The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-10-14 00:00:00

DESCRIPTION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Much has been written respecting " England's Maiden
Queen ;" there is not one of our native chroniclers gives
such a striking picture of her Court, as is conveyed in the
following description, by a German traveller. It is trans-
lated from a rare work, entitled, " Itinerarium Gertreamitr,

Angkr, ; script um a Paulo Renfznera,
J. C. Breda, 1641.
" We arrived next at the Royal Palace of Greenwich,
reported to have been originally built by Humphrey,
Duke of Gloucester, and to have received very magnifi-
cent additions from Henry VIII. It was here Elizabeth,
the present Queen, was born, and here she generally re-
sides, particularly in summer, for the delightfulness of its
situation. We were admitted by an order Mr. Rogers had
procured from the Lord Chamberlain, into the presence
chamber, hung with rich tapestry, and the floor, after the
English fashion, strewed with bay, through which the
Queen commonly passes in her way to the chapel. At
the door stood a gentleman dressed in velvet, with a gold
chain, whose office was to introduce to the Queen any per-
son of distinction, that came to wait on her. It was Sun-
day, when there is usually the greatest attendance of nc-
bility. In the same hall, where the Archbishop of Can-
terbury, the bishop of London, a great many Counsel-
lors of State, Offie.•rs of the Crown, and Gentlemen, who
waited the Queen's coining out, which she did, from her
own apartment, when it was time to go to prayers, attended
in the following manner :—First were Gentlemen, Barons,
Earls, Knights of the Garter, all richly dressed, and bare-
headed : next came the Chancellor, bearing the Seals, in a
silk purse, between two, one of which carried the royal
sceptre, the other the sword of state, in a red scabbard, stud-
ded with gold fleurs-de-lis, the point upwards ; next came
the Queen, in the Stith year of her age (as we are told),
very majestic ; her face oblong, fair, but wrinkled ; her
eyes small, yet black and plasant ; her nose a little
hooked, her lips narrow, and her teeth black (a defect the
English seem subject to, from their too great use 9f
sugar).
'e She had in her ears two very rich pearls, with drops ;
she wore false hair, and that red ; upon her head she had a
small crown, reported to have been made of some of the
gold of the celebrated Lunebourg-table ; her bosom was
uncovered, as all the English ladies have it, till they marry;
and she had on a necklace of exceeding fine jewels; her
hands were small, her fingers long, and her stature neither
tall nor low ; her air was stately, her manner of speaking
mild and obliging. That day she was dressed in white
silk, bordered with pearls of the size of beans, and over it
a mantle of black silk, shot with silver threads ; her train
was very long, the end of it borne by a Marchioness; in-
i stead of a chain, she had an oblong collar of gold and
Jewels. As she went along, in all this state and magnifi-
came, she spoke very graciously, first to one, then to an-
other (whether foreign Ministers, or those who attend for
different reasons), in English, French, and Italian ; for,
besides being well skilled in Greek and Latin, and the lan-
guages I have mentioned, she is mistress of Spanish,
Scotch, and Dutch. Whoever speaks to her, it is kneeling;
now and then she raises some with het hard. While we
were there, William Slaywater, a Bohemian Baron, had
letters to present to her, and she, after pulling off her glove,
gave him her right hand to kiss, sparkling with rings and
jewels, a maik of particular favour. Wherever she turned
her face, as she was going along, everybody fell down upon
their knees. The ladies of the Court followed next to her,
very handsome and well shaped, and for the most part
dressed in white. She was guarded on each side by the
gentlemen pensioners, fifty in number, with gilt battle-
axes. In the anti-chamber, next the hall where we were,
petitions were presented to her, and she received them moat
graciously, which occasioned the exclamation of God save
the Queen Elizabeth !' Bhe answered it with, I thanke
you, mine good people.' In the chapel was excellent Intl•
BIC ; as soon as it and the service were over, which scarce
exceeded half an hour, the Queen returned in the same
state and order, and prepared to go to dinner.
" A gentleman entered the roan, bearing a rod, and
along with him another, bearing a table-cloth, which, after
they had both kneeled three times, with the utmost vene-
ration, he spread upon the table, and after kneeling again,
they both retired ; then came two others one with the rod
again, the other with a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread
when they had kneeled as the others had done, and placed
what was hiought upon the table, they too retired with the
same ceremonies performed by the first; at last came an
unmarried lady (we were told she was a Countess), and
along with her a married one, bearing a tasting-knife ; the
former was dressed in white silk, who, when she had pros-
strated herself three times in the most graceful manner, ap-
yroachtsl the table, and rubbed the table Pith bread and
ash, with as much awe as if the Queen had been present.
faen they had waited there a little while, the yeomen of
the guard entered, bare-headed, clothed in scarlet, with
a golden rose upon their backs, bringing in, at each turn, a
course of dishes, served in plate, tnost of it gilt ; these
dishes were received by a gentleman, in the same order
they were brought, and placed upon the table, while the
lady taster gave to each guard a mouthful to cat of the par-
ticular dish he had broteght, for fear of any poison. 1 tar-
ing the time that this guard (which consists of the tallest
and stoutest no n that can be found in all Enqand, be log
carefully selected for this service) were bringing dinner,
twelve trumpets, and two kettle-drums, made the hall ring
for half an hour together. At the end of all this cere-
monial, a nmnber of unmarried ladies appeared, who,
with particular solemnity, lifted the meat from the table,
and conveyed it to the Qhueen's inner and more private
chamber, where, after she ad chosen for herself, the rest
goes to the ladies of the Court.
The Queen dines and sups alone, with very few at-
tendants; and it is very seldom that anybody, foreigner or
native, is admitted at that time, and then only at the in-
terecation of somebody in power."