The History of Chivalry or Knighthood and Its Times (Vol. I), by Charles Mills

[A] After.

[B] That ever could be met with.

[C] Now you must listen to me.

[D] Quickly.

[E] Scar.

[137] It may be as well to notice that the barriers of a town, or its outer fortification, are described by Froissart as being grated pallisades, the grates being about half a foot wide.

[138] The remainder of this knight’s story should be told, although it does not relate to the matter of the text. “In the suburbs he had a sore encounter, for, as he passed on the pavement, he found before him a bocher, a big man, who had well seen this knight pass by, and he held in his hands a sharp heavy axe, with a long point; and as the knight returned, and took no heed, this bocher came on his side and gave him such a stroke between the neck and shoulders, that he fell upon his horse, and yet he recovered; and then the bocher struck him again, so that the axe entered into his body, so that, for pain, the knight fell to the earth, and his horse ran away, and came to the squire who abode for his master at the streets; and so the squire took the horse, and had great marvel what was become of his master, for he had seen him ride to the barriers, and strike thereat with his glaive, and return again. Then he rode a little forth thitherward, and anon he saw his master laying upon the earth between four men, who were striking him as they would strike an anvil. And then the squire was so affrighted he durst not go farther, for he saw he could not help his master. Therefore he returned as fast as he might; so there the said knight was slain. And the knights that were at the gate caused him to be buried in holy ground.” Lord Berners’s Froissart, c. 281.

[140] Froissart, c. 281.; Gray’s Descent of Odin.; Herbert’s Icelandic Translations, p. 39; Scott’s Minstrelsy, vol. 1. p. 45.

[142] Froissart, c. 28. “Et si avoit entre eux plusieurs jeunes bacheliers, qui avoient chacun un œil couvert de drap, à fin qu’ils n’en puissent veoir; et disoit on que ceux là avoient voué, entre dames de leur pais, que jamais ne verroient que d’un œil jusques à ce qu’ils auroient fait aucunes prouesses de leur corps en royaume de France.” The disposition of knights to make vows was an excellent subject for Cervantes’ raillery. “Tell her,” continued I, (Don Quixote) “when she least expects it, she will come to hear how I made an oath, as the Marquis of Mantua did, when he found his nephew Baldwin ready to expire on the mountains, never to eat upon a table-cloth, and several other particulars, which he swore to observe, till he had revenged his death. So in the like solemn manner will I swear, never to desist from traversing the habitable globe, and ranging through all the seven parts of the world, more indefatigably than ever was done by Prince Pedro of Portugal, till I have freed her from her enchantment.” Don Quixote, part 2. c. 23.

[143] Every true knight said like him in the Morte d’Arthur, “Though the knight be never so false, I will never slay him sleeping; for I will never destroy the high order of knighthood.” And again, “Well, I can deem that I shall give him a fall. For it is no mastery, for my horse and I be both fresh, and so are not his horse and he, and weet ye well that he will take it for great unkindness, for every one good is loth to take another at disadvantage.”

“’Tis much he dares;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety.”

Sir Philip Sidney excellently well describes the nature of chivalric courage. “Their courage was guided with skill, and their skill was armed with courage; neither did their hardiness darken their wit, nor their wit cool their hardiness: both valiant as men despising death, and both confident as unwonted to be overcome. Their feet steady, their hands diligent, their eyes watchful, and their hearts resolute.” Arcadia, p. 28. Edit. 1590.

[147] Limoges had revolted on account of a tax which had been imposed on the English dominions in France, to pay the expences of the war, which had had for its object the restoration of Peter the Cruel.

[148] Froissart, liv. 1. c. 283. “Then the Prince, the Duke of Lancaster, the Earl of Cambridge, the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Guiscard Dangle, and all the others, with their companies, entered into the city, and all other footmen ready apparelled, to do evil, and to pillage and rob the city, and to slay men, women, and children; for so it was commanded them to do. It was great pity to see the men, women and children that kneeled down on their knees to the Prince for mercy, but he was so inflamed with ire, that he took no heed to them, so that none was heard; but all put to death as they were met withal, and such as were nothing culpable. There was no pity taken of the poor people who wrought never no manner of treason; yet they bought it dearer than the great personages, such as had done the evil and trespass. There was not so hard a heart within the city of Limoges, and if he had any remembrance of God, but that wept piteously for the great mischief that they saw before their eyes: for more than three thousand men, women and children were slain that day. God have mercy on their souls, for I trow they were martyrs.” Lord Berners’ Translation.

