ng
objects, he had appointed his own daughter Alinda to be there, and the
fair Rosalynde, daughter unto Gerismond, with all the beautiful
damosels that were famous for their features in all France. Thus in
that place did love and war triumph in a sympathy; for such as were
martial might use their lance to be renowmed for the excellence of
their chivalry, and such as were amorous might glut themselves with
gazing on the beauties of most heavenly creatures. As every man's eye
had his several survey, and fancy was partial in their looks, yet all
in general applauded the admirable riches that nature bestowed on the
face of Rosalynde; for upon her cheeks there seemed a battle between
the Graces, who should bestow most favors to make her excellent. The
blush that gloried Luna, when she kissed the shepherd on the hills of
Latmos, was not tainted with such a pleasant dye as the vermilion
flourished on the silver hue of Rosalynde's countenance: her eyes were
like those lamps that make the wealthy covert of the heavens more
gorgeous, sparkling favor and disdain, courteous and yet coy, as if in
them Venus had placed all her amorets, and Diana all her chastity. The
trammels of her hair, folded in a caul[1] of gold, so far surpassed
the burnished glister of the metal, as the sun doth the meanest star
in brightness: the tresses that folds in the brows of Apollo were not
half so rich to the sight, for in her hairs it seemed love had laid
herself in ambush, to entrap the proudest eye that durst gaze upon
their excellence: what should I need to decipher her particular
beauties, when by the censure of all she was the paragon of all
earthly perfection? This Rosalynde sat, I say, with Alinda as a
beholder of these sports, and made the cavaliers crack their lances
with more courage: many deeds of knighthood that day were performed,
and many prizes were given according to their several deserts.

[Footnote 1: cap of open work.]

At last, when the tournament ceased, the wrastling began, and the
Norman presented himself as a challenger against all comers, but he
looked like Hercules when he advanced himself against Achelous, so
that the fury of his countenance amazed all that durst attempt to
encounter with him in any deed of activity: till at last a lusty
franklin of the country came with two tall men that were his sons, of
good lineaments and comely personage. The eldest of these doing his
obeisance to the king entered the list, and present