'At the foot of the bridge next the city was raised a tower, formed and
painted like the columns before mentioned, in the middle of which, under
a splendid pavilion, stood a most beautiful image of St. George, armed,
excepting his head, which was adorned with a laurel crown studded with
gems and precious stones. Behind him was a crimson tapestry, with his
arms (a red cross) glittering on a multitude of shields. On his right
hung his triumphal helmet, and on his left a shield of his arms of
suitable size. In his right hand he held the hilt of the sword with
which he was girt, and in his left a scroll, which, extending along the
turrets, contained these words, SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA. In a
contiguous house were innumerable boys representing the angelic host,
arrayed in white, with glittering wings, and their hair set with sprigs
of laurel; who, on the King's approach, sang, accompanied by organs, an
anthem, supposed to be that beginning "Our King went forth to Normandy;"
and whose burthen is "Deo gratias, Anglia, redde pro victoria."'
When Henry VI. returned after his coronation in 1432--
'On returning from his Coronation in France King Henry the Sixth was met
at Blackheath by the Mayor and citizens of London, on Feb. 21, 1431-2;
the latter being dressed in white, with the cognizances of their
mysteries or crafts embroidered on their sleeves; and the Mayor and his
brethren in scarlet.
'When the King came to London Bridge, there was devised a mighty giant,
standing with a sword drawn, and having this poetical speech inscribed
by his side:
'All those that be enemies to the King,
I shall them clothe with confusion,
Make him mighty by virtuous living,
His mortal foes to oppress and bear them down:
And him to increase as Christ's champion.
All mischiefs from him to abridge,
With grace of God, at the entry of this Bridge.
'When the King had passed the first gate, and was arrived at the
drawbridge, he found a goodly tower hung with silk and cloth of arras,
out of which suddenly appeared three ladies, clad in gold and silk, with
coronets upon their heads; of which the first was dame Nature, the
second dame Grace, and the third dame Fortune. They each addressed the
King in verses similar to those already quoted, and which, together with
those which followed, the curious will find in their place. On each side
of them were ranged seven virgins, all clothed in white; those on the
right hand had baudricks of sapphire colour or blue, and the others had
their garments powdered with golden stars. The first seven presented the
King with the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost--sapience, intelligence,
good counsel, strength, cunning, pity, and dread of God: and the others
with the seven gifts of grace, in these verses:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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