Amidst this tumult a grave procession issued from the deanery, and
took its way across the lower quadrangle, which was thronged with
officers and men-at-arms, in the direction of the lower gate. Just as it
arrived there a distant gun was heard, and an answering peal was
instantly fired from the culverins of the Curfew Tower, while a broad
standard, emblazoned with the arms of France and England within the
garter, and having for supporters the English lion crowned and the red
dragon sinister, was reared upon the keep. All these preparations
betokened the approach of the king, who was returning to the castle
after six weeks' absence.
Though information of the king's visit to the castle had only preceded
him by a few hours, everything was ready for his reception, and the
greatest exertions were used to give splendour to it.
In spite of his stubborn and tyrannical nature, Henry was a popular
monarch, and never showed himself before his subjects but he gained
their applauses; his love of pomp, his handsome person, and manly
deportment, always winning him homage from the multitude. But at no
period was he in a more critical position than the present. The
meditated divorce from Catherine of Arragon was a step which found no
sympathy from the better portion of his subjects, while the ill-assorted
union of Anne Boleyn, an avowed Lutheran, which it was known would
follow it, was equally objectionable.
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