tions in French and English. At Gracechurch-street corner was a "marvellous cunning pageant," made by the merchants of the Steel-yard, of mount Parnassus, with Apollo and all his attendants, who made speeches. They were placed about a fountain of Helicon, which sprung up, in four jets, several yards high, and fell in a cup at top, and overflowed. This fountain of Helicon "did run with right good Rhenish wine all that day, for the refreshment of the multitude." The next pageant was that of the white falcon, described in the water procession, with this difference, that the falcon sat uncrowned among the red and white roses, and an angel flew down, "with great melody, and placed a close crown' of gold on the falcon's head as the queen came opposite. St. Anne was near, with her descendants; and one of the children of Mary Cleophas made to the queen a goodly oration on the fruitfulness of St. Anne. At the conduit of Cornhill sat, the three Graces on a throne, and before it was a spring of grace continually running with good wine. Before the fountain sat a poet, who declared to the queen the properties of each of the three, every one of whom gave her a gift of grace. The conduit of Cheapside ran, at one end white wine, and at the other claret, all that afternoon." "At Cheapside-cross stood all the aldermen, from among whom advanced master Walter, the city recorder, who presented the queen with a purse, containing a thousand marks of gold, which she very thankfully accepted, with many goodly words. At the little conduit of Cheapside was a rich pageant, full of melody and song, where Pallas, Venus, and Juno gave the queen their apple of gold, divided in three compartments, being wisdom, riches, and felicity. Over the gate of St. Paul's was a pageant of three ladies, and in a circle over their heads was written, in Latin words, 'Proceed, queen Anne, and reign prosperously the lady sitting in the middle had a tablet, on which was written, Come, friend, and receive the crown; the lady on the right had a tablet of silver, on which was written, 'Lord, direct my steps;' and the third lady had on a tablet of gold, written with azure letters, Confide in the Lord' and

1 Meaning the coronation-crown, closed at top with arches, the white falcon representing the queen.

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these ladies cast down wafers, on which these words were stamped. On a scaffold, at the east end of St. Paul's, stood two hundred children, well apparelled, who rehearsed to the queen many goodly verses of poets translated into English, which she highly commended. And when she came to Ludgate, the gate was newly burnished with gold and bice; and on the leads of St. Martin's church stood a choir of men and children, singing new ballads in her praise. Fleet-street conduit was finely painted, all the scutcheons and angels were refreshed, and the chime melodiously sounding; on it was four turrets, and in each turret a cardinal virtue, which promised the queen never to leave her, but ever to be aiding and comforting her and in the midst of the tower, closely concealed, was a concert of solemn instruments, which made a heavenly noise, and was much regarded and praised by the queen; and, besides all this, the said conduit ran with red and white wine all that afternoon. Thus the queen was brought to Westminster-hall, which was richly hung with golden arras, and newly glazed. The queen rode in her litter to the very midst of the hall, where she was taken out, and led up to the high daïs, and placed under the canopy of state. On the left side was a cupboard of ten stages, filled with cups and goblets of gold marvellous to behold. In a short time was brought to the queen "a solemn service in great standing spice-plates, and a roide of spice, (which was no other than comfits or sugar-plums,) besides ipocras and other wines, which the queen sent down to her ladies. When they had partaken, she gave thanks to the lord mayor, and to the ladies and nobles who had attended on her. She then withdrew herself, with a few ladies, to the whitehall, and changed her dress, and remained with the king at Westminster that night."

The bright morrow was that coronation-day, the grand desideratum on which the heart and wishes of Anne Boleyn had been for so many years steadfastly fixed. It was Whit-Sunday, and the 1st of June,-of all days the most lovely in England, when the fresh smile of spring still blends with early summer. That morning of high festival saw the queen early at her toilet, for she entered Westminster-hall with her ladies a little after

eight, and stood under her canopy of state in her surcoat and mantle of purple velvet, lined with ermine, and the circlet of rubies she wore the preceding day. Then came the monks of Westminster in rich copes, and the bishops and abbots in their splendid copes and mitres. The ray-cloth (stripedcloth) was spread all the way from the daïs in Westminsterhall, through the sanctuary and palace, up to the high altar in Westminster-abbey. The usual procession of nobles officiating then set forth, among whom might be remarked the "marquess of Dorset, bearing the queen's sceptre, the earl of Arundel, with the rod of ivory and the dove, who went side by side. The earl of Oxford, lord high-chamberlain for the day, walked after them bearing the crown; after him came the duke of Suffolk, as temporary lord high-stewad of England, bearing a long silver wand, and the lord William Howard, with the marshal's staff. Then came the queen, the bishops of London and Winchester walking on each side of her, holding up the lappets of her robe; and the freemen of the Cinque-ports, called barons, dressed in crimson, with blue points to their sleeves, bore her canopy. The queen's train was borne by the old duchess of Norfolk, and she was followed by the female nobility of England in surcoats of scarlet velvet with narrow sleeves, the stomachers barred with ermine, the degree of the nobility being indicated by the number of the ermine bars. The knights' wives were in scarlet, but they had no trains, neither had the queen's gentlewomen. Then the queen was set in a rich chair, between the choir and the high altar. And after she had rested herself awhile, she descended to the high altar, and there prostrated herself while Cranmer said certain collects. Then she rose up, and he anointed her on the head and breast, and she was led up again; and after many oraisons he set the crown of St Edward on her head, and delivered to her the sceptres, and all the choir sang Te Deum. Which done, the archbishop took from her head the crown of St. Edward, being heavy, and set on the crown made for her, and so went to mass; and when the offertory came, she descended again to the altar and there offered, being still crowned, and then ascended to her chair of state, where she sat till Agnus

