i ia 
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRENCH LITERATURE. 109 
fought and conquered, and to gain her approving smile he would rush 
into danger, and cover himself with dust and blood. “AA / si ma 
Dame me voyoit,’* was the exclamation of the knight, when per- 
forming some hazardous feat of valour ; and to love “ God and the 
Ladies” + was one of the earliest lessons in chivalry. Let us curso- 
rily glance at the education which the novice had to undergo prior 
to his elevation to the rank of knight. 
Every descendant of a gentlemen, or every free person, was allowed 
to bear arms, and permitted to aspire to the honours of knighthood, 
which he was, by a long train of services, prepared to receive. At a 
very early age he was placed as paget with some neighbouring baron, 
where he served the master, but more frequently the mistress, of the 
house, and in this school he acquired all the knightly virtues. The 
example of his lord, the emulation of his equals, and the company of 
the ladies, from whose number he was to select the accomplished fair 
one to whom he was to ascribe both his sentiments and his actions, 
infused in his bosom the zeal for religion, inflamed him with a passion 
for war and danger, and instructed him in all the arts of a respectful 
and modest gallantry. At the age of fourteen or fifteen the page was 
called from the exercise of the domestic duties, and was created 
* ecuyer,” or squire. His duty now was to accompany his lord in all 
his hazardous expeditions ; he also carried his armour, and held his 
war-horse until he was ready to mount. 
* Saint Foix, Essais Historiques, tome i. p. 184. 
+ “Les premiéres legons qu’on leur donnoit regardaient principalement 
Yamour de Dieu et des Dames, c’est 4 dire la religion et la galanterie.”—St. 
Palaye, Mem. sur [ Anc. Cheval. tome i. p. 7. 
~ The page was also called damoiseau, or valet. The last term was applied 
only to the sons of men of rank. Thus, Villehardouin, in his Chronicle, gives 
the title to the son of the Emperor of Constantinople. We have also several 
other instances from the ancient French romances. Thus, in the Roman de 
Rou, speaking of William the Conqueror, it is thus given :— 
“ Guillaume fut Valet patit 
A Falaise posé et norrit.” 
And again, speaking of Henry II. of England, we have~ 
“ Cinquante-trois ans plus sa terre justisa 
Empres la mort son pére qui Valet le laissa.” 
See also Daniel, Hist. de la Milice Francaise, tome i. p. 95-6; St. Palayé, 
Mem. suv ? Ane. Cheval. partie 1, 
