"A very clear looking-glass, ornamented with columns and little images of alabaster; a portrait of Edward VI., brother to Queen Elizabeth; the true portrait of Lucretia; a picture of the battle of Pavia; the history of Christ's Passion, carved in mother-of-pearl; the portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, who was beheaded, and her daughter; the picture of Ferdinand, Prince of Spain, and of Philip, his son; that of Henry VIII. Under it was placed the Bible curiously written upon parchment; an artificial sphere; several musical instruments; in the tapestry are represented negroes riding upon elephants. The bed in which Edward VI. is said to have been born, and where his mother, Jane Seymour, died in child-bed. In one chamber were several exceedingly rich tapestries, which are hung up when the Queen gives audience to foreign ambassadors; there were numbers of cushions ornamented with gold and silver; many counterpanes and coverlids of beds lined with ermine; in short, all the walls of the Palace shone with gold and silver. Here is, besides, a certain cabinet called Paradise, where, besides that everything glitters so with silver, gold, and jewels, so as to dazzle one's eyes, there is a musical instrument made all of glass, except the strings. Afterwards we were led into the gardens, which are most pleasant; here we saw rosemary so planted and nailed to the walls as to cover them entirely, which is a method exceeding common in England."[1]
- ↑ It is hardly necessary to point out that the account of the pictures bristles with inaccuracies.
