DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67417#0044
22 HAMPTON COURT
“ in such abundance and with so pleasant a noise
of instruments of musick that the Frenchmen were,
as it seemed, rapt into a heavenly paradise.” Be-
fore the second course was served, my lord Cardinal,
who had been kept at Westminster to attend to
his judicial duties, suddenly came in, booted and
spurred, and bade his guests welcome. “ There
was great joy, every one rising from his seat, but
my said lord bade them keep their seats, and calling
for a chair, sat down in the middle of the high
table, laughing and being as merry as ever I saw
him in my life.
“ Anon came up the second course, with many
dishes, subtleties and devices, about a hundred in
number, which were of so goodly proportion and
costly device, that I think the Frenchmen never
saw the like. There were castles with images ;
Paules church as well counterfeited, as the painter
should have painted it, on a cloth or wall. There
were beastes, birds, foules, and personages, most
likely made and counterfeited, some fighting with
swordes, some with gunnes and cross-bowes, some
vaulting and leaping ; some dancing with ladies,
some on horses in complete harness, jousting with
long and sharp spears, with many more devices than
I am able to describe. Among all, one, I noted,
was a chess board made with spiced paste, with
men thereof to the same. And for the good pro-
portion, and because the Frenchmen be very cunning
and expert in that play, my lord Cardinall gave
the same to a gentleman of France, commanding
there should be made a goodly case, for the pre-
“ in such abundance and with so pleasant a noise
of instruments of musick that the Frenchmen were,
as it seemed, rapt into a heavenly paradise.” Be-
fore the second course was served, my lord Cardinal,
who had been kept at Westminster to attend to
his judicial duties, suddenly came in, booted and
spurred, and bade his guests welcome. “ There
was great joy, every one rising from his seat, but
my said lord bade them keep their seats, and calling
for a chair, sat down in the middle of the high
table, laughing and being as merry as ever I saw
him in my life.
“ Anon came up the second course, with many
dishes, subtleties and devices, about a hundred in
number, which were of so goodly proportion and
costly device, that I think the Frenchmen never
saw the like. There were castles with images ;
Paules church as well counterfeited, as the painter
should have painted it, on a cloth or wall. There
were beastes, birds, foules, and personages, most
likely made and counterfeited, some fighting with
swordes, some with gunnes and cross-bowes, some
vaulting and leaping ; some dancing with ladies,
some on horses in complete harness, jousting with
long and sharp spears, with many more devices than
I am able to describe. Among all, one, I noted,
was a chess board made with spiced paste, with
men thereof to the same. And for the good pro-
portion, and because the Frenchmen be very cunning
and expert in that play, my lord Cardinall gave
the same to a gentleman of France, commanding
there should be made a goodly case, for the pre-