Page:The Queens of England.djvu/493

 ANNE OF DENMARK. 445 with other terrible fishes, that were ridden by Moors. The indecorum was, adds Sir Dudley, that there was all fish and no water. But now you saw near these harmless dragons a great shell in the form of a scallop, wherein were four benches ; cm the lowest of which sat the queen with my Lady Bedford, while on the rest were placed the Ladies Suffolk, Derby, Rich, Effingham, Anne Herbert, Susan Herbert, Elizabeth Howard, Walsingham and Bevil. "Their appearance was rich," says Sir Dudley "but too light and courtesanlike for such great ones. Instead of vizards their faces and arms up to the elbows were painted black." This specimen will be enough; though the close of Sir Dudley's letter, and of the monstrous exhibi- tion it describes, ought not to be omitted. "The night's work was concluded with a banquet in the great chamber, which was so furiously assaulted, that down went the tables and tressels before one bit was touched." Another letter writer of the time enables us to complete this picture of lumbering and ill- arranged profuseness, of tasteless yet almost barbaric extrava- gance. "The show is put off till Sunday, by reason all things are not ready. Whatever the device may be, and what success they may have in their dancing, yet you should have been sure to have seen great riches in jewels, when one lady and that under a baroness, is said to be furnished for better than a hundred thousand pounds ; and the Lady Arabella goes be- yond her ; and the queen must not come behind." But what, meanwhile, was the opinion of their ruler be- coming prevalent among the English people? An intelligent foreigner will describe it for us. "Consider, for pity's sake," says M. de Beaumont, in one of his despatches, "what must be the state and condition of a prince, whom the preachers publicly from the pulpit assail ; whom the comedians of the metropolis covertly bring upon the stage ; whose wife attends these representations in order to enjoy the laugh against her husband ; whom the parliament braves and despises ; and who is universally hated by the whole people?" The Frenchman's great master, Henri, shortly before he fell by the hand of an assassin, had spoken of the effects of such contempt when di- rected against the person of a sovereign, as marvelous and horrible ; and in this case also they proved so, though in an- other generation than his who had made himself so thoroughly despicable. "Audacious language," pursues M. de Beaumont, "offensive pictures, calumnious pamphlets, these evil forerun-