[150] Romance of Sir Otuel. And in the Morte d’Arthur it is said, “and thus by assent of them both, they granted either other to rest, and so they set them down upon two mole hills there beside the fighting place, and either of them unlaced his helmet, and took the cold wind, for either of their pages was fast by them to come when they called to lace their harness, and to set them on again at their commandment.” Morte d’Arthur. lib. 8. c. 17.

[152] Froissart, liv. 2. c. 24. This story of Froissart reminds one of Mortimer,

“When on the gentle Severn’s sedgy bank,
In single opposition, hand to hand,
He did confound the best part of an hour
In changing hardiment with great Glendower:
Three times they breath’d, and three times did they drink,
Upon agreement, of swift Severn’s flood;
Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank,
Blood-stain’d with these valiant combatants.”
Henry IV. Part 1. Act 1. Sc. iii.

[158] Thus Don Quixote pleasantly says in his enumeration of chivalric qualities, “whoever possesses the science of knight errantry ought to be learned in the laws, and understand distributive and commutative justice, in order to right all mankind.”

[159] Fairy Queen, book iii. canto 1. st. 3.; and Tasso, with equal attention to truth, thus describes the duty of a knight.

Premer gli alteri, e sollevar gli imbelli,
Defender gli innocenti, e punir gli empi,
Fian l’arti lor.
La Ger. lib. 10. 76.

[166] Even so judicious a writer as Mr. Dunlop says, (Hist. of Fiction, vol. ii. p. 144.) that vigor of discipline was broken by want of unity of command. St. Palaye, in whom want of acquaintance with the subject is less excusable, says, “Si le pouvoir absolu, si l’unité du commandement est le seul moyen d’entretenir la vigueur de la discipline, jamais elle ne dut être moins solidement établie, et plus souvent ébranlée que du temps de nos chevaliers. Quelle confusion, en effet, ne devoient point apporter tant d’especes de chefs, dont les principes, les motifs et les interêts n’etoient pas toujours d’accord, et qui ne tiroient point d’une même source le droit de se faire obeir?” Memoires sur l’Ancienne Chevalerie, partie 5.

“Then said the gud Erl of Derby,
Lo! here a fair sight sykkyrly.
A fairer sight how may man see,
Than knight or squire which ever he be,
In-til his helm him thus got schryive?
When I shall pass out of this life,
I would God of his grace would send
To me a like manner to end.”
Wyntown’s Cronykil of Scotland, book viii. c. 35.

[173] Froissart, livre 1. c. 87. The romances of chivalry are full of tales expressive of this feature of the knightly character. As amusing a story as any is to be found in the Morte d’Arthur. “There came into the court a lady that hight the lady of the lake. And she came on horseback, richly bysene, and saluted King Arthur, and asked him a gift that he promised her when she gave him the sword. ‘That is sooth,’ said Arthur, ‘a gift I promised you. Ask what ye will, and ye shall have it, an it be in my power to give it.’—‘Well,’ saith the lady, ‘I ask the head of the knight that hath wore the sword, or the damsel’s head that brought it. I take no force though I have both their heads, for he slew my brother, a good knight and a true, and that gentlewoman was causer of my father’s death.’—‘Truly,’ said King Arthur, ‘I may not grant either of their heads with my worship, therefore ask what ye will else, and I shall fulfill your desire.’—‘I will ask none other thing,’ said the lady. When Balyn was ready to depart, he saw the lady of the lake, that by her means had slain Balyn’s mother, and he had sought her three years; and when it was told him that she asked his head of King Arthur, he went to her streyte, and said, ‘Evil be you found, you would have my head, and therefore shall lose yours,’ and with his sword lightly he smote off her head before King Arthur. ‘Alas! for shame,’ said Arthur, ‘why have you done so? you have shamed me and all my court; for this was a lady that I was beholden to, and hither she came under my safe-conduct. I shall never forgive you that trespass.’—‘Sir,’ said Balyn, ‘me forthinketh of your displeasure; for this same lady was the untruest lady living, and by enchantment and sorcery she hath been the destroyer of many good knights, and she was causer that my mother was burnt through her falsehood and treachery.’—‘What cause soever ye had,’ said Arthur, ‘you should have forborne her in my presence; therefore, think not the contrary, you shall repent it, for such another despite had I never in my court, therefore withdraw you out of my court in all haste that you may.’” Morte d’Arthur, lib. ii. c. 3.

