\.\TIONAL POETRY. 



439 



the pages and young gentlemen of the court were compelled to leum verses 

 from it by heart, and recite them regularly every day, as the clergy do their 

 breviary. In addition to the "Book of the Four Ladies," which contains 



Fig. 342. The Author of the Poem entitled " Le Dehat de la Noire et de la TanneV' Miniature 

 from Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century. In the Library of M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot, 

 Paris. 



some exquisite pages written in a style full of vigour and poesy, Alain 

 Chartier ccmiposed a great number of ballads, love-sayings, elegies, and 

 laments (Fig. 341). lie was the favourite of kings, queens, princes, and 



