98 ftfa Nut-ftm of &osamonlT (Srabe. 



mother of young Ela seek to remove her daughter from 

 the reach of one whose ambitious and turbulent dispo- 

 sition might have prompted him to crime. But the 

 days in which she lived were those of stirring incidents. 

 A train of gallant troubadours gave life and animation to 

 the court of lion-hearted Richard, and the mysterious 

 disappearance of the orphan heiress was with them a 

 theme of frequent conjecture and resolve. An English 

 knight, of the name of William Talbot, inspired, it 

 would seem, by the romantic adventures of the min- 

 strel Blondel, resolved to find out the place of her con- 

 cealment. He went forth attired as a pilgrim, with his 

 staff and cockle-shell, and having landed on the coast of 

 Normandy, he wandered to and fro, for the space of two 

 years,* as if in quest of the shrine at which he sought 

 to pay his vows. There were shrines in the depth of 

 solitary forests, and to such he bent his way, others in 

 populous towns, and before them he would duly kneel, 

 asking questions of those he met, and warily seeking to 

 discover where the lost one was concealed. At length, 

 so the poet tells, he saw a maiden, whose English 

 accent and fair hair denoted her foreign birth, come 

 forth with her companions from a castle on the coast. 

 Talbot concealed himself behind a rock, and listened 

 while the maiden, who was gathering shells from off 

 the sand, spoke of the far country whence she came. 



* Dugdale incorrectly says months, instead of years, a mistake 

 corrected by Bowles. 