[174] Malmsbury, p. 184. Quem cuilibet, quamvis infestissimo inimico negare, laudabilium militum mos non est.

[177] This was part of the exhortation of a king of Portugal, on knighting his son, according to a Portuguese historian, cited in Lord Lyttleton’s History of Henry II., vol. ii. p. 233. 4to.

[180] The necessity of courtesy of manner was so important in the minds of the old poets that they ascribed it not only to every favourite hero, but even to animals, whether real or imaginary. Our moral poet Gower thus gravely sets forth the politeness of a dragon.

“With all the cheer that he may,
Toward the bed there as she lay,
Till he came to her the beddes side,
And she lay still and nothing cried;
For he did all his things fair,
And was courteous and debonair.”
Confessio Amantis, lib. 6. fol. 138.

[182] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 47. It is difficult to fancy the extravagant degree of estimation in which hawks were held during the chivalric ages. As Mr. Rose says in one of his notes to the Romance of Partenopex of Blois, they were considered as symbols of high estate, and as such were constantly carried about by the nobility of both sexes. Barclay, in his translation from Brandt, complains of the indecent usage of bringing them into places appropriated to public worship; a practice which, in the case of some individuals, appears to have been recognized as a right. The treasurer of the church of Auxerre enjoyed the distinction of assisting at divine service on solemn days, with a falcon on his fist; and the Lord of Sassai held the privilege of perching his upon the altar. Nothing was thought more dishonorable to a man of rank, than to give up his hawks, and if he were taken prisoner, he would not resign them even as the price of liberty.

[184] Froissart, vol. i. c. 177; and Sir Walter Scott’s note to the Romance of Sir Tristrem, p. 274.

[185] This statement of the objects of the minstrelsy art, is taken from a manuscript cited by Tyrwhitt, Chaucer ii. 483. It is the railing of a sour fanatic, who wished to destroy all the harmless pleasures of life. But we may profit by his communication, while we despise his gloom.

I shall add another description of the various subjects of minstrelsy from the Lay le Fraine.

“Some beth of war and some of woe,
And some of joy and mirth also;
And some of treachery and of guile,
Of old adventures that fell while;
And some of jests and ribaudy;
And many there beth of fairy;
Of all things that men see,
Most of love, forsooth, there be.”

[187] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 26. 52. 163. In Dr. Henderson’s History of Wines, p. 283, it is stated that our ancestors mixed honey and spices with their wine, in order to correct its harshness and acidity, and to give it an agreeable flavour. True, but it should also have been remarked that the spices were not always mixed with the wine, but that they were served up on a plate by themselves. This custom is proved from an amusing passage in Froissart, which involves also another point of manners. Describing a dinner at the castle of Tholouse, at which the king of France was present, our chronicler says, “This was a great dinner and well stuffed of all things; and after dinner and grace said, they took other pastimes in a great chamber, and hearing of instruments, wherein the Earl of Foix greatly delighted. Then wine and spices were brought, the Earl of Harcourt served the king of his spice plate, and Sir Gerrard de la Pyen served the Duke of Bourbon, and Sir Monnaut of Nouailles served the Earl of Foix.” Vol. ii. c. 264. Another passage is equally expressive: “The king alighted at his palace, which was ready apparelled for him. There the king drank and took spices, and his uncles also; and other prelates, lords, and knights.” Thus too, at a celebration of the order of the Golden Fleece, at Ghent, in 1445, Olivier de la Marche, describing the dinner, says, “Longuement dura le disner et le service. Là jouerent et sonnerent menestries et trompettes; et herauts eurent grans dons, et crierent largesse; et tables levées furent les espices aportées, et furent les princes et les chevaliers servis d’espices et de vins, &c.” Memoires, d’Olivier de la Marche, in the vol. ix. c. 15. of the great collection of French Memoirs: and in the Morte d’Arthur it is said they went unto Sir Persauntes pavilion, and drank the wine and ate the spices.

[188] He was a great personage, if wealth could confer dignity. The hospital and priory of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield, London, were founded by Royer or Raherus, the king’s minstrel, in the third year of the reign of Henry I. A. D. 1102. Percy, Essay on the Ancient Minstrels, p. 32. The Serjeant of the minstrels was another title for the head of the royal minstrelsy. A circumstance that occurred in the reign of Edward IV. shews the confidential character of this officer, and his facility of access to the king at all hours and on all occasions. “And as he (king Edward IV.) was in the north country in the month of September, as he lay in his bed, one, named Alexander Carlisle, that was serjeant of the minstrels, came to him in great haste, and bade him arise, for he had enemies coming.” This fact is mentioned by Warton, on the authority of an historical fragment. ad calc. Sportti Chron. ed. Hearne, Oxon, 1729.

