THE CASTLE AN ACADEMY. 303 



the judgment-seat, and often defended the castle in a 

 siege. A charge so august could not but elevate the 

 female mind. Women became queens. The Lady 

 was created. Within the castle was formed that grand 

 manner of gentleness mingled with hauteur, which 

 art can never stimulate, and which ages of dignity 

 can alone confer. 



The barons dwelt apart from one another, and 

 were often engaged in private war. Yet they had 

 sons to educate and daughters to marry ; and so a 

 singular kind of society arose. The king's house or 

 court, and the houses of the great barons, became 

 academies to which the inferior barons sent their boys 

 and girls to school. The young lady became the 

 attendant of the Dame, and was instructed in the 

 arts of playing on the virginals, of preparing simples, 

 and of healing wounds ; of spinning, sewing, and em- 

 broidery. The young gentleman was at first a Page. 

 He was taught to manage a horse with grace and 

 skill, to use bow and sword, to sound the notes of 

 venerie upon the horn, to carve at table, to ride full 

 tilt against the quintaine with his lance in rest, to 

 brittle a deer, to find his way through the forest by 

 the stars in the sky and by the moss upon the trees. 

 It was also his duty to wait upon the ladies who 

 tutored his youthful mind in other ways. He was 

 trained to deport himself with elegance ; he was 

 nurtured in all the accomplishments of courtesy and 

 love. He was encouraged to select a mistress among 

 the dames or demoiselles ; to adore her in his heart, 

 to serve her with patience and fidelity, obeying her 

 least commands ; to be modest in her presence ; to 

 be silent and discreet. The reward of all this devo- 

 tion was of no ethereal kind, but it was not quickly 



