Page:ThePrincessofCleves.djvu/126

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114
THE PRINCESS OF CLEVES.
Part III.

The espousals were solemnised at the Louvre; and after the feast and ball all the royal family went to lie at the bishop's palace, according to custom. In the morning, the duke of Alva, who always had appeared very plainly drest, put on a habit of cloth of gold, mixed with flame-colour, yellow and black, all covered over with jewels, and wore a close crown on his head. The prince of Orange very richly dressed also, with his liveries, and all the Spaniards with theirs, came to attend the duke of Alva from the Hotel de Villeroy where he lodged, and set out, marching four by four, till they came to the bishop's palace. As soon as he was arrived, they went in order to the church; the king led Madame, who wore also a close crown, her train being borne by mademoiselles de Montpensier and Longueville; the queen came next, but without a crown; after her followed the queen-dauphin, Madame, the king's sister, the duchess of Loraine, and the queen of Navarre, their trains being borne by the princesses; the queens and the princesses were all of them attended with their maids of honour, who were richly dressed in the same colour which they wore themselves; so that it was known by the colour of their habits whose maids they were: they mounted the place that was prepared in the church, and there the marriage-ceremonies were performed; they returned afterwards to dine at the bishop's, and went from thence about five a-clock to the palace where the feast was, and where the parliament, the sovereign courts, and the corporation of the city were desired to assist. The king, the queens, the princes and princesses sat at the marble table in the great hall of the palace; the duke of Alva sat near the new queen of Spain, below the steps of the marble table; and at the king's right hand was a table for the ambassadors, the archbishops, and the knights of the order, and on the other side one for the parliament.

The duke of Guise, drest in a robe of cloth of gold friezed, served the king as great chamberlain; the