This is the ordinaunce and guyding that perteyneth unto the worshipfull beryyng of ony astate to be done in manner and fourme ensewing.

When that a King annoynted is deceffed, aft' his body is fp'ged, it must be washed and clensed by a bishop for his holy annoyntem, than the body must be bamed, wrapped in laun, or reynez yf it may be gotyn, an hosyn, cherte, & a perer of shone of rede lether, & do on his surcote of cloth, his cap of estate on his hed, and then ley hym on a fair borde cou'ed with cloth of gold, his own hande on his bely & a fep'r in the toder hande, & oon his face a kerchief, & so shewed to his noblez by the space of ii dayez & more yef the weder will it suffre.

On Sunday being the 30th of July, 1587, in the 29th year of the reign of Elizabeth, the queen's majestie of England, there went from Peterborough Maister Dethick, alias Garter principal king of armes, and five heralds, accompanied with forty horse and men, to conduct the body of Mary, late queen of Scots from Fotheringham Castle in Northamptonshire to Peterborough aforesaid, which queen had remained prisoner in England 19 years; having for that purpose brought a royal coach, drawn by four horses, and covered with black velvet richly set forth with escotcheons of the arms of Scotland, and little penons, round about it.

It is a misfortune generally attendant on the earlier periods of History, that they want those original and authentic records which are necessary to transmit facts and characters of men in a just and impartial light to posterity.

This is supposed to have been the case with respect to king Richard III; for although the contemporary historians of our own and other kingdoms have charged him with a complication of the most atrocious crimes; yet Mr. Buck, fired with a zeal for the house of York, and for the honour of that king, (in whose service his ancestor, Sir John Buck, fought in Bosworth Field, and afterwards lost his head for it at Leicester), has professedly undertaken to apologize for Richard's character, and, where he could not exculpate him, has taken uncommon pains to extenuate his guilt.