[190] Wood, Hist. Antiq. Un. Oxon. 1. 67. sub anno 1224; and Percy, Notes on his Essay on the Ancient Minstrels, p. 64.

[191] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 31. Writers on chivalry have too often affirmed, that the minstrels besides singing, reciting, and playing on musical instruments, added the entertainments of vaulting over ropes, playing with the pendent sword, and practising various other feats of juggling and buffoonery. That this was sometimes the case during all the ages of the minstrelsy art, is probable enough, for the inferior minstrels were in a dreadful state of indigence. But the disgraceful union of poetry and juggling was not common in the best ages of chivalry. Chaucer expressly separates the minstrel from the juggler.

“There mightest thou karols seen,
And folk dance, and merry ben,
And made many a fair tourning
Upon the green grass springing.
There mightest thou see these flouters.
Minstrallis and eke jugelours.”
Romaunt of the Rose, l. 759, &c.

Other passages to the same effect are collected in Anstis Order of the Garter, vol. i. p. 304; and Warton, History of English poetry, vol. ii. p. 55. As chivalry declined, minstrelsy was discountenanced, and its professors, fallen in public esteem, were obliged to cultivate other arts besides those of poetry and music.

[193] Wace, a canon of Bayeux, and one of the most prolific rhimers that ever practised the art of poetry, continually reminded the great of the benefits which accrued to themselves from patronising poets.

“Bien entend conuis e sai
Que tuit morrunt, e clerc, e lai;
E que mult ad curte decrée,
En pres la mort lur renumee;
Si per clerc ne est mis en livre,
Ne poet par el dureement vivre.
****
Suvent aveient des barruns,
E des nobles dames beaus duns,
Pur mettre lur nuns en estroire,
Que tuz tens mais fust de eus memoire.”

MS. Bib. Reg. iv. c. 11. cited by Mr. Turner, History of England, vol. i. p. 442. 4to.

[194] This description (Spenser’s) of chivalric manners, has sadly puzzled his commentators. They are quite agreed, however, on one point, namely, that to kiss the hand of a fair lady (which the word basciomani signified) was not a custom indigenous to England, but that it was imported hither from Italy or Spain. A preux chevalier of the olden time would have been indignant at this insult to the originality of his gallantry.

[197] Thus in the Romance of Perceforest (cited by Ellis, Notes to Way’s Fabliaux, vol. i. p. 220) it is said, “There were eight hundred knights all seated at table, and yet there was not one who had not a dame or damsel at his plate!”

“Fill’d with these views the attendant dwarf she sends:
Before the knight the dwarf respectful bends;
Kind greetings bears as to his lady’s guest,
And prays his presence to adorn her feast.
The knight delays not; on a bed design’d
With gay magnificence the fair reclin’d
High o’er her head, on silver columns rais’d,
With broidering gems her proud pavilion blaz’d.
Herself, a paragon in every part,
Seem’d sovereign beauty deck’d with comeliest art.
With a sweet smile of condescending pride
She seats the courteous Gawaine by her side,
Scans with assiduous glance each rising wish,
Feeds from her food the partner of her dish!”

[198] M. le Grand, in his valuable Histoire de la Vie Privée des Français, has given us some very curious information regarding the mode of dressing this distinguished bird. “It was generally,” he says, “served up roasted. Instead of plucking the bird (observes the Complete Housekeeper of former times) skin it carefully so as not to damage the feathers; then cut off the feet, stuff the body with spices and sweet herbs; roll a cloth round the head, and then spit your bird. Sprinkle the cloth, all the time it is roasting, to preserve its crest. When it is roasted enough, tie the feet on again; remove the cloth; set up the crest; replace the skin; spread out the tail, and so serve it up. Some people, instead of serving up the bird in the feathers, carry their magnificence so far as to cover their peacock with leaf gold: others have a very pleasant way of regaling their guests. Just before they serve up, they cram the beak of their peacock with wool, rubbed with camphor: then, when the dish is placed upon the table, they set fire to the wool, and the bird instantly vomits out flames like a little volcano.”

[199] Du Chesne, House of Montmorencí, liv. i. p. 29, &c. M. de Couci, (c. 7.) 664, &c. Olivier de la Marche, p. 412. Hist. de Boucicaut, ed. de Godefroi.

