th
Archbishops, and mitred prelates by the dozen, a procession was formed to
lead the newly married couple to the Bishop of London's palace across the
churchyard. The stately bride, looking older than her years, came first,
followed by a hundred ladies; and whilst on her left hand there hobbled
the disreputable, crippled old ambassador, Dr. Puebla, the greatest day of
whose life this was, on the other side the Princess was led by the most
engaging figure in all that vast assembly. It was that of a graceful
little boy of ten years in white velvet and gold; his bearing so gallant
and sturdy, his skin so dazzlingly fair, his golden hair so shining, his
smile so frank, that a rain of blessings showered upon him as he passed.
This was the bridegroom's brother, Henry, Duke of York, who in gay
unconsciousness was leading his own fate by the hand.

Again the details of crowds of lords and ladies in their sumptuous
garments, of banquets and dancing, of chivalric jousts and puerile
maskings, may be left to the imagination of the reader. When magnificence
at last grew palling, the young bride and bridegroom were escorted to
their chamber in the Bishop of London's palace, with the broad
suggestiveness then considered proper in all well-conducted weddings, and
duly recorded in this case by the courtly chroniclers of the times. In
the morning Arthur called at the door of the nuptial chamber to his
attendants for a draught of liquor. To the bantering question of the
chamberlain as to the cause of his unaccustomed thirst, it was not
unnatural, considering the free manners of the day, that the Prince should
reply in a vein of boyish boastfulness, with a suggestion which was
probably untrue regarding the aridity of the Spanish climate and his own
prowess as being the causes of his droughtiness. In any case this
indelicate bit of youthful swagger of Arthur's was made, nearly thirty
years afterwards, one of the principal pieces of evidence gravely brought
forward to prove the illegality of Katharine's marriage with Henry.

On the day following the marriage the King and Queen came in full state to
congratulate the newly married pair, and led them to the abode that had
been elaborately prepared for them at Baynard's Castle, whose ancient keep
frowned over the Thames, below Blackfriars. On the Thursday following the
feast was continued at Westminster with greater magnificence than ever. In
a splendid tribune extending from Westminster Hall ri