er in
my name, and present to her this letter and these two caskets of gems,
together with these chests containing all the materials necessary for
her first state-toilette; and having done this, bring me back her answer
without delay. You will find a relay of horses awaiting you at every
second league, both going and coming, in order that you may use all
speed, and give me time to reach Lyons so soon as I shall know that she
is to be there,'" This order could not, however, be implicitly obeyed,
as the courtier was only enabled on his return to the King's presence to
inform him that the Princess would enter Lyons that very day; upon which
Henry instantly ordered post-horses, and accompanied by Sully, Rambure,
and ten more of his favourite nobles, he commenced his journey, making,
as he rode along, a thousand inquiries relative to his young wife, her
deportment, and her retinue; asking with the utmost earnestness how she
had received the presents which he had sent, and finally demanding of M.
de Rambure if he were satisfied with the diamond ring that she had
presented to him, a question which his messenger was careful to answer
in the affirmative, at the same time assuring his Majesty that although
he valued the jewel itself at a hundred pistoles, he prized it still
more as the gift of so illustrious a Princess and Queen.[114]

On the 3d of December the Queen reached La Guillotiere, one of the
faubourgs of Lyons, where she passed the night; and on the following
morning she proceeded to Lamothe, where she assisted at the mass, and
subsequently dined. At the close of the repast, all the several civic
corporations paid their respects to their new sovereign, the Chancellor
replying to their harangue in the name of the Queen; who, immediately
that they had retired, ascended her carriage, and entered the city gates
in the same state, and amid the same acclamations which had accompanied
her entry into Avignon. The suave majesty of her demeanour, the
magnificence of her apparel, and the flush of health and happiness which
glowed upon her countenance, filled the people with enthusiasm.

As her ponderous coach with its heavy curtains drawn back crushed
beneath its ungainly wheels the flowers and branches that had been
strewn upon her path, she showed herself in all her imperial beauty,
dividing her smiles between the richly-attired groups who thronged the
windows and balconies and the tumultuous multitude who ran shouting and
gest