EUGENIO MARTINEZ-MRS. FIENNES-WALKER. it negligently over the shoulders, like a mantle. 343 [Precaution against Mining in Dover Castle.] "THERE was a deep dry well in Dover Castle, as a security against mining; for by [The Habit of a Conqueror, not the Habit of the sound and vibration of the earth there the Conquered.] "WHEN Hanfons (Alonso) the son of K. Jaume of Aragon, returned from a successful war in Corsica and Sardinia, he landed in the dress of the country which he had left, and the King his father neither would speak to him nor give him his hand to kiss. In the evening the Infante drest him in the Catalan fashion, and then the King met him at the head of the stairs and embraced him and kissed him. The Queen asked him the meaning of this different treatment, and he replied that no man ought to appear in the habit of the conquered, instead of that of the conqueror." - PERE TOMICH. c. 43, ff. 43. [Lo Rey Ceremonios.] "MORT lo excellent Rey Halfons, fou Rey son fill en Pere de Arago e dels altres regnes e Principat de Cathalunya, lo qual fou appellat lo Rey cerimonios, e per tant fou axi appellat; car ell feu cercar totes les cases de tots los Reys de Chrestians, e volgue saber en quin orde vivien en lurs cases, e havent ho sabut lo dit Rey ordena la sua casa prenent la forma deles dites cases dels Reys dessus dits deles cerimonies e ordonacions de cascunas lo millor, per ques deya que la casa del dessus dit Rey era millor ordenada que casa de Rey de Chrestians, e ab majors ceremonies, e per aquesta raho li fou imposat lo nom de ceremonios.”— Ibid. c. 44, ff. 44. it might be discovered if the enemy were mining, and on what side."-MRS. FIENNES'S MSS. wwwww The Spirituall Glasse. "READ distinctly. Praye devoutly. Make yourselves lowly. Love all others for him charitablye. Thus Love bringeth the Lover to Love, which is God himself." From H. K. WHITE's Papers, said then to be "from an old vellum MS. of the reign of Elizabeth." [The Ollamh-Filea Feircheirtne.] "FEIRCHEIRTNE was Ollamh-Filea to Conrigh, a celebrated chieftain, who lived 1 Commandments. * Deadly Sins. 3 Senses. The Ollamh, or Chief Doctor of the Seven Degrees in all the Sciences, was to be skilled in was a spike like the unicorn's horn. The chamfrain of the Count de St. Pol at the siege of Harfleur, 1449, was valued at 50,000 crowns of the money of that time; and that of the Count de Foix at the taking of Bayonne was valued at 15,000 crowns of gold." Cyclopædia. [Intercession of Our Lady.] in splendour on the banks of the Fioun- | the horse's head, like a mask. In the middle glaise, in the county of Kerry. This warrior was married to Blanaid, a lady of transcendant beauty, who had been the meed of his prowess in single combat with Congculionne, a knight of the Red Branch. But the lady was secretly attached to the knight, and in an accidental interview which she had with him, from the battlements of her castle, offered to follow his fortunes, if he would at a certain time, and on receiving a certain signal, storm the castle and put her husband and his attendants to the sword. Congculionne promised to observe her directions; and did so, inundating the castle with the blood of its inhabitants. However Feircheirtne escaped the slaughter, and pursued at a distance Blanaid and her ravisher to the court of Concovar Mac Nessa, determined to sacrifice his perfidious mistress to the manes of his patron. When the bard arrived at Eamania, he found Concovar and his court, together with the amorous fugitives, walking on the top of a rock called Rinchin Beara, enjoying the extensive prospect which it commanded. Blanaid happening to detach herself from the rest of the company, stood wrapt in meditation on that part of the cliff which overhung a deep precipice. The Bard stepping up to her, began an adulatory conversation; then suddenly springing forward, he seized her in his arms, and throwing himself with her headlong down the precipice, they were both dashed to pieces."-WALKER's Irish Bards. [The Chamfrain.] "THE chamfrain was made of metal or boiled leather, and covered the forepart of the four principal branches of poetry, and to study in each of them for three years. He was to have in memory seven times fifty stories, to entertain the assembly. His reward was twenty milch cows, and he was to be attended by twenty-four men on all occasions, either at home or abroad; who were also to protect him if occasion required. And he and his attendants were to be supplied with all kinds of necessaries for a month. "WHEN the thing1 that was born in the parts about Jerusalem shall have 1260 years, the Almighty will make semblance of bringing the world to an end, but our Lady who is before the High God to support mankind, will put herself on her