sly from Guisnes and Ardres for their personal meeting in
the valley mid-way between the two towns, already known as the Val
Dore. The obscure but familiar phrase, Field of Cloth of Gold,[390] is
a mistranslation of the French Camp du Drap d'Or. As they came in
sight a temporary suspicion of French designs seized the English, but
it was overcome. Henry and Francis rode forward alone, embraced each
other first on horseback and then again on foot, and made show of
being the closest friends in Christendom. On Sunday the 10th Henry
dined with the French Queen, and Francis with Catherine of Aragon. The
following week was devoted to tourneys, which the two Kings opened by
holding the field against all comers. The official accounts are
naturally silent on the royal wrestling match, recorded in French (p. 142)
memoirs and histories.[391] On the 17th Francis, as a final effort to
win Henry's alliance, paid a surprise visit to him at breakfast with
only four attendants. The jousts were concluded with a solemn mass
said by Wolsey in a chapel built on the field. The Cardinal of Bourbon
presented the Gospel to Francis to kiss; he refused, offering it to
Henry who was too polite to accept the honour. The same respect for
each other's dignity was observed with the _Pax_, and the two Queens
behaved with a similarly courteous punctilio. After a friendly dispute
as to who should kiss the _Pax_ first, they kissed each other
instead.[392] On the 24th Henry and Francis met to interchange gifts,
to make their final professions of friendship, and to bid each other
adieu. Francis set out for Abbeville, and Henry returned to Calais.

[Footnote 385: _Ven. Cal._, iii., 50; _Sp. Cal._,
ii., 274.]

[Footnote 386: _L. and P._, iii., 558, an
account-book headed "expense of making the _Kateryn
Pleasaunce_ for transporting the King to Calais 22
May, 10 Henry VIII.".]

[Footnote 387: _Ven. Cal._, iii., 81, 88; _cf. L.
and P._, iii., 303-14; Hall, _Chronicle_, p. 604,
etc.]

[Footnote 388: _L. and P._, iii., 306.]

[Footnote 389: _Ven. Cal._, iii., 80.]

[Footnote 390: Erroneously called "Field of _the_
Cloth of Gold"; cloth of gold is a material like
velvet, and one does not talk about