entlemen Ushers delivered the towel to the Lord Chamberlain, who
delivered the same to be holden by the Earl of Sussex on the right
hand, and the Earl of Leicester on the left hand; the Bishop of
Rochester served the Queen both of wine and bread; then the Queen went
into the traverse again; and the Ladie Cicilie, wife of the Marquis of
Baden, came out of the traverse, and kneeled at the place where the
Queen kneeled, but she had no cushion, but one to kneel on; after she
had received she returned to the traverse again; then the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain received the Communion with the
Mother of the Maids; after which the service proceeded to the end, and
the Queen returned again to the Chamber of presence strait, and not
the closet. Her Majesty dined not abroad; the said Officers of Arms
had a mess of meat of seven dishes, with bread, beer, ale, and wine."

ROYAL CHRISTMASES AT HAMPTON COURT.

In 1568, the Earl of Shrewsbury, writing from Hampton Court to his
countess, says, "The Plage is disposed far abrode in London, so that
the Queene kepes hur Kyrsomas her, and goth not to Grenwych as it was
mete." Meet or not, Elizabeth kept many Christmases at Hampton Court,
banqueting, dancing, and dicing--the last being a favourite amusement
with her, because she generally won, thanks to her dice being so
loaded as to throw up the higher numbers. Writing from Hampton Court
at Christmas, 1572, Sir Thomas Smith says: "If ye would what we do
here, we play at tables, dance, and keep Christmasse."

[Illustration: Coat of Arms.]

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S SINGERS AND PLAYERS.

The Christmas entertainments of Queen Elizabeth were enlivened by the
beautiful singing of the children of her Majesty's Chapel. From the
notes to Gascoigne's _Princely Pleasures_ (1821) it appears that Queen
Elizabeth retained on her Royal establishment four sets of singing
boys; which belonged to the Cathedral of St. Paul, the Abbey of
Westminster, St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and the Household Chapel.
For the support and reinforcement of her musical bands, Elizabeth,
like the other English Sovereigns, issued warrants for taking "up
suche apt and meete children, as are fitt to be instructed and framed
in the Art and Science of Musicke and Singing." Thomas Tusser, the
well-known author of "Five Hundreth Points of Good Husbandrye," was in
his youth a choir boy of St. Paul's. Nor is it astonishing, that
although masses had ceased to be p