a.d. THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



1553- 



after the maner of England, and withall, delivered unto 

 King him the letters of our king, Edward the sixt. The 

 Edwards jr m perour having taken, & read the letters, began a 

 delivered ^ e to ques^ 011 with them, and to aske them of the 

 welfare of our king : whereunto our men answered him 

 directly, & in few words : hereupon our men presented 

 some thing to the Emperour, by the chiefe Secretary, 

 which at the delivery of it, put of his hat, being before 

 all the time covered : and so the Emperour having 

 invited them to dinner, dismissed them from his pre- 

 sence : and going into the chamber of him that was 

 Master of the Requests to the Emperour, & having 

 stayed there the space of two howres, at the last, the 

 Messenger commeth, and calleth them to dinner : they 

 goe, and being conducted into the golden Court, (for 

 so they call it, although not very faire) they finde the 

 Emperour sitting upon an high and stately seate, ap- 

 parelled with a robe of silver, and with another Diademe 

 on his head : our men being placed over against him, 

 sit downe : in the middes of the roome stoode a 

 mightie Cupboord upon a square foote, whereupon 

 stoode also a round boord, in manner of a Diamond, 

 broade beneath, and towardes the toppe narrowe, and 

 every steppe rose up more narrowe then another. Upon 

 this Cupboorde was placed the Emperours plate, which 

 was so much, that the very Cupboord it selfe was scant 

 able to sustaine the waight of it : the better part of 

 all the vessels, and goblets, was made of very fine 

 gold : and amongst the rest, there were foure pots of 

 very large bignesse, which did adorne the rest of the 

 plate in great measure : for they were so high, that 

 they thought them at the least five foote long. There 

 were also upon this Cupbord certaine silver caskes, 

 not much differing from the quantitie of our Fyrkins, 

 wherein was reserved the Emperours drinke : on each 

 side of the Hall stood foure Tables, each of them 

 layde and covered with very cleane table clothes, where- 

 unto the company ascended by three steps or degrees: 



256 



