ith the sound of trumpets, the waving of banners, and with prolonged
shouts and acclamations.

[Sidenote: The Duke of Gloucester.]

[Sidenote: His plans.]

[Sidenote: His invitation to the queen.]

In the mean time, the Duke of Gloucester, who, with his party, had
done every thing in his power to oppose the marriage, now, finding
that it was an accomplished fact, and that all farther opposition
would not only be useless, but would only tend to hasten and complete
his own utter downfall, concluded to change his course, and join
heartily himself in the general welcome which was given to the bride.
His plan was to persuade the queen that the opposition which he had
made to King Henry's measures was directed only against the peace
which had been made with France, and which he had opposed for
political considerations alone, but that, so far as the marriage with
Margaret was concerned, he approved it. So he prepared to outdo, if
possible, all the rest of the nobility in the magnificence of the
welcome which he was to give her on her arrival in London. He
possessed a palace at Greenwich, on the Thames, a short distance below
London, and he sent an invitation to Margaret to come there on the
last day of her journey, in order to rest and refresh herself a little
preparatory to the excitement and fatigue of entering London. Margaret
accepted this invitation, and when the bridal procession began to
draw nigh, Gloucester came forth to meet her at the head of a band of
five hundred of his own retainers, all dressed in his uniform, and
wearing the badge of his personal service. This great parade was
intended partly to do honor to the bride, and partly to impress her
with a proper sense of his own rank and importance as one of the
nobles of England, and of the danger that she would incur in making
him her enemy.

[Sidenote: Great preparations in London.]

[Sidenote: Curious exhibitions.]

[Sidenote: Justice and peace.]

Very splendid preparations were made in the city of London to do honor
to the royal bride in her passage through the city. It was the custom
in those times to exhibit in the streets, on great public days,
tableaux, and emblematic or dramatic representations of certain truths
or moral sentiments appropriate to the occasion, and sometimes of
passages of Scripture history. A great many of these exhibitions were
arranged by the citizens of London, to be seen by the bride and the
bridal procession as they passed