e
were lowered, and presently issued forth the armed retinue of the
monarch. Isabella and her train were obliged to remain awhile as idle
spectators.

The king, though old and infirm, yet retained his lofty and commanding
appearance. His charger was armed with the _chanfrons_ and gamboised
housings, having thereon the royal arms, and proudly did the conscious
beast paw and champ, as if rejoicing under his burden.

Edward was dressed in a glittering surcoat of crimson silk, worked with
lions and _fleurs-de-lis._ His helmet was cylindrical, surmounted by a
lion as its crest. Round the rim was a coronet of gold, worked with
_fleurs-de-lis_ and oak leaves. A gorget and tippet covering the
shoulders was fastened beneath the chin, giving the head a stiff but
imposing air of command. He carried a short truncheon, which he wielded
with great dexterity; yet his armour, though light and of the finest
temper, seemed more cumbersome to him now than in former days.

The royal standard of England, thus described, was borne before him:--It
was from eight to nine yards in length, the ground blue and red,
containing, in the first division, the lion of England imperially
crowned. In chief, a coronet of _crosses pater_ and _fleurs-de-lis,_
between two clouds irradiated. In base, a cloud between two coronets. In
the next division the charges were, in chief a coronet, in base an
irradiated cloud. In the third, the dexter chief and sinister base was
likewise an irradiated cloud; the sinister and dexter chief a coronet,
as before. Motto, "Dieu et mon droyt." The whole of this procession was
one vast masquerade of pomp, little betokening the frailty and folly
which it enveloped. Though to all outward show fair and glistening, yet
was there a heavy gloom brooding over the nation. Prince Edward, the
flower of chivalry, usually called the Black Prince, from the colour of
his armour, lay then grievously sick, and the whole hope and welfare of
the land seemed to hang on his recovery. The known ambition of John of
Gaunt was a main source of alarm and anxiety. "Edward had, however,"
says the historian, "declared his grandson heir and successor to the
crown, and thereby cut off all the hopes of the Duke of Lancaster, if he
ever had the temerity to entertain any."

Not forgetting his former homage to the sex, the king's eye lingered on
the form of Isabella, but she drew back, daunted by the ardour of his
gaze. Oskatell saw the impression she had ma