ed each other,
therefore, before embracing, they made three profound reverences, the
queen taking off her hat and remaining in a silk net or caul, with her
face uncovered. The king then approached and embraced her, and kissed
her respectfully on the cheek. He also embraced his daughter the
princess, and, making the sign of the cross, he blessed her and kissed
her on the lips.*

* Cura de los Palacios.

The good Agapida seems scarcely to have been more struck with the
appearance of the sovereigns than with that of the English earl. He
followed (says he) immediately after the king, with great pomp and,
in an extraordinary manner, taking precedence of all the rest. He was
mounted "a la guisa," or with long stirrups, on a superb chestnut horse,
with trappings of azure silk which reached to the ground. The housings
were of mulberry powdered with stars of gold. He was armed in proof,
and wore over his armor a short French mantle of black brocade; he had a
white French hat with plumes, and carried on his left arm a small round
buckler banded with gold. Five pages attended him, apparelled in silk
and brocade and mounted on horses sumptuously caparisoned; he had also a
train of followers bravely attired after the fashion of his country.

He advanced in a chivalrous and courteous manner, making his reverences
first to the queen and infanta, and afterward to the king. Queen
Isabella received him graciously, complimenting him on his courageous
conduct at Loxa, and condoling with him on the loss of his teeth. The
earl, however, made light of his disfiguring wound, saying that "our
Blessed Lord, who had built all that house, had opened a window there,
that he might see more readily what passed within;"* whereupon the
worthy Fray Antonio Agapida is more than ever astonished at the pregnant
wit of this island cavalier. The earl continued some little distance
by the side of the royal family, complimenting them all with courteous
speeches, his horse curveting and caracoling, but being managed with
great grace and dexterity, leaving the grandees and the people at large
not more filled with admiration at the strangeness and magnificence of
his state than at the excellence of his horsemanship.**

* Pietro Martyr, Epist. 61.

* *Cura de los Palacios.

To testify her sense of the gallantry and services of this noble English
knight, who had come from so far to assist in their wars, the queen sent
him the next da