[427] Viel sammete unde seiden Röcke.--(L. Opp. xx. p. 201.) In fact these powerful lords, whose contentions had so often filled Germany with confusion and war, now advanced riding peacefully side by side. After the princes appeared the electors; and the Elector of Saxony, according to custom, carried the naked and glittering imperial sword immediately before the Emperor.[428] [428] Noster princeps de more prætulit ensem.--(Corp. Ref. ii. p. 118.) Last came the Prince, on whom all eyes were fixed.[429] Thirty years of age, of distinguished port and pleasing features, robed in golden garments that glittered all over with precious stones,[430] wearing a small Spanish hat on the crown of his head,[431] mounted on a beautiful Polish hackney of the most brilliant whiteness, riding beneath a rich canopy of red, white, and green damask borne by six senators of Augsburg, and casting around him looks in which gentleness was mingled with gravity, Charles excited the liveliest enthusiasm, and every one exclaimed that he was the handsomest man in the empire, as well as the mightiest prince in the world. [429] Omnium oculos in se convertit.--(Seck. ii. p. 160.) [430] Totus gemmis coruscabat.--(Ibid.) [431] Ein kilen Spanisch Hütlein.--(F. Urkunden, i. p. 260.) [Sidenote: ENTERS AUGSBURG.] He had at first desired to place his brother and the legate at his side; but the Elector of Mentz, followed by two hundred guards arrayed in silk, had claimed the Emperor's right hand; and the Elector of Cologne, with a hundred well-armed followers, had taken his station on the left. King Ferdinand and the legate were compelled to take their places behind them, followed by the cardinals, ambassadors, and prelates, among whom was remarked the haughty Bishop of Osma, the Emperor's confessor. The imperial cavalry and the troops of Augsburg closed the procession. Never, according to the historians, had anything so magnificent been seen in the Empire;[432] but they advanced slowly, and it was between eight and nine o'clock in the evening before they reached the gates of Augsburg.[433] Here they met the burgomaster and councillors, who prostrated themselves before Charles, and at the same time the cannon from the ramparts, the bells from all the steeples in full peal, the noise of trumpets and kettle-drums, and the joyful acclamations of the people re-echoed with loud din. Stadion, bishop of Augsburg, and his clergy robed in white, struck up the _Advenisti desirabilis_; and six canons, advancing with a magnificent canopy, prepared to conduct the Emperor to the cathedral, when Charles's horse, startled at this unusual sight, suddenly reared,[434] so that the Emperor with difficulty mastered him. At length Charles entered the basilick, which was ornamented with garlands and flowers, and suddenly illuminated by a thousand torches. [432] Antea in imperio non erat visa.--(Seck. ii. p. 160.)