Page:The Queens of England.djvu/37

ADELAIS OF LOUVAINE. 25 been privately celebrated at Ely. The public celebration at Windsor having been delayed some month's, owing to a dispute between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Salisbury as to which had the right of marrying the royal pair. At length the dispute was decided by an ecclesiastical council in favor of the archbishop, who was a very aged man, Henry endeavoring to console his favorite, the Bishop of Salisbury, by appointing him to perform the ceremonial of the coronation on the following day, at Westminster. Scarcely, however, was the ceremony completed, when the archbishop appeared, and demanded of the king, "who had put the crown on his head?" and receiving an evasive reply, smote him a blow with his crozier which struck off the crown, after which he replaced it with his own hand, and then proceeded to crown the queen. This coronation took place on Sunday, the 30th day of Janu- ary, 1 121. The dignity and surpassing loveliness of the queen, who had just attained her eighteenth year, have been recorded by Henry of Huntingdon, an actual witness of the scene, in the follow- ing lines : '•'Your Crown and Jewels when compared to you, How poor your Crown, how pale your jewels shew! Take off your robes, your rich attire remove ; Such pomp may load you, but can ne'er improve. In vain your costly ornaments are worn, You they obscure, whilst others they adorn. Ah! what new luster can these trifles give, Which all their beauty from your charms receive?" The Bishop of Rennes, also, bore testimony to the unparal- leled beauty of the "queen of the Angles," as he styles Adelais, of whom he speaks with enthusiasm, dwelling particularly on her winning manners, and her "honey-dropping words." For some time after her marriage Queen Adelais resided at Woodstock, where was the royal menagerie, of which men- tion was made in the foregoing life, and to which an aviary was attached. In his taste for natural history Beauclerc found in his second consort an agreeable companion, who partici- pated in his enjoyments, not only taking a lively interest in his love of animals, but also encouraging the writers of the day to diffuse information on this, as well as on other literary subjects. Philip de Thuan dedicated to her his work, called "Bestiarius," which was written in the Anglo-Norman tongue ;