MAHAUT, COUNTESS OF ARTOIS 



example of the woman who comprehends the 

 just proportion between personal and public 

 work. That her subjects responded to her 

 sympathy, and held her in affectionate regard, 

 is proved by their kindly and sympathetic con- 

 cern if she were ill or on a journey, and by the 

 offerings they made to her on special anniver- 

 saries and other festive occasions. We read of 

 gifts not only of herrings, sturgeon, game, wine, 

 dogs, peacocks, swans, pasties, and whipped cream, 

 but also of the strangely assorted tribute of a 

 dead bear and twelve cheeses, as well as of one 

 which must have contrasted pleasantly with this 

 sundry and singular good cheer a parrakeet in 

 a beautifully painted cage. Mahaut, as we have 

 said, was a constant traveller, and though travel- 

 ling was then no easy matter, the roads could 

 not have been over-much beset with difficulties 

 seeing that she journeyed in all weathers, either 

 on horseback or in a horse-litter, or in a chariot 

 without springs, and with no mean retinue. In 

 truth, her following was like a glorified Canter- 

 bury pilgrimage. First came the Countess, ac- 

 companied by one or more knights, her ladies- 

 in-waiting, her chaplain and confessor, her 

 physician, her secretary, her treasurer and 

 steward, and sundry petty officers of her house- 

 hold. Then followed the servants, the cook 

 with his scullions, the shoemaker who could 

 also do necessary repairs to the harness, the 

 laundress riding astride as was the manner of 

 serving - women, and a score of lackeys and 



93 



