True. Alas! they were both unhappy, notwithstanding these fine shows and seeming caresses of fortune; being both murdered, one by the hand, the other by the procurement, of Richard, Duke of Gloucester. I will produce but one example more of this sort of action or representations; and that is of later time, and an instance of much higher nature than any yet mentioned; it was at the marriage of Prince Arthur, eldest son of King Henry VII., to the Princess Catherine of Spain, ann. 1501. Her passage through London was very magnificent, as I have read it described in old MS. chronicle of that time.[89] The pageants and speeches were many; the persons represented, St Catherine, St Ursula, a senator, noblesse, virtue, an angel, King Alphonse, Job, Boetius, &c. Among others, one is thus described:—"When this spech was ended, she held on her way tyll she came unto the standard in Chepe, where was ordeyned the fifth paygend made like an hevyn, theryn syttyng a personage representing the fader of hevyn, beyng all formyd of gold, and brennyng beffor his trone vii candyilis of wax standyng in vii candylstykis of gold, the said personage beyng environed with sundry hyrarchies off angelis, and sytting in a cope of most rich cloth of tyssu, garnishyd wyth stoon and perle in most sumptuous wyse. Foragain which said pagend upon the sowth syde of the strete stood at that tyme, in a hows wheryn that tyme dwellyd William Geffrey habyrdasher, the king, the queene, my lady the kingys moder, my lord of Oxynfford, wyth many other lordys and ladys, and perys of this realm, wyth also certayn ambassadors of France lately sent from the French king: and so passyng the said estatys, eyther guyving to other due and convenyent saluts and countenancs, so sone as hyr grace was approachid unto the sayd pagend, the fadyr began his spech as folowyth"
Hunc veneram locum, septeno lumine septum.
Dignumque Arthuri totidem astra micant.
I am begynyng and ende, that made ech creature.
My sylfe, and for my sylfe, but man especially
Both male and female, made aftyr myne aun fygure,
Whom I joyned togydyr in matrimony,
And that in paradyse, declaring opynly
That men shall weddying in my chyrch solempnize,
Fygurid and signifyed by the erthly paradyze.
In thys my chyrch I am allway recydent
As my chyeff tabernacle, and most chosyn place,
Among these goldyn condylstikkis, which represent
My catholyk chyrch shynyng affor my face,
With lyght of feyth, wisdom, doctryne, and grace,
And mervelously eke enflamyd toward me
Wyth the [un]extyngwible fyre of charyte.
Wherefore, my welbelovid dowthyr Katharyn,
Syth I have made yow to myne awn semblance
In my chyrch to be maried, and your noble childryn
To regn in this land as in their enherytance,
Se that ye have me in speciall remembrance:
Love me and my chyrch yowr spiritual modyr.
For ye, dispysing that oon, dyspyse that othyr.
Look that ye walk in my precepts, and obey them well:
And here I give you the same blyssyng, that I
Gave my well beloved chylder of Israell;
Blyssyd be the fruyt of your bely;
Yower substance and frutys I shall encrease and multyply;
Yower rebellious enimyes I shall put in yowr hand,
Encreasing in honour both yow and your land.
Love. This would be censured now-a-days as profane to the highest degree.
True. No doubt on't: yet you see there was a time, when people were not so nicely censorious in these matters, but were willing to take things in the best sense; and then this was thought a noble entertainment for the greatest king in Europe (such I esteem king Henry VII. at that time) and proper for that day of mighty joy and triumph. And I must farther observe out of Lord Bacon's "History of Henry VII." that the chief man who had the care of that day's proceedings was Bishop Fox, a grave counsellor for war or peace, and also a good surveyor of works, and a good master of ceremonies; and it seems he approv'd it. The said Lord Bacon tells us farther that, whosoever had those toys in compiling, they were not altogether pedantical.
Love. These things, however, are far from that which we understand by the name of a play.