Dei was sung; and then she went down and kneeled before the altar, and received of Cranmer the eucharist, and returned to her place again. After mass was over she went to St. Edward's shrine, and there offered, and withdrew into a little place, made for the nonce, on one side of the choir.' The nobility had in the meantime assumed their coronets; and when the queen had reposed herself, she returned with the procession in the former order, excepting that the proud and triumphan: father of the queen supported her sceptre hand, and on her left hand she was assisted by lord Talbot, as deputy for his father the earl of Shrewsbury. Thus she was led into Westminster. hall, and then to her withdrawing-chamber, where she waited till the banquet was prepared."

Meantime, every lord who owed services at a coronation prepared them according to his duty. The duke of Suffolk, as high-steward, was richly apparelled, his doublet and jacket being set with orient pearl, and his courser trapped to the ground with crimson velvet, having letters of beaten gold thereon; and by his side rode about the hall the lord William Howard, earl-marshal for his brother, whose robe was crimson velvet, and the housings of his steed purple velvet, with white lions on it, cut out in white satin and embroidered. The earl of Essex was the queen's carver; the earl of Sussex her sewer; the earl of Arundel her chief butler, on whom twelve citizens of London did wait at the cupboard. The earl of Derby was her cup-bearer; the viscount Lisle her pantler; the lord Burgoyne chief larderer; and the mayor of Oxford kept the buttery bar; while her late lover, sir Thomas Wyatt, of poetical celebrity, acted for his father sir Henry Wyatt as chief ewerer, and claimed the office of pouring scented water on the queen's hands. When all these functionaries were at their stations, the queen entered the hall with her canopy borne over her. She washed, and sat down to table under the canopy of state; on the right side of her chair stood the countess of Oxford, and on the left stood the countess of Worcester, all the dinnertime; and they often held a "fine cloth before the queen's

1 Hall, whose narrative is generally followed in this account, pp. 800-804. It is vident Cranmer performed the Catholic celebration of the mass at this ceremony.

face, whenever she listed to spit, or do otherwise at her pleasure,"--a most extraordinary office, certainly, but first appointed at an earlier and less refined era than even the reign of Henry VIII. "And under the table went two gentlewomen, and sat at the queen's feet during the dinner." When the queen and all these attendants had taken their places, the duke of Suffolk and lord William Howard rode into the hall on horseback, escorting the sewer and the knights of the Bath, each bearing a dish of the first course for the queen's table, twenty-seven dishes, besides "subtleties of ships made of coloured wax, marvellous and gorgeous to behold." While this service was done, the trumpets standing in the window at the nethermost end of the hall, played melodiously. "And all the tables in the hall were served so quickly, it was a marvel." The king took no part in all this grand ceremonial, but remained in the cloister of St. Stephen's,' where was made a little closet, in which he stood privately with several ambassadors, beholding all the service it was his pleasure should be offered to his new queen.

While the dinner was proceeding, "the duke of Suffolk and lord William Howard rode up and down the hall, cheering the lords and ladies, and the lord mayor and his brethren; and when these had dined, they commanded them to stand still in their places or on their forms, till the queen had washed. Then she arose and stood in the midst of the hall, to whom the earl of Sussex brought a goodly spice-plate, and served her with comfits. After him the lord mayor brought a standing cup of gold, set in a cup of assay; and after she had drunk she gave him the cups, according to the claims of the city, thanking him and his brethren for their pains. Then she went under her canopy, borne over her to the door of her chamber, where she turned about, and gave the canopy, with the golden bells and all, to the barons of the Cinque-ports, according to their claim, with great thanks for their service. Then the lord mayor, bearing the gold cup in his hand, with his brethren passed through Westminster-hall to the barge, and so did all the other noblemen and gentlemen return to

1 There most beautiful cloisters are nearly in their original state at this time.