o-morrow. The occasion was the
despatch of a French embassy to England, when Europe was outraged by the
Duke of Bourbon's capture of Rome, when the children of Francis I. were
prisoners in Spain, and Henry, with the full energy of his fiery nature,
was flinging himself into a quarrel with Charles V. as the champion of the
Holy See.

At the conclusion of a magnificent supper "the king led the ambassadors
into the great chamber of disguisings; and in the end of the same chamber
was a fountain, and on one side was a hawthorne tree, all of silk, with
white flowers, and on the other side was a mulberry tree full of fair
berries, all of silk. On the top of the hawthorne were the arms of England,
compassed with the collar of the order[73] of St. Michael, and in the top
of the mulberry tree stood the arms of France within a garter. The fountain
was all of white marble, graven and chased; the bases of the same were
balls of gold, supported by ramping beasts wound in leaves of gold. In the
first work were gargoylles of gold, fiercely faced with spouts running. The
second receit of this fountain was environed with winged serpents, all of
gold, which griped it; and on the summit of the same was a fair lady, out
of whose breasts ran abundantly water of marvellous delicious savour. About
this fountain were benches of rosemary, fretted in braydes laid on gold,
all the sides set with roses, on branches as they were growing about this
fountain. On the benches sate eight fair ladies in strange attire, and so
richly apparelled in cloth of gold, embroidered and cut over silver, that I
cannot express the cunning workmanship thereof. Then when the king and
queen were set, there was played before them, by children, in the Latin
tongue, a manner of tragedy, the effect whereof was that the pope was in
captivity and the church brought under foot. Whereupon St. Peter appeared
and put the cardinal (Wolsey) in authority to bring the pope to his
liberty, and to set up the church again. And so the cardinal made
intercession with the kings of England and France that they took part
together, and by their means the pope was delivered. Then in came the
French king's children, and complained to the cardinal how the emperour
kept them as hostages, and would not come to reasonable point with their
father, whereupon they desired the cardinal to help for their deliverance;
which wrought so with the king his master and the French king that he
brought the empero