumsily served, there was such a paucity of officers for the occasion, and they were running one against another in such a way, that all was confusion, disap- pointment, and scandal. Owing to the wretchedness of the arrangements, there were numerous accidents through the day, which cast a gloom on the general spirit ; and one knight, Sir John Bakewell, was actually trodden to death. The queen received many slights, which she regarded, and probably was incited to believe, as studied. The French nobles returned home swelling with the ill- feeling produced by these circumstances, and loud in resent-