to have offered according to the old fashion, she with
her nobles returned again from the closet and the mass, on to her
privy chamber, which was strange unto divers. Blessed be God in all
His gifts."

During the Christmas festival (1558) preparations went on for the
coronation of Elizabeth, which was to take place on the 15th of
January. On the 12th of that month she proceeded to the Tower by
water, attended by the lord mayor and citizens, and greeted with peals
of ordnance, with music and gorgeous pageantry--a marked contrast to
her previous entrance there as a suspected traitor in imminent peril
of her life. Two days later the Queen rode in state from the Tower to
Westminster, "most honourably accompanied, as well with gentlemen,
barons, and other the nobility of this realm, as also with a notable
train of godly and beautiful ladies, richly appointed," and all riding
on horseback. The streets through which the procession passed were
adorned with stately pageants, costly decorations, and various
artistic devices, and were crowded with enthusiastic spectators, eager
to welcome their new sovereign, and to applaud "the signs they noticed
in her of a most prince-like courage, and great readiness of wit." On
the following day (Sunday, the 15th of January) Elizabeth was crowned
in Westminster Abbey, by Dr. Oglethorpe, Bishop of Carlisle, "Queen of
England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith." The ceremonials
of the coronation were regulated according to ancient custom, and the
entertainment in Westminster Hall was on a scale of great
magnificence.

[Illustration: A DUMB SHOW IN THE TIME OF ELIZABETH.
(_From Messrs Cassell & Co.'s "English Plays," by permission_)]

Elizabeth was particularly fond of dramatic displays, and her first
Royal Christmas was celebrated with plays and pageants of a most
costly description. Complaints, however, being made of the expense of
these entertainments, she determined to control them, and directed an
estimate to be made in the second year of her reign for the masques
and pastimes to be shown before her at Christmas and Shrovetide. Sir
Thomas Cawarden was then, as he had for some time previous been,
Master of the Revels. According to Collier, the estimate amounted to
L227 11s. 2d., being nearly L200 less than the expenses in the former
year. The control over the expenses, however, must soon have ceased,
for in subsequent years the sums were greatly enlarged.

Nichols[52] mentions