h before
the Royal Court, in which he told what chanced while Elizabeth was at
chapel.

"There stood I, butler to the Queen," he said, with a large gesture,
"but what knew I of butler's duties at Greenwich Palace! Her Majesty had
given me an office where all the work was done for me. Odds life, but
when I saw the Gentleman of the Rod and his fellow get down on their
knees to lay the cloth upon the table, as though it was an altar at
Jerusalem, I thought it time to say my prayers. There was naught but
kneeling and retiring. Now it was the salt-cellar, the plate, and the
bread; then it was a Duke's Daughter--a noble soul as ever lived--with
a tasting-knife, as beautiful as a rose; then another lady enters who
glares at me, and gets to her knees as does the other. Three times up
and down, and then one rubs the plate with bread and salt, as solemn as
St. Ouen's when he says prayers in the Royal Court. Gentles, that was a
day for Jersey. For there stood I as master of all, the Queen's butler,
and the greatest ladies of the land doing my will--though it was all
Persian mystery to me, save when the kettle-drums began to beat and the
trumpet to blow, and in walk bareheaded the Yeomen of the Guard, all
scarlet, with a golden rose on their backs, bringing in a course of
twenty-four gold dishes; and I, as Queen's butler, receiving them.

"Then it was I opened my mouth amazed at the endless dishes filled
with niceties of earth, and the Duke's Daughter pops onto my tongue
a mouthful of the first dish brought, and then does the same to every
Yeoman of the Guard that carried a dish--that her notorious Majesty
be safe against the hand of poisoners. There was I, fed by a Duke's
Daughter; and thus was Jersey honoured; and the Duke's Daughter whispers
to me, as a dozen other unmarried ladies enter, 'The Queen liked not
the cut of your frieze jerkin better than do I, Seigneur.' With that she
joins the others, and they all kneel down and rise up again, and lifting
the meat from the table, bear it into the Queen's private chamber.

"When they return, and the Yeomen of the Guard go forth, I am left alone
with these ladies, and there stand with twelve pair of eyes upon me,
little knowing what to do. There was laughter in the faces of some, and
looks less taking in the eyes of others; for my Lord Leicester was to
have done the duty I was set to do that day, and he the greatest gallant
of the kingdom, as all the world knows. What they said amo