Page:The Queens of England.djvu/425

 MARY THE FIRST. 383 grave, even for a woman of thirty-seven, and had lost all the freshness which sometimes adheres to Englishwomen even at a more advanced age. The knowledge that she had been affi- anced to his father before he had been born, was not calculated to reconcile Philip to the disparity in the age of his future bride; and it was, perhaps, this objection which led the em- peror to assure Mary in a letter, that "If his own age and health had rendered him a suitable spouse, he should have had the greatest satisfaction in wedding her himself." And now the thoughts of the court and courtiers were di- rected to the approaching coronation. Mary being the first queen who had filled the throne in her own right, it became necessary to establish etiquette for the grave ceremonial where precedents could not be found. That it might be worthy of her, her citizens came forward with a loan of twenty thousand pounds, no inconsiderable sum at that time ; and preparations were soon commenced. Previous to the 1st of October, the day named for the coronation, Mary proceeded in her state barge from Whitehall to the Tower, attended by the Princess Elizabeth and all the ladies of her court, and escorted by the lord mayor and public functionaries of the city in their barges, and in all their civic display of rich clothes, gold and chains, and with music, only broken by the sound of the cannon fired to do their sovereign honor and the cheers that welcomed her. On the following day she created several knights of the Bath, and the succeeding day she went, accompanied by a grand procession, on horseback through the streets, attended by no less than seventy ladies, dressed in crimson velvet, and several hundred noblemen, gentlemen, and all the foreign ambassa- dors, of whom the 1 Spanish took one precedence. The queen sat in a gorgeous litter, borne by six white horses, richly com- parisoned in cloth of silver. Her robe was of blue velvet, bordered with ermine, and on her head she wore a network, so covered with jewels of immense value as nearly to conceal her hair. The Princess Elizabeth, accompanied by Anne of Cleves, followed the queen in an open carriage, covered with crimson velvet and richly ornamented. Their robes were of cloth of silver. The master of the horse appeared next, lead- ing the queen's palfrey, and then succeeded a vast train of ladies and lords on horseback and in carriages, dressed in great splendor, and followed by the queen's guards. Stately pa- geants were exhibited for the queen's pleasure as she passed