knees before him, and will say, ' Fair Son, suffer them awhile that they may amend their consciences. And know certainly that they will have seen great parts of the signs which must appear in the world according as the Gospel declares.' Our Lord will then say who are tricking you, and who to our Lady, You pray to me for those go to church and pray to Peter and Paul and you, that you would pray to me that I should give them gain, and health, and let them live. And when they have made their prayers they return home; and if they see orphans of their own lineage, or their neighbours, or their poor kinsmen who are before their eyes, they make semblance as if they saw them not. They pray to you that you would pray to me for them, and they let those whom I must preserve, die with hunger. But Tobit did not do thus. He made his prayer with tears from his heart, and the Angel Raphael brought those tears before me. And Tobit went into my house, and made the orphans come and the widows, and gave them to eat for the love of me. And I regarded his prayer, as a prayer of the heart.' Then our Lady will say, ' Fair Son, your pity is so great that you ought 1 Des lors en avant que la chose que jadis nasquit es parties de Jherusalem aura mil, ii. c. lx. ans. :— in this form the prophecies usually begin. FULLER-PHILIP DE COMINES. to suffer that they amend themselves."Prophecies de MERLIN, ff. 38. 345 [The White Pigeon at Amiens.] "WHEN Our Edward IV. and Louis XI. met to swear the peace into which the former was so dexterously led by his abler antagonist, the chancellor of England, who was a prelate and bishop of Ely, began his oration with a prophecy (whereof the Englishmen are never unfurnished,) which said that in this place of Picquigny a great peace should be concluded between France and England. The next day after this meeting a great number of Englishmen repaired to Amiens, some of them affirming that the Holy Ghost had made this peace (for they grounded all on prophecies). The reason that moved them so to say was, for that a white pigeon sate upon the King of England's pavilion that day of the interview, and would not remove thence notwithstand ing any noise made in the camp. The cause whereof, as some men judged, was, for that it had rained a little, and afterward the sun shining very hot, the pigeon lighted upon this pavilion (being higher than the rest) to dry herself: which reason was given by a gentleman of Gascoine, servant to the King of England, named Lewis of Bretailles, who was not a little offended with the peace." -PHILIP DE COMINES, p. 128. Arms. Armour. "SIMILITUDO morum et studiorum fabrum illi amicum effecerat: is enim est qui Archimedis cochleam invenit nondum vulgatis Archimedis libris: gladios qui plumbi instar flecterentur, et ferrum penè ut lignum 346 GUEVARA-CHR. DEL R. D. RODRIGO-TIRANTE. great scaffold where he may be seen by all: and here there ought to be thirteen priests, who shall continually say the service of the dead, just as if they had him there dead before them. And after they have said the Psalm, they shall first take off his bacinet, because he has consented with his eyes to act against the order of knighthood. Then they shall take off the gauntlet of his right hand, for that is the hand of offence, and if for gold he has sinned against the order of knighthood, with that hand he touched it. Then shall they take off the gauntlet of his left hand, for that is the hand of defence, and it participated in that which the right did; and then they shall take off all the arms which he wears, as well defensive as offensive, casting every piece separately [The Colour of the Hair, and the Truthful- from the scaffold down to the ground, and ness of the Heart.] "BERMEJOS son de color mas que ruvios los cabellos, por cierto no niegan ellos el coraçon ser traydor." GUEVARA. Canc. Gen. ff. 182. [Great Swords, and Smiths of Spain.] Començaron de ferir se con las espadas, y con porras de tantos golpes, y tan espessos que parescia que eran en aquel campo quantos ferreros avia en España.”