o restrain what, perhaps, cannot be restrained--criminal folly! And to
punish a man for having ruined himself would usually be to punish a most
contrite penitent.

It is not surprising that before "private vices were considered as
public benefits," the governors of nations instituted sumptuary
laws--for the passion for pageantry and an incredible prodigality in
dress were continually impoverishing great families--more equality of
wealth has now rather subdued the form of private ruin than laid this
evil domestic spirit. The incalculable expenditure and the blaze of
splendour of our ancestors may startle the incredulity of our
_elegantes_. We find men of rank exhausting their wealth and pawning
their castles, and then desperately issuing from them, heroes for a
crusade, or brigands for their neighbourhood!--and this frequently from
the simple circumstance of having for a short time maintained some
gorgeous chivalric festival on their own estates, or from having melted
thousands of acres into cloth of gold; their sons were left to beg their
bread on the estates which they were to have inherited.

It was when chivalry still charmed the world by the remains of its
seductive splendours, towards the close of the fifteenth century, that I
find an instance of this kind occurring in the _Pas de Sandricourt_,
which was held in the neighbourhood of the sieur of that name. It is a
memorable affair, not only for us curious inquirers after manners and
morals, but for the whole family of the Sandricourts; for though the
said sieur is now receiving the immortality we bestow on him, and _la
dame_ who presided in that magnificent piece of chivalry was infinitely
gratified, yet for ever after was the lord of Sandricourt ruined--and
all for a short, romantic three months!

This story of the chivalric period may amuse. A _pas d'armes_, though
consisting of military exercises and deeds of gallantry, was a sort of
festival distinct from a tournament. It signified a _pas_ or passage to
be contested by one or more knights against all comers. It was necessary
that the road should be such that it could not be passed without
encountering some guardian knight. The _chevaliers_ who disputed the
_pas_ hung their blazoned shields on trees, pales, or posts raised for
this purpose. The aspirants after chivalric honours would strike with
their lance one of these shields, and when it rung, it instantly
summoned the owner to the challenge. A bridge or a