QUESTIONS.-2. What can you say of Europe in feudal times? 3. What must you remember? 4. What of the feudal system? Who introduced it into France? When? When was the foundation of the French monarchy laid? How long did the feudal system continue? Of what did it form the basis? 5. What happened in feudal times? 6. How were such things considered? What would a knight sometimes do? 7. What of the people? Knights? 8. What of the crusades? When did knighterrantry become a regular profession? 9. What of those who belonged to the profession? 10. What was required and expected of the knights? 11. Who were knights-errant? 12. What did they perform for ladies?

CHAP. CXVII.-EUROPE continued.

MORE ABOUT CHIVALRY.

1. If one knight-errant chanced to meet another, they usually went to fighting, either for sport, or renown. Some of them acquired great fame, and a multitude of songs and ballads were composed in celebration of their deeds.

2. The knights were very particular to ride fine strong horses. Some of these are almost as famous, in the legends of chivalry, as their riders. The knight was powerfully armed, his chief weapon being a long pointed lance. Beside this, he had a sword, dagger, battle-axe, and mace, which was a heavy sort of club.

3. In addition to these weapons for attack, he had a defensive armour, consisting of a shield of metal, a helmet of steel with a vizor to cover his face, a body harness made of plates of steel, and sometimes a shirt of mail consisting of a multitude

of iron links, the whole fitting close to the body. Over all this, the knight wore a long flowing robe, which came down to his heels.

4. The horse also was carefully defended by mail, or steel plates. His head, chest, and sides were usually covered, and sometimes the whole body was shielded by glittering steel. Nothing, indeed, could exceed the care and preparation usually bestowed by the knights in training their horses, in selecting their armour, in having it carefully fitted, and in keeping it bright.

5. They were also very attentive to their daily exercise, as well to preserve their health and acquire strength, as to keep themselves in perfect practice.

6. A knight was always attended by a squire, and sometimes by several squires. These attended upon their masters, and were considered as learning to become knights themselves. As the institution of chivalry advanced, it became a matter of honour to be a knight, and therefore most kings, princes, and military leaders took upon themselves the vows of knighthood. The celedrated leaders of the crusades, Richard of England, Godfrey of France and others, were knights.

7. In after times, there were several orders of knights; those of each order taking upon themselves peculiar vows. Such were the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, the Knights of Malta, the Knights of the Cross, Knights Templars, &c.

8. When society had become somewhat more civilized, it was the custom in different parts of Europe to have tilts and tournaments. These were occasions of great ceremony, and multitudes of people collected together to witness them. They were often splendid beyond description. Kings, princes, and fair ladies delighted in these exhibitions.

9. They consisted of encounters between celebrated knights, clad in complete armour. They took place in some open plain, surrounded with tents and pavilions filled with spectators. The victorious knights were honoured with applause from the people, and with marks of favour even from kings and queens.

10. Such was the institution of chivalry. If I had time, I could fill a book with stories of knights. A multitude of tales called romances were written in the age of chivalry. These recounted the deeds, or pretended deeds, of celebrated champions. Some of them are very amusing, but they are nearly all filled with incredible fables.

11. Chivalry was at its height from the year 1200 to about 1400. From this later period it rapidly declined, and, in the time of Elizabeth of England, that is, about 1600, it had ceased. If there were a few tilts and tournaments after this, they were only as relics of an age that had passed.

12. Thus I have told you about the Feudal System, the Crusades, and Chivalry; and I have told you of these things in connexion with the history of France, because the people of that country were largely concerned in all these matters.

QUESTIONS.-1. What happened if two knights-errant met? What was done in celebration of their deeds? 2. What of their horses? How was the knight armed? 4. What of the horse's caparison? Knight's armour? 5. What of exercise? 6. What of squires? How was the profession of knighthood considered? Who were some celebrated knights in the crusades? 7. What can you say of orders of knights? 8. What of tilts and tournaments? 9. Describe them. What of the knights? 10. What of romances? 11. When was chivalry at its height? What of it after 1400? When did it cease? 12. Why is the story of the Feudal System, Chivalry, &c., told in connexion with the history of France?

CHAP. CXVIII.-EUROPE continued.

KING PHILIP AND POPE BONIFACE. WARS OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH

1. I WILL now go on with my story about France. After Charles the Fat, Hugh Capet, and the other kings I have mentioned, there were many sovereigns, but I shall pass them over till I come to Philip the Fair, who began to reign in 1285. He possessed great personal beauty, but had many bad qualities of mind and heart. The most remarkable event of his reign was a great quarrel with Pope Boniface.

2. This potentate was one of the haughtiest popes that ever wore a triple crown. He spoke to the sovereigns of Europe as if he were sovereign of them all, and king of kings. But Philip the Fair refused to acknowledge his authority. Pope Boniface excommunicated King Philip for his disobedience, and King Philip called Pope Boniface all the bad names he could think of.

3. One day, some of Philip's friends took Pope Boniface prisoner. They put him on a horse, without saddle or bridle, and made him ride with his face towards the horse's tail. Nobody could help laughing to see what a ridiculous figure was cut by his Holiness. But, as for poor Pope Boniface, he took the joke so much to heart, that, together with the loss of his treasures, it actually killed him. Philip the Fair survived him several years.

4. The French have always been a warlike people. They have been so often at war with England, that Frenchmen and Englishmen used to think themselves born to be each other's enemies.

5. On the death of Charles the Fourth, in 1328, Philip of Valois became king of France. But Edward the Third, king of England, asserted that he himself was the rightful king of France, because his mother was the daughter of Philip the Fair. He undertook to enforce his claim by invading France with an English army.

6. King Edward challenged Philip of Valois to fight him in single combat; but Philip preferred to meet him with an army. At the bloody battle of Cressy, in France, in 1346, the French lost the bravest of their nobles, and thirty thousand men.

7. In 1350, John the Good, son of Philip of Valois, succeeded to the throne of France. The country was invaded by an English army under the eldest son of Edward the Third.