unished for his crimes by English law, and
the Irishman by Irish law,[359] and if this arrangement had been carried
out with even moderate impartiality, it would have been a fair
adjustment, however anomalous.

A little episode of domestic life, narrated by Froissart, is a
sufficient proof that the social state of the Irish was neither so wild
nor so barbarous as many have supposed; and that even a Frenchman might
become so attached to the country as to leave it with regret, though, at
the same time, it was not a little difficult to find an English Viceroy
who would face the political complications which the Statute of Kilkenny
had made more troublesome than ever. Froissart's account runs thus: He
was waiting in the royal chamber at Eltham one Sunday, to present his
treatise "On Loves" to Henry II.; and he takes care to tell us that the
King had every reason to be pleased with the present, for it was
"handsomely written and illuminated," bound in crimson velvet, decorated
with ten silver-gilt studs, and roses of the same. While he was awaiting
his audience, he gossiped with Henry Crystede, whom he describes as a
very agreeable, prudent, and well-educated gentleman, who spoke French
well, and had for his arms a chevron gules on a field argent, with three
besants gules, two above the chevron, and one below.

Crystede gave him a sketch of his adventures in Ireland, which we can
but condense from the quaint and amusing original. He had been in the
service of the Earl of Ormonde, who kept him out of affection for his
good horsemanship. On one occasion he was attending the Earl, mounted on
one of his best horses, at a "border foray" on the unfortunate Irish,
with whom he kept up constant warfare. In the pursuit his horse took
fright, and ran away into the midst of the enemy, one of whom, by a
wonderful feat of agility, sprang up behind him, and bore him off to his
own house. He calls the gentleman who effected the capture "Brian
Costeree," and says he was a very handsome man, and that he lived in a
strong house in a well barricaded city.

Crystede remained here for seven years, and married one of the daughters
of his host, by whom he had two children. At the end of this period his
father-in-law was taken prisoner in an engagement with the Duke of
Clarence, and Crystede's horse, which he rode, was recognized. Evidently
the knight must have been a person of some distinction, for he states
that the Duke of Clarence and the Eng