rve these knights, a party of armed knights come riding down
the road towards the cavalcade; they have come to greet the King.

These men have ridden through the rain, and now, as they come closer,
one can see that their armour is already red with rust.

[Illustration: {A hat}]

So the picture should remain on your mind, as I have imagined it for
you: the knights in armour and surcoats covered with their heraldic
device; the archers; the gay crowd of knights in parti-coloured
clothes; the King, in his cotehardie of plain black velvet and his
black beaver hat, just as he looked after Calais in later years; the
merchants; the servants in parti-coloured liveries of their masters'
colours; the tattered crowd behind; and, with the aid of the drawings,
you should be able to visualize the picture.

Meanwhile Edward will arrive at his destination, and to soothe him
before sleep, he will read out of the book of romances, illustrated by
Isabella, the nun of Aumbresbury, for which he had paid L66 13s. 4d.,
which sum was heavy for those days, when L6 would buy twenty-four
swans. L66 13s. 4d. is about L800 of our money to-day.

THE WOMEN

'I looked on my left half as the lady taught me,
And was aware of a woman worthily clothed,
Trimmed with fur, the finest on earth,
Crowned with a crown, the King had none better.
Handsomely her fingers were fretted with gold wire,
And thereon red rubies, as red as any hot coal,
And diamonds of dearest price, and double manner of sapphires,
Orientals and green beryls....
Her robe was full rich, of red scarlet fast dyed,
With bands of red gold and of rich stones;
Her array ravished me, such richness saw I never.'

_Piers the Plowman._

There are two manuscripts in existence the illuminations in which give
the most wonderfully pictorial idea of this time; they are the
manuscript marked MS. Bodl., Misc. 264, in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford, and the Loutrell Psalter in the British Museum.

The Loutrell Psalter is, indeed, one of the most notable books in the
world; it is an example of illumination at the height of that art; it
has for illustrator a person, not only of a high order of
intelligence, but a person possessed of the very spirit of Gothic
humour, who saw rural England, not only with the eyes of an artist,
but with the eyes of a gossiping philosopher.

[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF EDWARD III. (1327-1377)

Round his