[200] Like Sir Guiscard Dangle, Earl of Huntingdon, who, according to Froissart, possessed all the noble virtues that a knight ought to have, for “he was merry, true, amourous, sage, sweet, liberal, preux, hardy, adventurous, and chivalrous,” vol. i. c. 384.

[201] See the verses of Des Escas, a Troubadour at the court of the King of Arragon.

[202] Knight of the Tower, chap. “How goodly women ought to maintain themselves courteously.”

[207] Knight of the Tower, chap. “How young maidens ought not lightly to turn their heads here and there.”

[208] Knight of the Tower, chap. intitled, “Of them that will not wear their good clothes on high feasts and holy-days,” and, “How the daughter of a knight lost her marriage.” Memoires de Louis de la Tremouille, cap. xii. p. 169, &c. in the 14th vol. of the great collection of French Memoires.

[210] The manners of his times might, perhaps, have been the origin of this picture, for even so late as the reign of Elizabeth, it is mentioned among the accomplishments of the ladies of her court, that the eldest of them are skilful surgeons. Harrison’s Description of England, prefixed to Holinshed.

[212] Before the year 1680, when coaches were first used in England, as Percy observes, ladies rode chiefly on horseback, either single on their palfreys, or double behind some person on a pillion. Not but in case of sickness, or bad weather, they had horse-litters, and even vehicles called chairs, and carrs or charres. Note on the Northumberland Household Book.

[213] It is evident that the good King of Hungary was a boon companion, and we will fancy that it was from a very common and natural feeling, that he supposed his daughter’s inclinations similar to his own. Of the formidable list of wines which he gives, some names declare their growths very clearly; of the rest, I believe, that Rumney wine means the wine from La Romanée, a vineyard of Burgundy. Dr. Henderson, however, suggests that it was an Andalusian growth. Malmesyne was a Greek wine, from Malvagia in the Morea, the original seat of the Malmsey grape. Vernage was perhaps a Tuscan wine. Osey was Alsatian wine. Respice, (vin rapé) was the produce of unbruised grapes, and Bastard was a sweet Spanish wine.

[214] Baked meats were the usual food of our ancestors. Thus Chaucer says of his Frankelein (the modern country squire),

[220] A modern princess, as Mr. Ellis says (Specimens of the early English Poets, vol. i. p. 344), might possibly object to breathe the smoke of pepper, cloves, and frankincense during her sleep; but the fondness of our ancestors for those, and indeed for perfumes of all kinds was excessive. Mr. Ellis adds, that in the foregoing description of diversions, the good King of Hungary has forgotten one, which seems to have been as great a favorite with the English and French as ever it was with the Turkish ladies; this is the bath. It was considered, and with great reason, as the best of all cosmetics; and Mr. Strutt has extracted from an old MS. of prognostications, written in the time of Richard II., a medical caution to the women, against “going to the bath for beauty” during the months of March and November. Women also often bathed together for purposes of conversation. The reader knows that the public baths were not always used for such healthful and innocent purposes.

“Vos, modo venando, modo rus geniale colendo
Ponitis in varia tempora longa mora.
Aut fora vos retinent, aut unctæ dona palæstræ;
Flectitis aut fræno colla sequaris equi.
Nunc volucrem laqueo, nunc piscem ducitis hamo.
Diluitur posito serior hora mero.
His mihi submotæ, vel si minus acriter utar,
Quod faciam, superest, præter amare, nihil.
Quod superest, facio; teque, o mi sola voluptas,
Plus quoque, quam reddi quod mihi possit, amo.”
Ovid. Ep. Hero Leandro.

[222] Don Quixote affirmed, that no history ever made mention of any knight errant that was not a lover; for were any knight free from the impulses of that generous passion, he would not be allowed to be a lawful knight, but a misborn intruder, and one who was not admitted within the pale of knighthood at the door, but leaped the fence, and stole in like a thief and a robber. Vivaldo, who was talking with the Don, asserted in opposition to this opinion and statement, that Don Galaor, the brother of Amadis de Gaul, never had any mistress in particular to recommend himself to, and yet for all that he was not the less esteemed. Don Quixote, after borrowing one of Sancho’s proverbs, that one swallow never makes a summer, replied that he knew Don Galaor was privately very much in love; and as for his paying his addresses wherever he met with beauty, this was an effect of his natural inclination, which he could not easily restrain. It was an undeniable truth, concluded the Don, that Galaor had a favourite lady whom he had crowned empress of his will; and to her he frequently recommended himself in private, for he did not a little value himself upon his discretion and secrecy in love. This defence of Galaor is very amusing, and Vivaldo submitted to it. But he ought to have adduced the opinions of that mad knight and merry talker of the Round Table, Sir Dynadan, who marvelled what could ail Sir Tristram and many others of his companions, that they were always sighing after women. “Why,” said la belle Isaud, “are you a knight and no lover? you cannot be called a good knight, except you make a quarrel for a lady.” “God defend me!” replied Dynadan, “for the joy of love is so short, and the sorrow thereof and what cometh thereof endureth so long.”

