Page:The Queens of England.djvu/502

ten of the clock, and she then being at meat, he stayed in the presence till she had done, which she advertised of, made short work, rose, went unto him, kneeled down at his feet, took and kissed his hand. The king took her up in his arms, kissed her, and talking with her, cast down his eyes toward her feet (she seeming higher than report was, reaching to his shoulders), which she soon perceiving, discovered and showed him her shoes, saying to this effect, 'Sir, I stand upon mine own feet—I have no helps by art ; thus high I am, and am neither higher nor lower.'" Again, we read from another letter of the same date, and from the same writer, "So soon as she heard he was come, she hasted down a pair of stairs to meet him, and, offering to kneel down and to kiss his hand, he wrapped her up in his arms, and kissed her with many kisses." The first words addressed to Charles by his young bride expressed a similar sentiment to that of her mother when introduced to Henry the Fourth, "Sire, je suis venue en ce pays de vostre majeste pour estre commandee de vous." She requested that "he would inform her of her faults of ignorance." The king replied, tenderly kissing away her tears, "that he would be no longer master of himself than while he was servant to her." There was much in the personal demeanor and character of Charles, as developed at this period, which was calculated not merely to reassure a timid girl, but to attract the lasting regards of an affectionate woman. He is said to have been "a prince of comely presence; of a sweet, grave, but melancholy aspect; his face was regular, handsome, and well-complexioned; his body strong, healthy, and well-made, and though of a low stature, was capable to endure the greatest fatigue. He had a good taste of learning, and more than an ordinary skill in the liberal arts, especially painting, sculpture, architecture, and medals. He acquired the noblest collections of any prince in his time, and more than all the kings of England before him. He spoke several languages very well, and with a singular good grace, though now and then, when he was warm in discourse, he was inclinable to stammer. He writ a tolerable hand for a king ; but his sense was strong, and his style laconic." From Canterbury, where the marriage ceremony was repeated, they proceeded to Gravesend, and thence to London; and here, notwithstanding- the ravages of the plague, "whereof, in this year, not less than thirty-five thousand four hundred and seventeen persons died," and the revival of the stringent proclamation against building, of Queen Eliza-