Before Philip started on Monday afternoon for Winchester, better news came from the Emperor. The French had not followed up their victory at Marienburg, and the six hundred Spanish jennets which had come in the fleet, with Philip’s own horses, might now be landed.[54] The anxious Queen, nevertheless, continued to send fresh supplies of splendidly caparisoned horses for Philip’s use; and when, in a perfect deluge of rain, at two o’clock in the afternoon the Prince started out to join his bride in the ancient city seven miles away, a train of three thousand magnificently accoutred horsemen clattered in his train. With the exception of some fifteen of the highest Spanish nobles, who rode close around the Prince—Alba, Medina-Celi, Feria, and their like—Philip’s strong bodyguard was formed of English men-at-arms dressed in Spanish colours, much to the jealousy of the Spanish guard still cooped up in the pestilential ships. On the road six hundred more English gentlemen in black velvet and gold met the cavalcade and joined it. Then, nearer Winchester, six of the Queen’s pages, dressed in crimson brocade and cloth of gold, were encountered with a herald bringing for the Prince six more beautiful steeds as a present from their mistress. The malicious Venetian tells a story embellished by Froude of a breathless, galloping messenger from the Queen, whose haste threw Philip and his Spanish friends into a panic of fear; but everything that Baoardo wrote on the subject of the marriage is suspect and cannot be accepted without confirmation, of which in this case there is none. When the Prince started from Southampton, he wore a surcoat of black velvet adorned with diamonds, and doublet and trunks of white satin embroidered with gold. But this delicate finery, though covered by a thick red felt cloak, was wet through before he arrived at Winchester; and a halt was made at the beautiful hospital of Saint Cross to enable a change of garments to be donned, the fresh suit consisting of a black velvet surcoat trimmed with gold bugles, and under-garments of white velvet and gold. Thus bedizened he entered the ancient gateway, past kneeling mayor and aldermen, and through silent, gaping crowds of townsfolk, direct to the splendid cathedral, the shrine of England’s ancient Kings. A little group of mitred bishops stood before the great west door, crosses raised and censers swinging; and in solemn procession to the high altar they led beneath a velvet canopy this slim, erect, little man with fair face and yellow hair, whom they and their like regarded as God’s chosen instrument to undo the impious work of Henry and of Somerset. CHAPTER III 1554-1555