[226] Essais Histor. sur Paris, by St. Foix, vol. iii. p. 263, cited by Strutt. Sports and Pastimes, &c. “As it happened, Sir Palomydis looked up towards her (la belle Isaud) where she lay in the window, and he espied how she laughed, and therewith he took such a rejoicing that he smote down what with his spear and with his sword all that ever he met, for through the sight of her he was so enamoured of her love, that he seemed at that time, that had Sir Tristrem and Sir Launcelot been both against him, they would have won no worship of him.” Morte d’Arthur, book x. c. 70.

[230] Froissart, c. 249. “Le duc de Lancastre avoit de son heritage en Champaigne: c’estassavoir un chastel entre Troye et Chalons, qui s’appelait Beaufort, et duquel un escuyer Anglais (qui se nommoit le poursuivant d’amour) estait capitaine.”

[232] Barbour’s Bruce, book vi. Hume’s (of Godscroft) History of the House of Douglas, p. 29, &c.

The description of the good Lord James of Douglas, in Barbour’s Bruce, is not uninteresting.

“In visage was he some deal gray,
And had black hair, as I heard say,
But then he was of limbs well made,
With bones great and shoulders braid.
His body well made and lenzie,
As they that saw him said to me.
When he was blyth he was lovely
And meek and sweet in company.
But who in battle might him see
Another countenance had he.
And in his speech he lispt some deal,
But that set him right wonder well.”
The Bruce, p. 13.

“E se la us fa gelos
E us en dona razo,
E us ditz c’ancre no fo
De so que dels huelhs vis,
Diguatz Don. En suy fiz
Que vos disetz vertat,
Mas yeu vay simiat.”

The name of the gentleman who thus consented to distrust the evidence of his senses was Amanieu des Escas, a favourite troubadour in Spain during the thirteenth century. One of the “statutes” in the Court of Love is, according to Chaucer’s report of it, pretty much in the same strain:

“But think that she, so bounteous and fair,
Could not be false, imagine this algate,
And think that tongues wicked would her appair,
Slandering her name, and worshipful estate,
And lovers true to settin at debate,
And though thou seest a fault, right at thine eye,
Excuse it blith, and gloss it prettily.”
Chaucer, Urry’s edit. fol. 563.

[235] Mr. Skottowe, in his Essays on Shakspeare (essays which have done more for the right understanding of the great dramatist than all the works of his commentators from Theobald to Malone), observes that, in the play of Troilus and Cressida, a courtly knight of chivalry is often seen under the name of a Trojan hero. The following challenge of Hector is conceived and executed in the true chivalric spirit.

“Kings, princes, lords,
If there be one, among the fair’st of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his ease;
That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril;
That knows his valour, and knows not his fear;
That loves his mistress more than in confession,
(With truant vows to her own lips he loves,)
And dare avow her beauty and her worth,
In other arms than hers,—to him this challenge.
Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
Shall make it good, or do his best to do it.
He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer,
Than ever Greek did compass in his arms;
And will to-morrow with his trumpet call,
Midway between yon tents and walls of Troy,
To rouse a Grecian that is true in love:
If any come, Hector shall honour him;
If none, he’ll say in Troy, when he retires,
The Grecian dames are sun-burn’d, and not worth
The splinter of a lance.”
Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3.

[237] This society of the Penitents of Love is mentioned by the Chevalier of the Tower, whose book I have so often quoted in illustration of the chivalric character.

[239] Way’s Fabliaux, vol. ii. p. 170. The moral of the Lay of Aristotle brings to mind Voltaire’s two celebrated lines under a statue of Cupid:—

“Qui que tu sois, tu vois ton maitre,
Il l’est, le fut, ou le doit être.”

[243] L’Histoire et plaisante Cronicque du petit Jehan de Saintré, vol. i. c. 7.

[247] Romance of Sir Bevis. In Ariosto, the heroine Bradamante wishes Rugiero to be baptized; and he replies, with great gallantry, that he would put his head not only into water, but into fire, for the sake of her love.

Non che nell’ acqua, disse, ma nel foco
Per tuo amor porre il capo mi fia poco.
Orlando Furioso, canto xxii. st. 36.

[248] Don Quixote himself was not a greater idolater of the ladies, than was the valiant Marshal Boucicaut, who, however, carried his fear of impertinent intrusion to a more romantic pitch than perhaps the ladies liked, for he would not even permit the knights of his banner to look a second time at a window where a handsome woman was seated. Mémoires, partie 3. c. 7.

[249] Boucicaut, Mémoires, partie i. c. 38, 39. The commencement of the letters of those knights of the lady in the green field is worthy of insertion on account of its chivalric tone. “A toutes haultes et nobles dames and damoiselles, et à tous seigneurs, chevaliers, et escuyers, apres tous recommendations, font á sçavoir les treize chevaliers compagnons, portans en leur devise l’escu verd à la dame blanche. Premièrement pour ce que tout chevalier est tenu de droict de vouloir garder et deffendre l’honneur, l’estat, les biens, la renommée, et la louange de toutes dames et damoiselles de noble lignée, et que iceulx entre les autres sont tres desirans de le vouloir faire, les prient et requierent que il leur plaise que si aulcune ou aulcunes est ou sont par oultraige, ou force, contre raison diminuées ou amoindries des choses dessus dictes, que celle ou celles à qui le tort ou force en sera faicte veuille ou veuillent venir ou envoyer requerir l’un des dicts chevaliers, tous ou partie d’iceulx, selon ce que le cas le requerra, et le requis de par la dicte dame ou damoiselle, soit un, tous ou partie, sont et veulent estre tenus de mettre leurs corps pour leur droict garder et deffendre encontre tout autre seigneur, chevalier, ou escuyer, en tout ce que chevalier se peut et doibt employer au mestier d’armes, de tout leur pouvoir, de personne à personne, jusques au nombre dessus dicts et au dessoutes, tant pour tant. Et en breifs jours après la requeste à l’un, tous ou partie d’iceulx, faicte de par les dictes dames ou damoiselles, ils veulent presentement eulx mettre en tout debovir d’accomplir les choses dessus dictes, et si brief que faire se pourra. Et s’il advenoit, que Dieu ne veuille que celuy au ceulx qui par les dictes dames ou damoiselles seroient requis, eussent essoine raisonnable; a fin que leur service et besongne ne se puisse en rien retarder qu’il ne prist conclusion, le requis ou les requis seront tenus de bailler prestement de leurs compaignons, par qui le dict faict seroit et pouvoit estre mené à chef et accomply.”

[250] The Knight’s Tale, l. 2108, &c. The following is Dryden’s version of the above lines. The spirit of the last two lines of Chaucer is entirely lost.

“Beside the champions, all of high degree,
Who knighthood lov’d and deeds of chivalry,
Throng’d to the lists, and envy’d to behold
The names of others, not their own, enroll’d.
Nor seems it strange, for every noble knight
Who loves the fair, and is endu’d with might,
In such a quarrel would be proud to fight.”

[253] Froissart, liv. ii. c. 6.; liv. i. c. 124, 125. “Puis passerent oultre destruisans le pais d’entour et vindrent ainsi jusques au chastel de Poys: ou il y avoit bonne ville, et deux beaux chasteaux: mais nul des seigneurs n’y estait, fors deux belles damoiselles, filles au Seigneur de Poys: qui tost eussent esté violees, si n’eussent esté deux chevaliers d’Angleterre; messire Jehan Chandos, et le sire de Basset: qui les deffendirent: et pour les garder les menerent au roy: qui pour honneur leur fit bonne chere, et leur demanda ou elles voudroyent estre, si disent à Corbie. Là les fit le roi conduire sans pareil.”

[254] I have taken this story from Gibbon, (Antiquities of the House of Brunswick, Miscellaneous Works, vol. iii. p. 530,) who says it is told (if he is not mistaken) by the Spectator, and may certainly be supported by ancient evidence.

“Ah! well was he that he forebore to blame;
Misfortune be his lot and worldly shame,
Nor, dying, let him taste of heavenly bliss
Whoe’er of dame or damsel speaks amiss;
And sure no gentle clerk did ever vex
With foul discourtesy the gentle sex,
But churl or villain, of degenerate mind,
Brutal and base, the scandal of his kind.”
S. Rose’s Partenopex of Blois, canto ii.

