his royal sire. The duke's mother was the Lady Talboys, esteemed one
of the most beautiful women of the age, and who had for a long time
held the capricious monarch captive. Henry was warmly attached to
his son, showered favours without number upon him, and might have
done yet more if fate had not snatched him away at an early age.

Though scarcely eighteen, the Duke of Richmond looked more than
twenty, and his lips and chin were clothed with a well-grown though
closely-clipped beard. He was magnificently habited in a doublet of
cloth of gold of bawdekin, the placard and sleeves of which were
wrought with flat gold, and fastened with aiglets. A girdle of crimson
velvet, enriched with precious stones, encircled his waist, and
sustained a poniard and a Toledo sword, damascened with gold. Over
all he wore a loose robe, or housse, of scarlet mohair, trimmed with
minever, and was further decorated with the collar of the Order of the
Garter. His cap was of white velvet, ornamented with emeralds, and
from the side depended a small azure plume. He rode a magnificent
black charger, trapped in housings of cloth of gold, powdered with
ermine.

By the duke's side rode the Earl of Surrey attired--as upon the previous
day, and mounted on a fiery Arabian, trapped in crimson velvet fringed
with Venetian gold. Both nobles were attended by their esquires in
their liveries.

Behind them came a chariot covered with cloth of silver, and drawn,
like the first, by four horses in rich housings, containing two very
beautiful damsels, one of whom attracted so much of the attention of
the youthful nobles, that it was with difficulty they could preserve due
order of march. The young dame in question was about seventeen; her