The first course was then served up. It consisted of 24 gold covers and dishes, carried by as many gentlemen pensioners: they were preceded by six attendants on the clerk comptroller, by two clerks of the kitchen, who received the dishes from the gentlemen pensioners, by the clerk comptroller, in a velvet gown trimmed with silver lace, by two clerks and the secretary of the Board of Green Cloth, by the comptroller and treasurer of the household, and serjeants at arms with their maces.
Before the dishes were placed upon the table by the two clerks of the kitchen, the great doors at the bottom of the Hall were thrown open to the sound of trumpets and clarionets, and the Duke of Wellington, as lord high constable, the Marquis of Anglesey, as lord high steward, and Lord Howard of Effingham, as deputy earl marshal, entered upon the floor on horseback, remaining for some minutes under the archway. The Duke of Wellington was on the left of the King, the earl marshal on the right, and the Marquess of Anglesey in the centre. The two former were mounted on beautiful white horses gorgeously trapped, and the latter on his favourite dun-coloured Arabian.
THE CHALLENGE.
Before the second course, the great gate was thrown open at the sound of trumpets without. The deputy appointed to officiate as King's Champion for the lord of the manor of Scrivelsby, in Lincolnshire, entered the Hall on horseback, in a complete suit of bright armour, between the lord high constable and deputy earl marshal, also on horseback, preceded by—
Two Trumpeters, with the Champion's Arms on their Banners.
The Serjeant Trumpeter, with his Mace on his Shoulder.
Two Serjeants at Arms, with their Maces on their Shoulders.
The Champion's two Esquires, in half Armour, one on the right hand bearing the Champion's Lance, the other on the left hand with the Champion's Target, and the Arms of Dymoke depicted thereon.
A Herald, With a Paper in his hand containing the Challenge.
Then followed:—
| The Deputy Earl Marshal, on Horseback, in his Robes and Coronet, with the Earl Marshal's Staff in his Hand, attended by a Page. | The CHAMPION, on Horseback, in a complete suit of bright Armour, with a Gauntlet in his Hand, his Helmet on his Head, adorned with a plume of Feathers. | The Lord High Constable, in his Robes and Coronet, and Collar of his Order, on Horseback, with the Constable's Staff, attended by two Pages. |
Four Pages, richly apparelled, attendants on the Champion.
His helmet was of polished steel, surmounted by a full rich bending plume of white ostrich feathers, next of light blue, next red, and lastly of an erect black feather. He seemed rather pale in the face, which was of a resolute cast, and ornamented with handsome mustachios. He sat his horse with ease, and the appearance of great firmness, which was no doubt in part attributable to the enormous weight under which the noble animal that bore him seemed to bend. His armour was extremely massive, and deeply lined and engraven: no part of his body was uncovered; and even the broad circular shoulder blades of the armour were so folded over the cuirass, that in action the body could not but be completely defended at all points. The horse was very richly caparisoned, and wore in his headstall a plume of varied feathers. Nothing could exceed the impression produced by the approach of the champion and his loyal array. Every fair bosom felt an indescribable sensation of mingled surprise, pleasure, and apprehension. It seemed as if they were impressed with a conviction that the defiance might not prove an empty ceremony; that a trial as severe as that of Ivanhoe, in the presence of his future sovereign at Ashby, might await the challenger; and that the nobly-equipped champion before them might, nevertheless, be as little elated by his success, or as faint and feeble when he fell at the feet of sympathising beauty to claim the hard-earned meed of glory. For a moment the fast fading spirit of chivalry re-asserted itself within those walls, over minds which the place and occasion had rendered vividly susceptible of impressions connected with the records of our earlier history.
At the entrance into the Hall the trumpets sounded thrice, and the passage to the king's table being cleared by the knight marshal, the herald, with a loud voice, proclaimed the champion's challenge in the words following:—