armour, so apt to heat excessively
when exposed to the direct rays of the sun. It was of a violet colour,
without any distinctive mark or badge. His highly-decorated shield was
borne behind him, the three garbs and the lions being chiefly
conspicuous in the marshalling: the former, the original bearing of Hugh
Lupus, was often used by the constables of Chester, in compliment to
their chief lord. Its shape was angular, and suspended from the neck by
a strap called guige or gige, a Norman custom of great antiquity. A huge
broadsword was carried by his armour-bearer, the person of the chief
being without any further means of impediment or defence than a French
stabbing sword, fastened on one side of his pommel, and a stout
battle-axe on the other. The horse was decorated with great and costly
profusion. At a short distance rode William de Bellomonte, the baron's
inseparable companion. A small train of archers and cross-bowmen brought
up the rear of the escort, save the baggage and sumpter horses, laden
not only with provisions but cooking utensils, and even with furniture
for the household. In those days it was a matter both of economy and
necessity for the occupants or lords of several castles to travel with
accompaniments of this sort; though possessing many residences, most of
them had the means and even conveniences only for the furnishing of one.

The seneschal and his train alighted, doing homage to their lord, who
was conducted with great pomp and ceremony into the fortress, now lapsed
for ever from the blood and succession of the Lacies; yet Roger de
Fitz-Eustace and his descendants, probably in commemoration of the
source whence originated their great honours and endowments, were ever
afterwards styled by the surname of De Lacy; and, strange as it may
appear, his father, John, constable of Chester, who died fifteen years
previously to this event, and who founded the Cistercian abbey of
Stanlaw, the parent establishment of Whalley, though he had not the
slightest pretensions to the name of Lacy, was popularly invested with
the name. It is still more singular that the mistake should have been
committed by Henry de Lacy, the last of the line of the Fitz-Eustace,
third in descent from Roger, in the foundation-charter of Whalley Abbey,
where he expressly styles his ancestor "Joh. de Lacy, Const. Cest."

Accompanied by her father and her female attendants, the "gentle" maiden
entered the hall. She was stately and beaut