he says, "covered with brown velvet and trimmed with silver
tinsel on the outside; and within it was lined with carnation-coloured
velvet, embroidered with gold and silver. The curtains were of carnation
damask, and it was drawn by four gray horses." [110] These royal
conveyances were, however, far less convenient than showy, being
cumbrous and ungraceful in form, rudely suspended upon leathern straps,
and devoid of windows, the use of glass not becoming known until the
succeeding reign.

On the morrow during her toilette the Queen received the principal
ladies of the city, who had the honour of accompanying her to the
temporary chapel which adjoined the principal saloon, where a high mass
was performed with all the magnificent accessories of which it was
susceptible; the numerous prelates and high dignitaries of the Church
then assembled at Marseilles assisting at its celebration. The
subsequent days were spent in courtly festivities and a survey of the
noble city, where the ponderous and gilded coach of the royal bride was
followed by the wondering acclamations of the dazzled and delighted
populace, probably little less dazzled and delighted than herself; for
Marie de Medicis, young and ambitious, could not but be forcibly struck
by the contrast of her present splendour with the comparative obscurity
of the Court to which she had been previously habituated.

On the 16th of the month, however, she experienced her first trial, in a
separation from the Grand Duchess her aunt, and the Duchess of Mantua
her sister, who then took their leave, and returned to Florence in the
galleys which were still awaiting them; and they had no sooner left the
port than the Queen, followed by the brilliant train by which she had
been surrounded since her arrival in France, proceeded to Aix, where she
remained two days; and on the morning of the third she made her entry
into Avignon escorted by two thousand horsemen, who met her before she
reached the city, and officiated as a guard of honour. Every street
through which she passed was richly decorated; tapestry and velvet
hangings were suspended from the windows, and draped the balconies;
triumphal arches and platforms, splendidly decorated and covered with
devices and emblems appropriate to the occasion, were to be seen on all
sides; and finally, in the great square of the city, her progress was
arrested by a stately procession of ecclesiastics, in whose name she was
harangued by Francoi