his father-in-law of his decision, and by the beginning of October it was also known at Prague that Frederick had accepted the crown. Immediately after this decision Frederick left Amberg to join the Electress at Heidelberg. Thence they both started for Bohemia, and reached the frontier of that country at Waldsassen (near Cheb) on October 25. The king and queen, as they were henceforth called, were here received by a deputation composed of representatives of all the lands of the Bohemian crown. Count Andrew Šlik first welcomed the king, and the deputation was afterwards received by the queen. Venceslas of Ruppa, speaking in French, thanked her for having shown herself friendly to the Bohemian cause, and for having encouraged her husband to accept the crown. Speaking in the same language, Elizabeth replied: "What I have done for the glory of God and for the religion in the past has been done with good intention on my part, and in the future also I shall not be wanting in affection and good-will to you." These words are by most writers considered as an admission on the part of the queen that she had persuaded her husband to accept the Bohemian crown.
On October 25 the king and queen continued their journey, and were enthusiastically received by the nobility and the people of all the towns through which they passed.
They arrived before Prague on October 31, and were met at the gates of the city by large deputations of nobles and citizens. Their solemn entry into Prague took place on the same day. On November 4 the king, and three days later the queen, were crowned in the cathedral of St. Vitus on the Hradčany, Dicastus (the Administrator of the Protestant Consistory) officiating on both occasions. The enthusiasm, both of the nobles and of the citizens, knew no bounds. The winning manners of the king in particular obtained him great popularity, while his incapacity and irresolution had not yet been discovered. The fact that Frederick was ignorant of the Bohemian language—which he does not seem even to have attempted to acquire—very soon interfered with his popularity, and the Bohemians began to speak of their new king as a foreigner. This designation was still more freely applied to Queen Elizabeth, who not only was ignorant of the Bohemian tongue, but whose knowledge of German was also exceedingly limited. A Chinese wall, as Dr. Gindely expresses it,
