On approaching the monarch he gracefully alighted; whereupon James commanded that the carriage should be stayed, thrusting out his hand in a very gracious sort to this worthy knight, who, on his knees, received the blessing.

His Majesty then took horse, assisted by Buckingham, who held the stirrup.  But the king’s peculiar and unsteady vaulting was much noticed.  Many of the bystanders, not aware of his Majesty’s dislike to these equestrian feats, marvelled not a little at the motion of his leg, and the disturbed and uneasy position he assumed.  The pathway up the avenue was laid with purple velvet, on which the glittering cavalcade, horse and foot, formed a noble pageant, whose pomp was almost dazzling to behold.  The carriages took another path opened for the occasion.  The whole area in front of the Tower teemed with multitudes, whose shouts and huzzas made the very hills and echoes loyal, while they rang with acclamations to their sovereign.  Presently issued forth from the middle gateway two curiously-attired figures, bearing emblems to indicate their character and design.  There were living allegories, represented by the house-steward and Hobbe Handycap, the forester or tienman, keeper of vert and venison, a “ryghte merrie knave,” and one foremost in all pastimes and “honest recreations;” a great promoter and performer of May-games, morris-dancing, and the like.  These figures were to be conceived as household gods, the tutelary deities of Hoghton.  The first spokesman was clad in a purple taffeta mantle; in one hand was a palm-tree branch, on his head a garland of the like sort, and in the other hand he carried a dog.

King James accustomed to, and expecting these mummeries, made a full stop, when, forthwith, began the purple mantle as follows—­

    “This day, great Kinge, for government admired,
    Which these thy subjects have so much desired,
    Shall be kept holy in their heart’s best treasure,
    And vowed to James, as is this month to Caesar;”

with a good score of lines besides, of the like brevity and metre.  In them he was said to be greater even than the immortal gods themselves, seeing that they came to render their homage unto him, together with all things else over which they bare rule, even as the greater doth include the less.

Then spake Hobbe, the deity of the chase:—­

“Greatest of mortals!”

But he was presently nonplussed, and the steward stept forth to his relief, reciting how that the glorious beams from his Majesty’s person had stricken dumb this weaker divinity.  Having finished, the heat being intense, and they mightily encumbered with garments, did presently turn their backs on the king’s majesty, making all speed towards the gateway for shelter.  This breach of good manners was not unnoticed by the monarch, who said, wittily, we suppose, for it was much applauded, that these gods were not of High Olympus, but of the nether sort, inasmuch as they had turned tail upon their subject.