THIRD GENTLEMAN.
Well worth the seeing.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
Good sir, speak it to us.
THIRD GENTLEMAN.
As well as I am able. The rich stream
Of lords and ladies, having brought the Queen
To a prepared place in the choir, fell off
A distance from her, while her Grace sat down
To rest a while, some half an hour or so,
In a rich chair of state, opposing freely
The beauty of her person to the people.
Believe me, sir, she is the goodliest woman
That ever lay by man, which when the people
Had the full view of, such a noise arose
As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest,
As loud and to as many tunes. Hats, cloaks,
Doublets, I think, flew up, and had their faces
Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such joy
I never saw before. Great-bellied women
That had not half a week to go, like rams
In the old time of war, would shake the press
And make ’em reel before ’em. No man living
Could say “This is my wife” there, all were woven
So strangely in one piece.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
But what followed?
THIRD GENTLEMAN.
At length her Grace rose, and with modest paces
Came to the altar, where she kneeled and saintlike
Cast her fair eyes to heaven and prayed devoutly;
Then rose again and bowed her to the people,
When by the Archbishop of Canterbury
She had all the royal makings of a queen,
As holy oil, Edward Confessor’s crown,
The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems
Laid nobly on her; which performed, the choir,
With all the choicest music of the kingdom,
Together sung Te Deum. So she parted,
And with the same full state paced back again
To York Place, where the feast is held.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
Sir,
You must no more call it “York Place”, that’s past;
For since the Cardinal fell, that title’s lost.
’Tis now the King’s, and called “Whitehall”.
THIRD GENTLEMAN.
I know it,
But ’tis so lately altered that the old name
Is fresh about me.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
What two reverend bishops
Were those that went on each side of the Queen?
THIRD GENTLEMAN.
Stokesley and Gardiner, the one of Winchester,
Newly preferred from the King’s secretary;
The other, London.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
He of Winchester
Is held no great good lover of the Archbishop’s,
The virtuous Cranmer.