[Sidenote: Great preparations in London.]
[Sidenote: Curious exhibitions.]
[Sidenote: Justice and peace.]
Very splendid preparations were made in the city of London to do honor to the royal bride in her passage through the city. It was the custom in those times to exhibit in the streets, on great public days, tableaux, and emblematic or dramatic representations of certain truths or moral sentiments appropriate to the occasion, and sometimes of passages of Scripture history. A great many of these exhibitions were arranged by the citizens of London, to be seen by the bride and the bridal procession as they passed through the streets. Some of these were very quaint and queer, and would only be laughed at at the present day. For instance, in one place was an arrangement of two figures, one dressed to represent justice, and the other peace; and these figures were made movable and fitted with strings, so that, at the proper moment, when the queen was passing, they could be made to come together and apparently kiss each other. This was intended as an expression of the text, justice and peace have kissed each other, which was considered as an appropriate text to characterize and commemorate the peace between England and France which this marriage had sealed. In another place there was an emblematical pageant representing peace and plenty. There were also, at other places, representations of Noah's ark, of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, of the heavenly Jerusalem, and even one of the general resurrection and judgment day.
[Sidenote: The queen passes through London.]
On the morning of the day appointed for the queen's entry into London, the pageants having all been prepared and set up in their places, a grand procession of the mayor and aldermen, and other dignitaries, was formed, and proceeded down the river toward Greenwich, in order to meet the queen and escort her through the city. These civic officers were all mounted on horseback, and dressed in their gay official costumes. The chiefs were dressed in scarlet, and the body of their followers, arranged in bands according to their respective trades, wore blue gowns, with embroidered sleeves and red hoods. In this way the royal procession was escorted over London Bridge, and through the principal streets of the city to Westminster, where the bride was at length safely received in the palace of her husband.
[Sidenote: The coronation.]
[Sidenote: The queen left to repose.]
This was on the 28th of May. Two days afterward Margaret was crowned queen in Westminster with great parade and ceremony. The coronation was followed by a grand tournament of three days' duration, accompanied with banquets and other festivities usual on such occasions, and then at length the bride had the satisfaction of feeling that the long-protracted ceremony was over, and that she was now to be left to repose.
CHAPTER VII. RECEPTION IN ENGLAND.
[Sidenote: Duke of Gloucester.]
Notwithstanding the grand reception which the Duke of Gloucester gave to Margaret on her arrival in England, she knew very well that he had always been opposed to her marriage, and had not failed to do all in his power to prevent it. She accordingly considered him as her enemy; and though she endeavored at first, at least, to treat him with outward politeness, she felt a secret resentment against him in heart, and would have been very glad to have joined his political enemies in effecting his overthrow.
[Sidenote: The cardinal.]
[Sidenote: Margaret's affection for Lord and Lady Suffolk.]
[Sidenote: Quarrel.]
Cardinal Beaufort and the Earl of Suffolk, as has already been said, were Gloucester's rivals and enemies. The cardinal was a venerable man, now quite advanced in years. He was, however, extremely ambitious. He was immensely wealthy, and his wealth gave him great influence. He had, moreover, been the guardian of the king during his minority, and in that capacity had acquired a great influence over his mind. The Earl of Suffolk, who, with his lady, had been sent to France to bring Margaret over, had inspired Margaret with a great friendship for him. She felt a strong affection for him, and also for Lady Suffolk, not only on account of their having acted so important a part in promoting her marriage, but also on account of the very kind and attentive manner in which they had treated her during the whole period of her journey. Thus the cardinal and Suffolk, on the one hand, had the advantage, in their quarrel with the Duke of Gloucester, of great personal influence over the king and queen, while Gloucester himself, on the other hand, enjoyed in some respects a still greater advantage in his popularity with the mass of the people. Every body perceived that the old quarrel between these great personages would now, on the arrival of the queen in England, be prosecuted with more violence than ever, and all the courtiers were anxious to find out which was likely to be the victor, so that, at the end of the battle, they might be found on the winning side.
[Sidenote: Margaret is left to herself.]
As soon as the coronation was over, the principal personages who had been sent with Margaret by her father, for the purpose of accompanying her on her journey, and seeing her properly and comfortably established in her new home, were dismissed and allowed to set out on their return. They all received presents in money from King Henry to reimburse them for the expenses of the journey which they had made in bringing him his bride.
[Illustration: Ancient Portrait of Queen Margaret.]
[Sidenote: Repair of the palaces.]
[Sidenote: The king's want of money.]
Margaret was thus left to herself in the new station and new sphere of duty to which she had been transferred. All the royal palaces had been fitted up expressly for her reception. This was very necessary in fact, for some years had elapsed since there had been a queen in England, and all the royal residences had become very much out of repair. Those were rude times, and even the palaces and castles that were built for kings and queens were at best very comfortless dwellings. But when, during a long minority, they were abandoned to the rude tenants and rough usages to which at such times they were sure to be devoted, they came, in the end, to be little better than so many barracks for soldiery. It required a great deal of time, and no little expense, to prepare the Tower and the palaces of Westminster and Richmond for the reception of a young and beautiful queen, and of the gay company of ladies that were to attend her. King Henry was so destitute of money at this time that he found it extremely difficult to provide the means of paying the workmen. There is still extant a petition which the clerk of the works sent in to the king, praying him to supply him with more money to pay the men, for the labor was so poorly paid, and the wages were so much in arrears, that it was extremely difficult for him to find men, he said, to go on with the work.
[Sidenote: The queen attaches herself to Cardinal Beaufort.]
[Sidenote: Jealousy of Gloucester.]
The palaces were, however, at last made ready before Margaret came. There were apartments for her in the Tower, and there were also three other palaces in and near London, in either of which she could reside at her pleasure. Besides this, the cardinal, who, as has already been remarked, was possessed of immense wealth, owned, among his other establishments, a beautiful mansion at Waltham Forest, a few miles north of London. The cardinal set apart a state chamber in this house for the exclusive use of the queen when she came to visit him, and caused it to be fitted up and furnished in a magnificent manner for her. The drapery of the bed was of cloth of gold from Damascus, and the other furniture and fittings were to correspond. The queen used often to go and visit the cardinal at this country seat. She soon became very fond of him, and willing to be guided by his counsel in almost every thing that she did. Indeed, the ascendency which the cardinal thus exercised over Margaret greatly increased his power over the king. The affairs of the court and of the government were directed almost wholly by his counsels. The Duke of Gloucester and the nobles of his party became more and more indignant and angry at this state of things. The realm of England, they said, through the weakness and imbecility of the king, had fallen into the hands of a priest and of a woman-a French woman, too.