650 



TOURNAMENT. 



ing drusy cavities of considerable extent. It < \i-' - 

 also in beds with augite, garnet and various iron 

 ores. It is also met with in pebbles in the sand of 

 rivers. In Saxony, Cornwall and other places, massive 

 varieties of tourmaline are very frequent ; but sim- 

 ple, woll-di-tim-d crystals are rare. The largest and 

 most remarkable crystals of a black colour occur in 

 (Jr.vnluiKl, in Bavaria, and near Bovey, in Devon- 

 fliirc. The red varieties are found in Permia, in 

 Siberia, and at Rozena in Moravia. Pale-green 

 rr\>tals occur in the dolomite of St Gothard, and 

 various transparent, deep-green, red, brown and 

 blue colours are found among the crystals and peb- 

 bles from Brazil and Ceylon. Blue varieties also 

 come from Uton in Sweden. The United States, 

 however, have afforded, and still continue to afford, 

 the most superb varieties of tourmaline. Large, 

 black and well-defined crystals occur in the granite 

 of Saratoga, New York ; of Brunswick, Maine ; 

 and Munroe, Connecticut : very perfect blackish- 

 brown crystals, of unusual dimensions, and under 

 great diversity of modification, are found in a soft 

 mica slate at Munroe, Connecticut ; red, green and 

 blue varieties, of bright colours, and often tiuns- 

 parent, exist in albitc granite at Chesterfield and 

 Goshen, Massachusetts; while the same coloured 

 varieties, but in much larger crystals, occur at 

 Paris in Maine. The last named locality has 

 furnished specimens which are unsurpassed in beauty 

 by any which have been elsewhere found. 



Tourmaline, when of a handsome colour and 

 transparent, is much esteemed as a gem. The rubel- 

 lite, or red varieties, command the highest price ; 

 next to them, the green ones, formerly called Brazi- 

 lian emerald, are the most valuable ; but they are 

 less esteemed than real emeralds. Plates of brown 

 tourmaline, if cut parallel to the axis, absorb one of 

 the polarized pencils, which renders them useful in 

 the examination of the structure of minerals in 

 polarized light. 



TOURNAMENT, AND JOUSTS. " Impartial 

 taste," says Gibbon, " must prefer a Gothic tourna- 

 ment to the Olympic games of classic antiquity. 

 Instead of the naked spectacles, which corrupted 

 the manners of the Greeks, the pompous decoration 

 of the lists was crowned with the presence of chaste 

 and high-born beauty, from whose hands the con- 

 queror received the prize of his dexterity and cour- 

 age. The skill and strength that were exerted in 

 wrestling and boxing, bear a distant and doubtful 

 relation to the merit of a soldier ; but the tourna- 

 ments, as they were invented in France, and eagerly 

 adopted both in the East and West, presented a 

 lively image of the business of the field. The single 

 combat, the general skirmish, the defence of a pass 

 or castle, were rehearsed as in actual service ; and 

 the contest, both in real and mimic war, was decided 

 by the superior management of the horse and lance." 

 (ch. 57.) The origin of tournaments is uncertain : 

 Von Hammer, with others, derives them from the 

 Arabians ; but all historical monuments tend to 

 show their Teutonic origin. They reached their full 

 perfection in France in the ninth and tenth cen- 

 turies, and first received the form under which they 

 are known to us from the French. The word 

 tournament is also evidently of French origin 

 (tourneis, from tourner) ; and the German, Italian, 

 &c. terms for this exhibition betray the same source. 

 Godfrey de Preuilly, a French nobleman, first col- 

 lected 'the rules of tourneying, in 1066, which, in 

 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, we find to 

 have been received in other countries. The opinion 



that tournaments originated in Germany, is without 

 foundation : Sebastian Minister asserts that the 

 first great tourney in Germany was held at Magde- 

 burg in 1066. Tournaments were introduced into 

 England soon after the conquest by the Normans, 

 who were passionately fond of this amusement. 

 Jousts (French joAte} differed from tournaments in 

 being single combats between two knights, while 

 tournaments were performed between two paities 

 of cavaliers. Jousts were of two sorts thejo&te 

 a I'outrance, or the joust to the utterance, or mortal 

 combats, generally between two knights of diller- 

 ent nations ; and the jo&te a plaisance, or joust of 

 peace, which often took place after the conclusion 

 of a tournament, but sometimes at times and places 

 specially appointed for the purpose. Weapons of 

 war were frequently used, even in this latter species 

 of jousts ; but blood was seldom shed in them. A 

 favourite description of jousts was the postage of 

 anus; a party of knights assembled at a certain 

 place, and suspended each several shields of differ- 

 ent colours, offering to combat any knight who 

 should present himself. The comer touched the 

 shield of that knight whom he wished to engage, 

 and the nature of the combat and descriptions of 

 arms to be employed were determined by the parti- 

 cular shield which he struck. But the tournament 

 was the most popular and splendid of these exhibi- 

 tions : in these, blunted weapons were used, and 

 heralds were often despatched to different courts, 

 inviting all brave knights to prove their chivalry. 

 Certain qualifications of birth were required for ad- 

 mission to the tourney, and their respective hostels, 

 or tents, were assigned to the knights by the king 

 at arms and heralds. The place of combat was the 

 lists, a large open space, surrounded by ropes or a 

 railing. Galleries were erected around the lists for 

 the spectators, among whom were seated the ladies, 

 the supreme judges of tournaments. The heralds 

 then read to the knights the regulations of the 

 sport, and announced the prize. When the knights 

 entered the lists, their arms were examined by the 

 constable: the weapons used were lances, with the 

 points removed, or covered with pieces of wood 

 called rockets, and swords, blunted and rebated. 

 The tilting armour was of a light fabric, and gene- 

 rally adorned with some device of a lady's favour. 

 Every thing being prepared, the heralds shouted, 

 Laissez alter I and the knights dashed from the op- 

 posite ends of the lists to the encounter. Each 

 knight was followed by his squires, who furnished 

 him with arms, raised him if dismounted, &c. To 

 break a spear between the saddle and the helmet 

 was accounted one point of honour ; to break it on 

 the helmet, ten points ; to dismount an opponent, 

 three points, &c. (See the Ordinances, Statutes 

 and Rules to be observed in Justes, fyc., drawn up by 

 the earl of Worcester, by the royal command, in 

 the Antiquarian Repertory.) The sport being over, 

 the prizes were delivered to the successful knighte 

 by the queen of beauty, who had been chosen by 

 the ladies. On the second day, there was often a 

 tournament for the esquires; and on the third, a 

 melee of knights and esquires in the lists. The 

 great luxury and expense to which the tournaments 

 gave rise, frequently occasioned the prohibition of 

 them by princes; and they were opposed alpo by 

 the spiritual power, on the ground of humanity, 

 though there appears to have been little cause for 

 such opposition. They gradually went out of use, 

 however, as chivalry declined; and the whole art 

 of war was changed by the use of gunpowder. In 



