Que par force n'ont prises et passees
Les barriers, entrees, et passees
Du pas des armes du chasteau Sandricourt.

Doubtless there many a Roland met with his Oliver, and could not pass
the barriers. Cased as they were in steel, _de pied en cap_, we presume
that they could not materially injure themselves; yet, when on foot, the
ancient judges discovered such symptoms of peril, that on the following
day they advised our knights to satisfy themselves by fighting on
horseback. Against this prudential counsel for some time they protested,
as an inferior sort of glory. However, on the next day, the horse combat
was appointed in the _carrefour_, by the pine-tree. On the following day
they tried their lances in the meadow of the Thorn; but, though on
horseback, the judges deemed their attacks were so fierce that this
assault was likewise not without peril; for some horses were killed, and
some knights were thrown, and lay bruised by their own mail; but the
barbed horses, wearing only _des chamfreins_, head-pieces magnificently
caparisoned, found no protection in their ornaments. The last days were
passed in combats of two to two, or in a single encounter, a-foot, in
the _foret devoyable_. These jousts passed without any accident, and the
prizes were awarded in a manner equally gratifying to the claimants. The
last day of the festival was concluded with a most sumptuous banquet.
Two noble knights had undertaken the humble office of _maitres-d'hotel_;
and while the knights were parading in the _foret devoyable_ seeking
adventures, a hundred servants were seen at all points, carrying white
and red hypocras, and juleps, and _sirop de violars_, sweetmeats, and
other spiceries, to comfort these wanderers, who, on returning to the
_chasteau_, found a grand and plenteous banquet. The tables were crowded
in the court apartment, where some held one hundred and twelve
gentlemen, not including the _dames_ and the _demoiselles_. In the
halls, and outside of the _chasteau_, were other tables. At that
festival more than two thousand persons were magnificently entertained
free of every expense; their attendants, their armourers, their
_plumassiers_, and others, were also present. _La Dame de Sandricourt_,
"fut moult aise d'avoir donne dans son chasteau si belle, si magnifique,
et gorgiasse fete." Historians are apt to describe their personages as
they appear, not as they are: if the lady of the Sieur Sandricourt
really was "moult aise" d