e was considered worthy to become a knight he went through a
ceremony which dedicated him to the service of God.

The day before he was to become a knight the young man stripped and
bathed. Then he put on a white tunic--the white as a promise of purity;
a red robe--the red meant the blood he was to shed in fighting for the
right; and he put on a black doublet (which is a sort of jacket), and
this was black in token of death, of which a knight was never to be
afraid. Then he went into the church, and there he spent the night in
prayer. He heard the priests singing their chant in the darkness of the
big church, and he thought of his sins, and steadfastly purposed to lead
a new life. In the morning he confessed his sins, walked up to the
altar, laid down his belt and sword, and then knelt at the foot of the
altar steps. He received the Holy Communion, and then the lord who was
to make him a knight gave him the accolade--three strokes on the back of
the bare neck with the flat side of the sword--and said:

"In the name of Saint George I make thee a knight,"--and bade him take
back his sword--"in the name of God and Saint George, and use it like a
true knight as a terror and punishment for evil-doers, and a defence for
widows and orphans, and the poor, and the oppressed, and the
priests--the servants of God."

The priests and the ladies came round him and put on his gilt spurs, and
his coat of mail, and his breastplate, and armpieces, and gauntlets, and
took the sword and girded it on him. Then the young man swore to be
faithful to God, the King, and woman; his squire brought him his helmet,
and his horse's shoes rang on the church pavement and under the tall
arches as his squire led the charger up the aisle. In the presence of
priests, and knights, and ladies assembled, the young knight sprang upon
his horse and caracoled before the altar, brandishing his lance and his
sword. And then away to do the good work he was sworn to.

Many, of course, forgot their promises and broke their vows, but in
those wild times many a rough man was made gentle, many a cruel man less
cruel, and many a faint-hearted one made bold by the noble thoughts from
which the idea of chivalry sprang.

Now, you know, England is governed by the Queen and Parliament. But in
those old days England was ruled by the King and by such nobles as had
money and strength enough to be able to rule by force. These nobles were
indeed a terror to the people. They l