The Archbishop of Canterbury tied the nuptial knot. The bride and groom, arrayed in white satin and German purple, respectively, looked magnificent as they knelt at the palace altar to receive the final blessing of the Episcopal Church amid the glorious greetings of wealth and power. Fourteen salutes from the royal artillery in honor of Frederick and Elizabeth and St. Valentine's Day, echoed from the heights of Whitehall, and carrier pigeons with love notes were sent flying over the temples, churches and towers of London to notify all loyal subjects that the throne of old Albion had been strengthened by an infusion of Germanic blood. Promptly at seven o'clock St. Valentine's evening, Richard Burbage, Ben Jonson, Shakspere and myself drove up in our festooned carriage to the palace portals of Whitehall, and were ushered into the presence of the great assembly doing honor to the royal bride and groom, Frederick and Elizabeth. The King sat on a throne chair at the head of the banquet board, with his daughter and son-in-law on his left, while the Queen sat on his right. The other royal guests were seated according to their ancestral rank, while our dramatic quartette occupied a special table, William at the head on the right of the King and Queen, elevated as an improvised stage, with Shakspere, the most intellectual man of the world, "the observed of all observers!" The play of knife and fork, laugh and jest, toast and talk lasted for two hours, and then as the foam on the brim of the beakers began to sparkle, the King, in his royal robes arose, and said: "My loyal subjects, health and prosperity to Great Britain and Germany, and love and truth for Frederick and Elizabeth." The three thousand guests standing responded with a storm of cheers, and then the King remarked: "We are honored to-night by the presence of William Shakspere, our most loyal and intellectual subject, who will now address you in logic and philosophy from his own matchless plays." (Lord Bacon looked as if he wanted to crawl under the table at the King's compliment to the Bard of Avon.) Shakspere arose, dressed in a dark purple suit, knee breeches and short sword by his side, bowed majestically, and for two hours entranced the royal assembly with these eloquent pen pictures of humanity: _My good friends; I'll skip across the fields of thought And pluck for you the sweetest flowers, That I have from Dame Nature caught To cheer the lingering, leaden hours. While vice and virtue side by side Go hand in hand adown the years, Virtue alone, remains the bride To banish all our falling tears; And here to-night like stars above These flowers of beauty blush and bloom-- Commanding honest human love,-- Immortal o'er the voiceless tomb!_ Othello thus defends himself against the charge of bewitching Desdemona: