Note 383 — Chapter XIV

Over the first triumphal arch was a representation of Isabella (or Elizabeth) trampling Mars under foot, with the mottoes Sacer hymen pacem nobis contulit and Deus nobis hæc otia fecit, and below the lines:

Élizabeth, de roy fille excellente, Vous avez joint ung jour deux rois puissans; France et l'Espaigne, en gloire permanente, Extolleront voz âges triumphans, etc.

Over a second arch at the palace gate, which was reached by a street hung with tapestry and decorated with the united arms of France and Spain, was suspended a painting of Catharine with her three sons and three daughters, and the inscription:

C'est à l'entour de royalle couronne Que le jardin hespérien floronne: Ce sont jardins de si belle féconde, Qui aujourd'huy ne trouve sa seconde; Ce sont rameaux vigoureux et puissans; Ce sont florons de vertu verdissans. Royne sans per (paire), de grâce décorée, Vous surmontez Pallas et Cythérée.

Catharine's portraits scarcely confirm the boast of her panegyrist that she surpassed Venus, however well she might match Minerva in sagacity.