directions. The legate
himself went on leisurely to Rochester, where he was entertained by
Lord Cobham, at Cowling Castle. So far he had observed the
instructions brought to him by Paget, and had travelled as an ordinary
ecclesiastic, without distinctive splendour. On the night of the 23rd,
however, Pate returned from the court with a message that the legatine
insignia might be displayed. A fleet of barges was in waiting at
Gravesend, where Pole appeared early on the 24th; and, as a further
augury of good fortune, he found there Lord Shrewsbury, with his early
friend the Bishop of Durham, who had come to meet him with the repeal
of his attainder, to which the queen had given her assent in
parliament the day before.

To the fluttered hearts of the priestly company the coincidence of the
repeal, the informality of an act of parliament receiving the royal
assent before the close of a session, were further causes of
admiration. They embarked; and the Italians, who had never seen a
tidal river, discovered, miracle of miracles, that they were ascending
from the sea, and yet the stream was with them. The distance to London
was soon accomplished. They passed under the bridge at one o'clock on
the top of the tide, the legate's barge distinguished splendidly by
the silver cross upon the bow. In a few minutes more they were at the
palace-stairs at Whitehall, where a pier was built on arches out into
the river, and on the pier stood the Bishop of Winchester, with the
lords of the council.

{p.165} The king and queen were at dinner, the arrival not being
expected till the afternoon. Philip rose instantly from the table,
hurried out, and caught the legate in his arms. The queen followed to
the head of the grand staircase; and when Pole reached her, she threw
herself on his breast, and kissed him, crying that his coming gave her
as much joy as the possession of her kingdom. The cardinal, in
corresponding ecstasy, exclaimed, in the words of the angel to the
Virgin, "Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in
mulieribus."[389] The first rapturous moments over, the king, queen,
and legate proceeded along the gallery, Philip and Pole supporting
Mary on either side, and the legate expatiating on the mysteries of
Providence.

[Footnote 389: "Cardinalis cum reginam salutaret,
nec ulla humana verba occurrerent tali muliere
digna, Sanctis Scripturarum verbis abuti non