fitting, so
that she looked the Queen above all others. It is true that on
the wedding days of her sons Charles and Henry she wore robes
of black velvet, wishing, she said, to solemnise these occasions
in this way beyond all others. But while her husband the King
was alive, she dressed very richly and superbly, and looked the
great lady that she was. It was a privilege to see and admire
her, in the general processions which were held both at Paris
and elsewhere, such as that of the Fete Dieu, and that of Palm
Sunday, carrying palms and torches with such grace, and that of
Candlemas Day, when all carried lighted candles whose flame vied
with their own splendour. In these three processions, which are
the most noteworthy, assuredly one could see nothing but beauty,
grace, noble bearing, stately I marching and fine array--at sight
of which all the bystanders were spellbound.

It was also a fine sight in the earlier days to see the Queen
going about in her litter, or on horseback, when she was attended
by forty or fifty ladies all well mounted on handsome steeds finely
caparisoned and sitting their mounts with such ease that the men
could not exceed them, either in horsemanship or accoutrement.
Their hats were richly decorated with plumes which floated back
in the air seeming to offer a challenge of love or war. Virgil,
who attempted to write of the beautiful apparel of Queen Dido
when she went hunting, does not rival in description the luxury
of our Queen and her ladies, whom I do not wish to displease, as
I have already said.

This Queen, established by the hand of the great King Francis,
who introduced this beautiful pageantry, did not wish to forget
or neglect anything that she ever learned, but always wished to
imitate it, to see if she could surpass it. I have heard her
talk on this subject three or four times. Those who have seen
all the things that I have will feel the same delight of the
soul that I do, for what I say is true and I have seen it myself.

This, then, was the Court of our Queen. How unfortunate was the
day she died! I have heard it related that our present King [Henry
IV], some eighteen months after he saw his prospects brightening
to become King, one day began to talk over with the late Marshal
de Biron the designs and projects which he would set on foot to
make his Court well established, elegant, and closely similar
to that which our Queen maintained; for it was then in the heyday
of its lustr