advise you by a
sign."

CHAPTER XX.

King James the First.

Meantime the royal cavalcade came slowly up the avenue. It was very
numerous, and all the more brilliant in appearance, since it comprised
nearly as many high-born dames as nobles. Amongst the distinguished
foreigners who with their attendants swelled the party were the Venetian
lieger-ambassador Giustiniano, and the Marquis de Tremouille, of the
family des Ursins, ambassador from France.

These exalted personages rode close behind the King, and one or the
other of them was constantly engaged in conversation with him.
Giustiniano had one of those dark, grave, handsome countenances
familiarized to us by the portraits of Titian and Tintoretto, and even
the King's jests failed in making him smile. He was apparelled entirely
in black velvet, with a cloak bordered with the costly fur of the black
fox. All his followers were similarly attired. The sombre Venetian
presented a striking contrast to his vivacious companion, the gay and
graceful De Tremouille, who glittered in white satin, embroidered with
leaves of silver, while the same colour and the same ornaments were
adopted by his retinue.

No order of precedence was observed by the court nobles. Each rode as
he listed. Prince Charles was absent, and so was the supreme favourite
Buckingham; but their places were supplied by some of the chief
personages of the realm, including the Earls of Arundel, Pembroke, and
Montgomery, the Marquis of Hamilton, and the Lords Haddington, Fenton,
and Doncaster. Intermingled with the nobles, the courtiers of lesser
rank, and the ambassadors' followers, were the ladies, most of whom
claimed attention from personal charms, rich attire, and the grace and
skill with which they managed their horses.

Perhaps the most beautiful amongst them was the young Countess of
Exeter, whose magnificent black eyes did great execution. The lovely
Countess was mounted on a fiery Spanish barb, given to her by De
Gondomar. Forced into a union with a gouty and decrepit old husband, the
Countess of Exeter might have pleaded this circumstance in extenuation
of some of her follies. It was undoubtedly an argument employed by her
admirers, who, in endeavouring to shake her fidelity to her lord, told
her it was an infamy that she should be sacrificed to such an old dotard
as he. Whether these arguments prevailed in more cases than one we shall
not inquire too nicely; but, if court-scandal may