m earlier writers, such as Paulus Jovius, Polydorus Vergilius,
etc. All inscriptions are copied faithfully, not only from tombs and
pictures, but also from books which the travellers saw in the public
libraries. Whitehall seems to have contained a royal library at that time,
and in it Hentzner saw, besides Greek and Latin MSS., a book written in
French by Queen Elizabeth, with the following dedication to Henry VIII.:--

"A Tres haut et Tres puissant et Redoubte Prince Henry VIII. de ce
nom, Roy d'Angleterre, de France, et d'Irlande, defenseur de la
foy, Elizabeth, sa Tres humble fille, rend salut et obedience."

After the travellers had seen St. Paul's, Westminster, the House of
Parliament, Whitehall, Guildhall, the Tower, and the Royal Exchange,
commonly called _Bursa_,--all of which are minutely described,--they went to
the theatres and to places _Ursorum et Taurorum venationibus destinata_,
where bears and bulls, tied fast behind, were baited by bull-dogs. In
these places, and everywhere, in fact, as our traveller says, where you
meet with Englishmen, they use _herba nicotiana_, which they call by an
American name _Tobaca_ or _Paetum_. The description deserves to be quoted
in the original:--

"Fistulae in hunc finem ex argilla factae orificio posteriori dictam
herbam probe exiccatam, ita ut in pulverem facile redigi possit,
immittunt, et igne admoto accendunt, unde fumus ab anteriori parte
ore attrahitur, qui per nares rursum, tamquam per infurnibulum
exit, et phlegma ac capitis defluxiones magna copia secum educit."

After they had seen everything in London--not omitting the ship in which
Francis Drake, _nobilissimus pyrata_, was said to have circumnavigated the
world,--they went to Greenwich. Here they were introduced into the
presence-chamber, and saw the Queen. The walls of the room were covered
with precious tapestry, the floor strewed with hay. The Queen had to pass
through on going to chapel. It was a Sunday, when all the nobility came to
pay their respects. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London
were present. When divine service began, the Queen appeared, preceded and
followed by the court. Before her walked two barons, carrying the sceptre
and the sword, and between them the Great Chancellor of England with the
seal. The Queen is thus minutely described:--

"She was said (_rumor erat_) to be fifty-five years old. Her face
was rather long, wh