after which the celebrations and festivities were renewed with greater spirit and ardor than before. [Footnote 3: The name was a contraction of Frederick.] [Sidenote: Margaret takes leave of her friends.] At length the time for the conclusion of the public rejoicings at Nancy, and for the commencement of Margaret's journey to England, arrived. Thus far, though nominally under the care and keeping of Lord and Lady Suffolk, Margaret had of course been really most intimately associated with her own family and friends; but now the time had come when she was to take a final leave of her father and mother, and of all whom she had known and loved from infancy, and be put really and fully into the trust and keeping of strangers, to be taken by them to a distant and foreign land. The parting was very painful. It seems that Margaret's beauty and the charming vivacity of her manners had made her universally beloved, and the hearts not only of her father and mother, but of the whole circle of those who had known her, were filled with grief at the thought of parting with her forever. [Sidenote: Setting out of the procession.] The King and Queen of France, who seem to have loved their niece with sincere affection, determined to accompany her for a short distance, as she set out on her journey from Nancy. Of course, many of the courtiers went too. These together with the great number of English nobles and gentry that were attached to the service of the bride, made so large a company, and the dresses, caparisons, and trappings which were exhibited on the occasion were so splendid and fine, that the cavalcade, as it set out from the city of Nancy on the morning when the journey was to commence, formed one of the gayest and grandest bridal processions that the world has ever seen. [Sidenote: Parting with the King and Queen of France.] After proceeding for five or six miles the procession came to a halt, in order that the King and Queen of France might take their leave. The parting filled the hearts of their majesties with grief. The king clasped Margaret again and again in his arms when he bade her farewell, and told her that in placing her, as he had done, upon one of the greatest thrones in Europe, it seemed to him, after all, that he had really done nothing for her, "for even such a throne is scarcely worthy of you, my darling child," said he. In saying this his eyes filled with tears. The queen was so overwhelmed with emotion that she could not speak; but, kissing Margaret again and again amid her sobbings and tears, she finally turned from her and was borne away. [Sidenote: Margaret's parents.]