“When the mourners were placed in order, garter king-at-arms cried, ‘For the soul of the noble prince, king Henry the Seventh, lately king of this realm;’ and immediately the choir began ‘_plecabo_,’ and a dirge was sung; which being finished, the mourners departed, and, after taking refreshment, reposed for the night. “On the next day three masses were solemnly sung by three bishops: at the last was offered the king’s banner, courser, and coat-of-arms, his sword, target, and helm. At the conclusion the mourners made their offerings of rich palls of cloth of gold, and bauderkin, (or cloth of gold, with figures embroidered in silk:) ‘_Libera me_’ was then sung, and the body committed to the earth. “At this part of the ceremony the king’s treasurer, lord steward, chamberlain, and comptroller of the household, broke their staves and cast them into the grave; garter king-at-arms exclaiming, with a loud voice, ‘Vive le roi Henri le huitième, roi d’Angleterre et de France, sire d’Irlande.’ “The obsequies ended, the party returned to the palace, where a sumptuous feast was provided for them.” “What a happiness it is,” said Mrs. Spencer, “that we are no longer under the burdensome ceremonies of popery—that we are not required to sing dirges for the dead, nor pay for masses, to deliver their souls from an ideal purgatory.” “It is so,” replied Mr. Wilmot. “The ensuing coronation,” he continued, “of Henry the Eighth and Katherine, was conducted with circumstances of extraordinary pomp; but it is not my intention to enter into a minute description of it; and I shall only relate to you a few of the pageants that were exhibited on the occasion, and which mark the manners of the age. Amongst others, was a park, artificially constructed, with pales of white and green, wherein were fallow deer; and, in the park, trees, bushes, and ferns, very curiously constructed. The deer were hunted in the presence of the queen and court, and afterwards presented to them. Another device was a palace, in which was a curious fountain, and over it a castle, surmounted with a crown imperial, with battlements of roses and pomegranates, gilded; whilst, under and about the said castle, ran a vine, the grapes and leaves whereof were gilded with fine gold, with white and green lozenges strewed about the castle; and, in every lozenge, either a rose or a pomegranate, and a sheaf or arrows; or else the letters H. and K. in gold, with certain arches and turrets gilded, to support the same castle; whilst, from the mouths of certain beasts, ran white, red, and claret wine.