And in a similar strain of courtesy is the beginning of the Fabliau of Constant du Hamel, as translated by M. Le Grand. “Je ne pardonne pas qu’on se moque des dames. On doit toute sa vie les honorer et les servir et ne leur parler jamais que pour leur dire choses courtoises. Qui agit autrement est un vilain.”

“Les chevaliers mieux en valoient,
Les dames meilleures etoient
Et plus chastement en vivoient.”

[259] Caxton’s Chevalier of the Tower, cap. “How every good woman ought to keep her renommèe.”

[261] Harleian MS. No. 166. 2087. p. 23. cited in Retrospective Review. No. 19. p. 95.

[262] Froissart, liv. i. c. 138. Lord Hailes is not pleased that the queen should have shared in the honour of the battle, and wishes to doubt her presence, because Froissart is the only writer who states it. Upon which Mr. Turner (History of England, vol. 2. p. 204, 8vo.) very judiciously observes, that, if we disbelieve all the facts of this reign, for which we have only Froissart’s authority, our scepticism must take a large sweep.

[263] Wyntown’s Cronykil of Scotland, book viii. c. 32. Lord Hailes, vol. 2. p. 218, 221. Border Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 170.

[265] La Comtesse de Montfort avoit courage d’homme et cœur de lion. Elle estoit en la cité de Rénes, quand elle entendit que son seigneur fut prins; et, combien qu’elle eust grand dueil au cœur, elle reconfortoit tous ses amis vaillamment, et tous ses soudoyers: et leur monstroit un petit fils (qu’elle avoit appelé Jehan, comme son pere) et leur disoit, Haa, seigneurs, ne vous ébahissez mie de monseigneur, que nous avons perdu. Ce n’estoit qu’un homme. Veez cy mon petit enfant, qui sera (si Dieu plaist) son restorier, et vous sera des biens assez et j’ai de savoir à planté; si vous en donneraz assez, et vous pourchaceray tel capitaine, parquoy vous serez tous reconfortes. Froissart, liv. i. c. 73.

[266] Mrs. Charles Stothard, in her interesting Tour through Normandy and Brittany, observes (p. 231.) that the massive walls which once surrounded the town of Hennebon, remain in many places entire, and must have been impregnable in their strength and construction.

[267] Froissart, c. 82. Lors descendit la Comtesse du Chastel, à joyeuse chere, et vint baiser messiu Gautier de Manny et ses compaignons, les uns apres les autre, deux fois ou trois, comme vaillante Dame.

[269] Like Gonzalo in the Tempest. “Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground, long heath, brown furze, any thing. The wills above be done; but I would fain die a dry death.” Act i. sc. 1.

[270] The principal facts in the heroic life of the Countess of Mountfort are recorded by Froissart, c. 68, 72, 80, 91, &c. Lobineau, Histoire de Bretagne, vol. i. p. 320, &c. Argentré, Histoire de Bretagne, liv. vii. c. 9, 10.

[272] See the chronicle of M. Villani in the 14th vol. of Muratori, Rerum Scrip. Ital.; and Sismondi, Histoire des Rep. Ital. tom. vi. c. 45. Italy has not many romantic associations, and there are now no remains of Cesena to awaken the admiration of the traveller to the heroism of Marzia. Forsyth, Remarks on Italy, vol. ii. p. 266.

“The lady’s heart was on him cast,
And she beheld him wonder fast;
Ever on him she cast her eye,
Ipomydon full well it seye[F];
Anon it gave him in his thought,
To loke again let would be not.
Nor no more coward thought he to be
Of his looking than was she.
The lady perceived it full well,
Of all his looking every dell,
And therewith began to shame,
For she might lightly fall in blame,
If men perceived it any thing,
Betwixt them two such looking,
Then would they say all bydene[G],
That some love were them between;
Then should she fall in slander,
And lose much of her honour.
She thought to warn him privily,
By her cousin that set him by.
‘Jason,’ she said, ‘thou art to blame,
And therewith the ought to shame,
To behold my maid in vain;
Every man to other will sayne,
That betwixt you is some sin,
Of thy looking, I rede[H], thou blynne[I].’
Ipomydon him bethought anon,
Then that she blamed Jason,
Without deserving every dell:
But the encheson[J] he perceived well.
Down he looked and thought great shame,
That Jason bore for him the blame.
Still he sat, and said no more,
He thought to dwell no longer there.”
Romance of Sir Ipomydon.