HENRY, KING OF ENGLAND. 273

- saintly monarch, rousing himself to welcome his
royal brother-in-law, made preparations for his
reception.. Moreover, when Henry’s approach was
announced, Louis mounted and went forth to meet
his guest; and, ere long, the King of England with
a magnificent train appeared in sight.

Henry was considerably older than Louis. Indeed,
be had now attained the age of forty-seven. But
his frame. was vigorous; he had always enjoyed
robust health; and, as he had taken life easily, time
and trouble had not wrought so much havoc on
him as on the French monarch. He was of the
middle height, and compactly built, and would have
been accounted handsome, but that one of his eyelids
lung down in such a way as to conceal part of the
eyeball, and rather spoiled a face which otherwise
would have been pleasant to look upon. But, such
as his person was, Henry did not neglect its adorn-
ment. He had all a Plantagenet’s love of splendour,
and the gorgeousness of his dress was such as to
excite the wonder of his contemporaries. By his
right hand rode his spouse, Eleanor of Provence,
sister of the Queen of France, no longer young,
but still preserving, in face and form, much of the
beauty and grace which, twenty years earlier, made
the name of the second daughter of Raymond
Berenger celebrated at the courts of Europe.

Behind the King and Queen of England, on a
black steed, which he bestrode with remarkable
grace, rode their son, Edward, taller by the head and
stoulders than other tall men, and already, though
not out of his teens, renowned as one of the bravest -