es. On the high altar, shaded by a magnificent
canopy of immense proportions, stood enormous candlesticks and other
ornaments of gold. Twelve golden images of the apostles, as large as
children of four years old, astonished the eyes of the spectator. The
copes and vestments of the officiating clergy were cloth of tissue
powdered with red roses, brought from the looms of Florence, and woven
in one piece, thickly studded with gold and jewelry. No less profusion
might be seen in the two closets left apart for the King and the Queen.
Images and sacred vessels of solid gold, in gold cloth, cumbrous with
pearls and precious stones, attested the rank, the magnificence, and
devotion of the occupants. The ceilings of these closets were gilded and
painted; the hangings were of tapestry embroidered with fretwork of
pearls and gems. The chapel was served by thirty-five priests and a
proportionate number of singing-boys.

From the palace a secret gallery led into a private apartment in Guines
castle, along which the royal visitors could pass and repass at
pleasure.

The King was attended by squires of the body, sewers, gentlemen-ushers,
grooms and pages of the chamber, for all of whom suitable accommodation
had to be provided. The lord chamberlain, the lord steward, the lord
treasurer of the household, the comptroller, with their numerous staffs,
had to be lodged in apartments adapted to their rank and services. As it
was one great object of the interview to entertain all comers with
masques and banquetings of the most sumptuous kind, the mere rank and
file of inferior officers and servants formed a colony of themselves.
The bakehouse, pantry, cellar, buttery, kitchen, larder, accatry, were
amply provided with ovens, ranges, and culinary requirements, to say
nothing of the stables, the troops of grooms, farriers, saddlers,
stirrup-makers, furbishers, and footmen. Upward of two hundred
attendants were employed in and about the kitchen alone.

Outside the palace gate, on the greensward, stood a quiet fountain, of
antique workmanship, with a statue of Bacchus "birlyng the wine." Three
runlets, fed by secret conduits hid beneath the earth, spouted claret,
hypocras, and water into as many silver cups, to quench the thirst of
all comers. On the opposite side was a pillar wreathed in gold, and
supported by four gilt lions; and on the top stood an image of blind
Cupid, armed with bow and arrows. The gate itself, built in massive
style, w