GREENWICH PARK iii 



from the Black Heath to the northern gate and round 

 through the town to the Palace, the guns firing from the 

 Tower in her honour. 



It was at Greenwich that the boy king, Edward VI., 

 died, and Mary and Elizabeth were constantly there. 

 Their state barges bearing them to and from the Palace 

 must have been no uncommon sight on the Thames. It 

 was on landing on one of these occasions that the famous 

 episode of Sir Walter Raleigh laying his cloak in the 

 mud for the Queen to tread on, happened. One of the 

 many brilliant scenes in the Park took place after Eliza- 

 beth's accession, when the citizens of London, overjoyed, 

 wished to give her a very special greeting. It was on 

 July 2, 1559, that "the City of London entertained the 

 Queen at Greenwich with a muster, each Company 

 sending out a certain number of men-at-arms" (1400 

 in all), "to her great delight. , . . On the ist of July 

 they marched out of London in coats of velvet and 

 chaines of gold, with guns, moris pikes, halberds, and 

 flags ; and so over London Bridge unto the Duke of 

 Suffolk's Park in Southwark ; where they all mustered 

 before the Lord Mayor, and lay abroad in St. George's 

 Fields all that night. The next morning they removed 

 towards Greenwich to the Court there ; and thence to 

 Greenwich Park. Here they tarried till eight of the 

 clock ; then they marched down into the Lawn, and 

 mustered in arms : all the gunners in shirts of mail. At 

 five of the clock at night the Queen came into the 

 gallery over the Park Gate, with the Ambassadors, Lords, 

 and Ladies, to a great number. The Lord Marquis, 

 Lord Admiral, Lord Dudley, and divers other Lords 

 and Knights, rode to and fro to view them, and to set 

 the two battles in array to skirmish before the Queen : 



