Small was the ring, and small in truth the finger:

What then? the faith was large that dropped it down.

Aubrey De Vere, INFANT BRIDAL

Setting aside the consideration of the risk, the baby-weddings of

the Middle Ages must have been very pretty sights.

So the Court of France thought the bridal of Henri Beranger

Eustache de Ribaumont and of Marie Eustacie Rosalie de Rebaumont du

Nid-de-Merle, when, amid the festivals that accompanied the

signature of the treaty of Cateau-Cabresis, good-natured King Henri

II. presided merrily at the union of the little pair, whose unite

ages did not reach ten years.

There they stood under the portal of Notre-Dame, the little

bridegroom in a white velvet coat, with puffed sleeves, slashed

with scarlet satin, as were the short, also puffed breeches meeting

his long white knitted silk stockings some way above the knee;

large scarlet rosettes were in his white shoes, a scarlet knot

adorned his little sword, and his velvet cap of the same colour

bore a long white plume, and was encircled by a row of pearls of

priceless value.

They are no other than that garland of pearls

which, after a night of personal combat before the walls of Calais,

Edward III. of England took from his helmet and presented to Sir

Eustache de Ribaumont, a knight of Picardy, bidding him say

everywhere that it was a gift from the King of England to the

bravest of knights.

The precious heirlooms were scarcely held with the respect due to

an ornament so acquired. The manly garb for the first time assumed

by his sturdy legs, and the possession of the little sword, were

evidently the most interesting parts of the affair to the youthful

husband, who seemed to find in them his only solace for the weary

length of the ceremony. He was a fine, handsome little fellow,

fair and rosy, with bright blue eyes, and hair like shining flax,

unusually tall and strong-limbed for his age; and as he gave his

hand to his little bride, and walked with her under a canopy up to

kneel at the High Altar, for the marriage blessing and the mass,

they looked like a full-grown couple seen through a diminishing-

glass.

The little bride was perhaps a less beautiful child, but she had a

splendid pair of black eyes, and a sweet little mouth, both set

into the uncomprehending solemnity of baby gravity and contentment

in fine clothes. In accordance with the vow indicated by her name

of Marie, her dress was white and blue, turquoise forget-me-nots

bound the little lace veil on her dark chestnut hair, the bosom of

her white satin dress was sprinkled with the same azure jewel, and

turquoises bordered every seam of the sweeping skirt with a train

befitting a count's daughter, and meandered in gorgeous

constellations round the hem. The little thing lisped her own vows

forth without much notion of their sense, and indeed was sometimes

prompted by her bridesmaid cousin, a pretty little girl a year

older, who thrust in her assistance so glibly that the King, as

well as others of the spectators, laughed, and observed that she

would get herself married to the boy instead of her cousin.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024