sh Master of Ceremonies had sent
twenty carriages and three hundred horses for his suite." (If only we
could have ten of the worst of them at Plymouth! They would have drawn
our logs for us that half quarter of a mile. But we were not born in the
purple!) "He slept at Canterbury, where the Grand Seneschal of England,
well accompanied by English noblemen, received him on the part of the
King of England. Wherever he passed, the officers of the cities made
addresses to him, and offers, even ordering their own archers to march
before him and guard his lodgings. When he came to Gravesend, the Earl
of Arundel visited him on the part of the King, and led him to the Royal
barge. His whole suite entered into twenty-five other barges, painted,
hung with tapestry, and well adorned" (think of our poor, rusty shallop
there in Plymouth bay), "in which, ascending the Thames, they arrived in
London Friday the 29th December" (January 8th, N. S.). "On disembarking,
the Ambassador was led by the Earl of Arundel to the palace of the late
Queen, which had been superbly and magnificently arranged for him. The
day was spent in visits on the part of his Majesty the King of Great
Britain, of the Prince of Wales, his son, and of the ambassadors of
kings and princes, residing in London." So splendidly was he
entertained, that they write that on the day of his reception he had
four tables, with fifty covers each, and that the Duke of Lennox, Grand
Master of England, served them with magnificent order.

"The following Sunday" (which we could not spend on shore), "he was
conducted to an audience by the Marquis of Buckingham," (for shame,
Jamie! an audience on Sunday! what would John Knox have said to that!)
"where the French and English nobility were dressed as for a great feast
day. The whole audience was conducted with great respect, honor, and
ceremony. The same evening, the King of Great Britain sent for the
Marshal by the Marquis of Buckingham and the Duke of Lennox; and his
Majesty and the Ambassador remained alone for more than two hours,
without any third person hearing what they said. The following days were
all receptions, banquets, visits, and hunting-parties, till the embassy
departed."

That is the way history gets written by a flattering and obsequious
court editor or organ at the time. That is the way, then, that the dread
sovereign of John Carver and Edward Winslow spent his Christmas
holidays, while they were spending theirs in beg