stout posts were planted, of such a height that their tops
could be easily reached by a swinging sword-cut from a mounted rider
passing upon the track. The influence of Walter Scott was strong upon
the old South. The South before the war was essentially feudal, and
Scott's novels of chivalry appealed forcefully to the feudal heart.
During the month preceding the Clarence tournament, the local
bookseller had closed out his entire stock of "Ivanhoe," consisting of
five copies, and had taken orders for seven copies more. The
tournament scene in this popular novel furnished the model after which
these bloodless imitations of the ancient passages-at-arms were
conducted, with such variations as were required to adapt them to a
different age and civilization.

The best people gradually filled the grand stand, while the poorer
white and colored folks found seats outside, upon what would now be
known as the "bleachers," or stood alongside the lists. The knights,
masquerading in fanciful costumes, in which bright-colored garments,
gilt paper, and cardboard took the place of knightly harness, were
mounted on spirited horses. Most of them were gathered at one end of
the lists, while others practiced their steeds upon the unoccupied
portion of the race track.

The judges entered the grand stand, and one of them, after looking at
his watch, gave a signal. Immediately a herald, wearing a bright yellow
sash, blew a loud blast upon a bugle, and, big with the importance of
his office, galloped wildly down the lists. An attendant on horseback
busied himself hanging upon each of the pendent hooks an iron ring, of
some two inches in diameter, while another, on foot, placed on top of
each of the shorter posts a wooden ball some four inches through.

"It's my first tournament," observed a lady near the front of the grand
stand, leaning over and addressing John Warwick, who was seated in the
second row, in company with a very handsome girl. "It is somewhat
different from Ashby-de-la-Zouch."

"It is the renaissance of chivalry, Mrs. Newberry," replied the young
lawyer, "and, like any other renaissance, it must adapt itself to new
times and circumstances. For instance, when we build a Greek portico,
having no Pentelic marble near at hand, we use a pine-tree, one of
nature's columns, which Grecian art at its best could only copy and
idealize. Our knights are not weighted down with heavy armor, but much
more appropriately attired, for