THE QUEEN’S PLAISANCE 191

tall, brawny fellows clad in red, with golden roses on their
breasts and backs, and with them marched up to the pos-
tern two and two, Master Gyles the last of all, as haughty
as a Spanish don come courting fair Queen Bess.

A smoking dinner was waiting them, of whitebait with
red pepper, and a yellow juice so sour that Nick’s mouth
drew up ina knot; butit was very good. There were be-
sides, silver dishes full of sugared red currants, and heaps
of comfits and sweetmeats, which Master Gyles would not
allow them even to touch, and saffron cakes with raisins
in them, and spiced hot cordial out of tiny silver cups.
Bareheaded pages clad in silk and silver lace waited upon
them as if they were fledgling kings; but the boys were
too hungry to care for that or to try to put on airs, and
waded into the meat and drink as if they had been starved
for a fortnight.

But when they were done Nick saw that the table off
which they had eaten was inlaid with pearl and silver fili-
gree, and that the table-cloth was of silk with woven metal-
work and gems set in it worth more than a thousand
crowns. He was very glad he had eaten first, for such
wonderful service would have taken away his appetite.

And truly a wonderful palace was the Queen’s Plaisance,
as Greenwich House was called. Elizabeth was born in it,
and so loved it most of all. There she pleased oftenest to
receive and grant audiences to envoys from foreign courts.
And there, on that account, as was always her proud,
jealous way, she made a blinding show of glory and of
wealth, of science, art, and power, that England, to the