The betrothal took place at Spires on the 22d of October, and the marriage was solemnized on the 26th of November at Mézières. The festivities by which it was followed lasted all winter. In the following March the new queen entered Paris under a rustic gate-way, “finer than had ever been seen before, and looking quite natural on account of the herbs, snails, and lizards depicted on it.” We could almost fancy it a contrivance of Bernard Palissy’s. The queen rode in an open litter hung with cloth of silver within and without, and the mules that bore it were similarly adorned. Elizabeth herself was covered with jewels, and wore a dazzling crown on her head. The corporation of the city made their usual tiresome harangues, which they followed up by presenting the young queen with a silver gilt buffet, and then invited her to partake of a collation at the Hôtel-de-Ville, at which the refreshments were of the choicest description. “There was every kind of fruit found in the world, and every sort of meat and fish, all made out of sugar and looking quite natural.” The dishes containing these _chefs-d’œuvre_ of the confectionery art were also of silver. Poets and musicians contributed in their respective departments, and the king was so pleased with their performances that they were induced--especially Baif and Theodore Corneille--to propose the founding of an Academy of Music and Poetry. The decorations of the bridge of Notre Dame will serve to show the magnificence of the age and the feelings entertained by the court with regard to the recent pacification. A triumphal arch had been erected at each extremity, and the roadway covered in by an awning on which the ciphers and heraldic bearings of the royal pair were represented in flowers and evergreens. “It looked like a vision of the Elysian fields.”[470] Between every window on the first floor of the houses were half-figures of nymphs bearing fruits and flowers; above them were wreaths of laurel from which depended the shields of the several members of the royal family with emblematical devices. At the crown of each arch stood a statue on an altar: in one place a Victory, bound to an olive-tree, “indicated allegorically how the marriage of Charles and Elizabeth secured the welfare and repose of their people.” On one of the panels of the base an altar was represented, by the side of which stood a priest in his sacerdotal robes, and near him a lamb for the sacrifice. This was intended to signify that whosoever violated the Edict of Pacification should suffer the fate of the lamb. At the four corners stood four armed men representing the four marshals of France, empowered to carry out and enforce the edict. _Fœdus immortelle_ was the motto. On another panel bees were represented storing honey among a pile of arms, with two lines from Ovid, showing the happy effects of peace.