of the dilapidated castle
of Guisnes, on the soil of France, but within what was known as the
English pale, stood a summer palace of the amplest proportions and the
most gorgeous decorations, which was furnished within with all that
comfort demanded and art and luxury could provide. Let us briefly
describe this magnificent palace, which had been prepared for the
temporary residence of the English king.

The building was of wood, square in shape, each side being three hundred
and twenty-eight feet long. On every side were oriel-windows and
curiously glazed clerestories, whose mullions and posts were overlaid
with gold. In front of the grand entrance stood an embattled gate-way,
having on each side statues of warriors in martial attitudes. From the
gate to the palace sloped upward a long passage, flanked with images in
bright armor and presenting "sore and terrible countenances." This led
to an embowered landing-place, where, facing the great doors, stood
antique figures girt with olive-branches.

Interiorly the palace halls and chambers were superbly decorated, white
silk forming the ceilings of the passages and galleries, from which
depended silken hangings of various colors and braided cloths, "which
showed like bullions of fine braided gold." Roses set in lozenges, on a
golden ground-work, formed the chamber ceilings. The wall spaces were
decorated with richly carved and gilt panels, while embroidered silk
tapestry hung from the windows and formed the walls of the corridors. In
the state apartments the furniture was of princely richness, the whole
domains of art and industry having been ransacked to provide their most
splendid belongings. Exteriorly the building presented an equally ornate
appearance, glass, gold-work, and ornamental hangings quite concealing
the carpentry, so that "every quarter of it, even the least, was a
habitation fit for a prince."

To what end, in the now far-away year of 1520, and in that rural
locality, under the shadows of a castle which had fallen into
irredeemable ruin, had such an edifice been built,--one which only the
revenues of a kingdom, in that day, could have erected? Its purpose was
a worthy one. France and England, whose intercourse for centuries had
been one of war, were now to meet in peace. Crecy and Agincourt had been
the last meeting-places of the monarchs of these kingdoms, and death and
ruin had followed their encounters. Now Henry the Eighth of England and
Francis the