—CHR. DEL R. D. RODRIGO, ff. 11. [Degradation of a Knight.] THE ceremony of degrading a knight is thus given in TIRANTE, p. 1, c. 15. “When he has for gold and silver forborne to do what behoved his honour, and thus disparaged the order of knighthood, in that case all kings at arms, heralds and pursuivants are bound to call upon the good knight, and they are bound to go to the King and to take the false knight, and arm him with all his arms, as if he were going to battle or to some great feast; and to place him upon a all the kings at arms first, and then the heralds, and lastly the pursuivants, shall cry out aloud, naming each piece by its proper name, This is the bacinet, or the gauntlet of that disloyal one, who is unworthy of the happy order of knighthood. This being done they ought to have hot water ready in a basin of gold and silver, and the heralds saying with a loud voice what is the name of the knight, the pursuivants reply, calling him by his name, and then the kings at arms shall say, It is not true, for this is that miserable knight and caitiff who has not respected the order of knighthood. And then the chaplains shall reply, Let us give him a name; and the trumpet saying what shall he be called, the King shall reply, Let this bad knight, who has chosen to disgrace the high order of knighthood, be driven and banished with infamy from all our kingdoms and lands. And when the King has thus said, the heralds and kings at arms shall throw the hot water in his face, saying, Henceforth thou shalt be called by thy right name, Traitor. Then the King and twelve other knights shall dress themselves in mourning, in mourning weeds, with hoods of blue, and make a great show of sadness. And at every piece of his arms which they take from him, they TIMBERLAKE-CHR. DEL R. D. RODRIGO. shall pour hot water upon his head; and when he is wholly disarmed, they shall dismiss him from the scaffold, not by the stairs which he ascended when he was a knight, but he shall be let down by a rope. Then they shall lead him in great disgrace to the church of St. George, and there they shall make him lie down upon the ground before the altar, and they shall say over him the Psalm of malediction. And the King shall be present, with the twelve knights, who signify Christ and the twelve Apostles, and they shall pass sentence of death or of perpetual imprisonment upon him." [The great Jewel taken from the Serpent's Head, and used in Conjuring.] "THEY have many beautiful stones of different colours, many of which, I am apt to believe, are of great value; but their superstition has always prevented their disposing of them to the traders, who have made many attempts to that purpose, but as they use them in their conjuring ceremonies, they believe their parting with them, or bringing them from home, would prejudice their health or affairs. Among others there is one in the possession of a conjurer remarkable for its brilliancy and beauty, but more so for the extraordinary manner in which it was found. It grew, if we may credit the Indians, on the head of a monstrous serpent, whose retreat was, by its brilliancy discovered; but a great number of snakes attending him, he being, as pose, by his diadem, of a superior rank among the serpents, made it dangerous to attack him. Many were the attempts made by the Indians, but all frustrated, till a fellow more bold than the rest, casing himself in leather, impenetrable to the bite of the serpent or his guards, and watching a convenient opportunity, surprised and killed him, tearing the jewel from his head, which the conjurer has kept hid for many years, in some place unknown to all but two women, who have been offered large presents to I sup 347 betray it, but steadily refused, lest some signal judgment or mischance should follow. That such a stone exists I believe, having seen many of great beauty; but I cannot think it would answer all the encomiums the Indians bestow upon it. The conjurer, I suppose, hatched the account of its discovery: I have, however, given it to the reader as a specimen of an Indian story, many of which are much more surprising.' -TIMBERLAKE's Discourse of the Travels of two English Pilgrims to Jerusalem, Gaza, &c. 1611. 8vo. [Carelessness of the Composers of Romance.] So carelessly are these Romances composed, that Ygaine is said afterwards (vol. 1, ff. 69) to have had three daughters by the Duke, and two by a former husband. Morgain was by the first marriage, and her sister was dead in King Arthur's time, but had married to Bretiaulx, who was father of Aguiseaulx Descosse. The other three were married to King Loth, King Neutre, and King Urien. Loth had five sons by this marriage, one of whom he came by in a very unfair manner, according to this account. "Sachez," says MERLIN to King Arthur, 66 dont tu en as engendre lung a Londres, quant que le roy Loth a cinq enfans de sa femme, tu estoyes encores jeune escuyer." It must not be forgotten that Loth's wife was Arthur's half sister. Here it is said that Grauvain (Gawaine) was the eldest of King Loth's sons. King Neutre also had a son called Galachin,Yoain, a more famous hero of romance, was son of King Urien. [Impenetrable Armour.] "Y Sacarus aun no sentia llaga ninguna en todo su cuerpo, y ayndava le mucho el escudo, que avia de parte de dentro un cerco de azero en deredor, que era ancho de dos dedos; y por esto la espada del conda no travara en el escudo.”—CHR. DEL R. D. Rodrigo, ff. 48. |