to speak to his mistress. At night 

 he sought her window, singing to his 

 lute one of the charming love songs 

 of Provence. Marie, wise beyond her 

 years, warned him from her window 

 that the case entrusted to his care 

 would be lost on the morrow if he 

 did not prepare himself. The count 

 acted upon her advice, and the next 

 day presented his argument with such 

 eloquence and skill that he won his 

 case, and his bride too. When Queen 

 Blanche placed Marie's hand in his she 

 said : " To perpetuate this day, and to 

 remind the young peers of France to do 

 their duty, 1 shall expect them to give 

 a tribute each year to my Parliament, 

 and it shall be a Tribute of Roses." 

 From this year, 1227, until 1 $4\ , on the 

 first day of May, the youngest peer of 

 France presented a silver bowl of roses 

 to Parliament. After surviving for 

 over three hundred years this pretty 

 ii6 



