only_ a small portion on our
readers) will justify a good deal of it; but more especially it will
enlighten us as to some of the elaborate conceits of the day, in
which, it seems, the needle was as fully occupied as the pen.

Indeed, what would the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" have been without
the skill of the needlewoman? _Would it have been at all?_

"The Frenche kyng sette hymself on a courser barded, covered with
purple sattin, broched with golde, and embraudered with corbyns
fethers round and buckeled; the fether was blacke and hached with
gold. Corbyn is a rauen, and the firste silable of corbyn is _Cor_,
whiche is a harte, a penne in English, is a fether in Frenche, and
signifieth pain, and so it stode; this fether round was endles, the
buckels wherwith the fethers wer fastened, betokeneth sothfastnes,
thus was the devise, _harte fastened in pain endles, or pain in harte
fastened endles_.

"Wednesdaie the 13 daie of June, the twoo hardie kynges armed at all
peces, entered into the feld right nobly appareled, the Frenche kyng
and all his parteners of chalenge were arraied in purple sattin,
broched with golde and purple velvet, embrodered with litle rolles of
white sattin wherein was written _quando_, all bardes and garmentes
wer set full of the same, and all the residue where was no rolles,
were poudered and set with the letter ell as thus, L, whiche in
Frenche is she, which was interpreted to be _quando elle_, when she,
and ensuyng the devise of the first daie it signifieth together,
_harte fastened in pain endles, when she_.

"The Frenche kyng likewise armed at al pointes mounted on a courser
royal, all his apparel as wel bardes as garmentes were purple velvet,
entred the one with the other, embrodred ful of litle bookes of white
satten, and in the bokes were written _a me_; aboute the borders of
the bardes and the borders of the garmentes, a chaine of blewe like
iron, resemblyng the chayne of a well or prison chaine, whiche was
enterpreted to be _liber_, a booke; within this boke was written as is
sayed, _a me_, put these two together, and it maketh _libera me_; the
chayne betokeneth prison or bondes, and so maketh together in
Englishe, _deliver me of {bondes}_; put to {the} reason, the fyrst
day, second day, and third day of chaunge, for he chaunged but the
second day, and it is _hart fastened in paine endles, when she
deliuereth me not of bondes_; thus was thinterpretation made, but
whether it were so i