r 5, the Duc de Biron arrived,
to announce to Elizabeth the marriage of Mary de Medici to Henry.
Several noblemen had been directed by the Council to provide for the
Marshal's solemn reception in London. By some accident they were absent.
Ralegh, who had not been especially commissioned, happened to be in
town. Apparently Sir Arthur Savage and Sir Arthur Gorges, who spoke
French fluently, came to his help. Among them they amused the Frenchmen
till horses were ready to convey them to Hampshire. The Queen was at
Basing House. Ralegh wrote to Cecil: 'We have carried them to
Westminster to see the monuments; and this Monday we entertained them at
the Bear Garden, which they had great pleasure to see. I sent to and
fro, and have laboured like a mule.' On the Wednesday he rode with the
Marshal and his numerous company to the Vyne. The fair and large house
of Lord Sandys has formed the subject of an interesting volume by its
present owner, Mr. Chaloner Chute. It had been furnished from the royal
apartments at the Tower, Hampton Court, and neighbouring country houses,
for the accommodation of the foreign visitors. The Hampshire gentry lent
seven score beds. Not when Ralegh had seen all housed were his cares
over. He told Cobham, 'The French wear all black, and no kind of bravery
at all.' His wardrobe, plentiful as assuredly it was, had not been
equipped in unison with such demureness. So, 'this Saturday night,
late,' he wrote on September 12 to Cobham from Basing, 'I am now going
to London to provide me a plain taffeta suit, and a plain black saddle.'
Elizabeth rewarded his exertions in rendering the stay of the Frenchmen
agreeable by knighting his brother, Carew Ralegh, on her departure from
Basing House. Mr. Benjamin Tichborne received the same honour.

[Sidenote: _The Mermaid._]

Ralegh was a patron of literature, and had to devote evenings to the
wits. To him has been ascribed the institution, at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, of the Mermaid Tavern meetings in Bread Street,
Shakespeare's, Jonson's, Beaumont's, Fletcher's, Selden's, Cotton's,
Camden's, and Donne's club. It is very likely; so likely that the
intrinsic probability of the fact might be a motive for a fiction.
Whether as founder or guest it is more than likely he would take
occasional part in the wit combats of which Beaumont has sung. We may
lament that there was no Boswell, or even a Drummond, to report an
encounter between Ralegh and Shakespeare.