curyously," all
the disciples

"Prechynge and techynge, unto every nacyon,
The faythtes[90] of holy chyrche, for their salvacyon."

"Martyrs then followed, right manifolde;" Confessors "fressely
embrodred in ryche tyshewe and fyne." Saintly virgins "were
brothered[91] the clothes of gold within," and the long array was
closed on the other side of the hall by

"Noble auncyent storyes, and how the stronge Sampson
Subdued his enemyes by his myghty power;
Of Hector of Troye, slayne by fals treason;
Of noble Arthur, kynge of this regyon;
With many other mo, which it is to longe
Playnly to expresse this tyme you amonge."

But the powers of the chief proportion of needlewomen, and of many of
the subsequent tapestry looms were devoted to giving permanence to
those fables which, as exhibited in the Romances of Chivalry, formed
the very life and delight of our ancestors in

"------that happy season
Ere bright Fancy bent to reason;
When the spirit of our stories,
Filled the mind with unseen glories;
Told of creatures of the air,
Spirits, fairies, goblins rare,
Guarding man with tenderest care."

These fables, says Warton, were not only perpetually repeated at the
festivals of our ancestors, but were the constant objects of their
eyes. The very walls of their apartments were clothed with romantic
history.

We have mentioned the history of Alexander in Tapestry as forming an
important part of the peace offering of the king of France to Bajazet,
and probably there were few princes who did not possess a suit of
tapestry on this subject; a most important one in romance, and
consequently a desired one for the loom.

There seems an innate propensity in the writers of the Romance of
Chivalry to exaggerate, almost to distortion, the achievements of
those whose heroic bearing needed no pomp of diction, or wild flow of
imagination to illustrate it. Thus Charlemagne, one of the best and
greatest of men, appears in romance like one whose thirst for
slaughter it requires myriads of "Paynims" to quench.

Arthur, on the contrary, a very (if history tell truth) a very "so-so"
sort of a man, having not one tithe of the intellect or the
magnanimity of him to whom we have just referred--Arthur is invested
in romance with a halo of interest and of beauty which is perfectly
fascinating; and it seems almost impossible to divest oneself of these
impressions and to look upon him