vice-chamberlain, in which character I presented myself, I summoned
together the dean and canons of the College of St. George, the usher of
the black rod, the governor of the alms-knights, and the whole of the
officers of the household, and acquainted them, in a set speech-which,
I flatter myself, was quite equal to any that your lordship, with all your
poetical talents, could have delivered--that the king's highness, being
at Hampton Court with the two cardinals, Wolsey and Campeggio,
debating the matter of divorce from his queen, Catherine of Arragon,
proposes to hold the grand feast of the most noble order of the Garter
at this his castle of Windsor, on Saint George's Day--that is to say, the
day after to-morrow--and that it is therefore his majesty's sovereign
pleasure that the Chapel of St. George, in the said castle, be set forth
and adorned with its richest furniture; that the high altar be hung with
arras representing the patron saint of the order on horseback, and
garnished with the costliest images and ornaments in gold and silver;
that the pulpit be covered with crimson damask, inwrought with
flowers-de-luces of gold, portcullises, and roses; that the royal stall be
canopied with a rich cloth of state, with a haut-pas beneath it of a foot
high; that the stalls of the knights companions be decked with cloth of
tissue, with their scutcheons set at the back; and that all be ready at
the hour of tierce-hora tertia vespertina, as appointed by his majesty's
own statute--at which time the eve of the feast shall be held to
commence."

"Take breath, captain," laughed the earl.

"I have no need," replied Bouchier. "Furthermore, I delivered your
lordship's warrant from the lord chamberlain to the usher of the black
rod, to make ready and furnish Saint George's Hall, both for the supper
to-morrow and the grand feast on the following day; and I enjoined the