'Having entered the town the ducal procession alighted, and two gentlemen—Geoffroy Guillot and Thomas Bergier—advanced towards the princess: the former had been chosen by the council to explain the mysteries, moralities, and allegories; the latter to hold a small canopy over the princess's head. At the market gate on a large platform a huge elephant was seen carrying a tower. This tower, emblem of the town, had four turrets, in each of which was a young girl typifying one of the four attributes of the capital of Bresse. These attributes were goodness, obedience, reason, and justice. After listening to verses sung in her praise by the four attributes, the princess, still preceded by Geoffroy Guillot, arrived at the market-place, where on another platform was represented the invocation of Saint Margaret, virgin and martyr. The saint with a halo, treading an enormous dragon under foot, was smiling at Margaret. She held her right hand over her as a sign of her protection in this world, and with her left pointed to the sky and the eternal throne that God had prepared for her. A group of angels sang a hymn about heaven envying earth the possession of Margaret; whilst the priests of Notre-Dame and the preaching friars enacted the legend of Saint George and the Archangel Michael on the platforms before their church.

'Further on, before the Maison de Challes, the exploits of gods and heroes of mythology were shown. Two persons, one wrapped in a lion's skin and carrying on his shoulder an enormous club of cardboard, the other in a helmet and draped in a red tunic, were supposed to represent the departure of Hercules and Jason to conquer the Golden Fleece. At the other end of the theatre Medea, dressed in a silk robe, gave vent to the fury she felt at her adventurous husband's indifference.

'Before the fountain of the town the crowd was so dense that the guard and Geoffroy Guillot found it difficult to force a passage for the duchess. There the monks of Scillon had arranged a curious fountain in the shape of a gigantic maiden from whose breasts of tinted metal two jets of wine flowed into a large basin; her body held a puncheon of wine which was cleverly replaced when exhausted. Finally, in front of the entrance to the ducal palace, Margaret witnessed the conquest of the Golden Fleece. Before carrying off this precious spoil Hercules and Jason had to fight a multitude of monsters, dragons and buffaloes, which were disposed of with their club and sword. The crowd having loudly cheered this curious exhibition, the duke and duchess entered the castle situated in the highest part of the city.

'The syndics in the name of the town then presented the gift they had prepared for the duchess, a gold medal weighing one hundred and fifty ducats. This medal, struck at Bourg, showed on the obverse the effigy of the duke and duchess on a field strewn with fleurs-de-lys and love-knots, with this inscription:—

PHILIBERTUS DUX SABAUDIAE, VIIIUS.
MARGARITA MAXI., AUG. FI. D. SAB.

On the reverse was a shield with the arms of Savoy and Austria impaled, surmounted by a large love-knot and surrounded with this inscription:—

GLORIA IN ALTISSIMIS DEO, ET IN TERRA PAX HOMINIBUS.
BURGUS.

Thus ended the town of Bourg's splendid reception of their young duke and duchess.'[18]

MEDAL STRUCK AT BOURG
TO COMMEMORATE MARGARET OF AUSTRIA'S
MARRIAGE WITH PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY
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