es were agreeable and
picturesque excursions. In those days a well-served chapel was something
like a good vinery in our own,--an opportunity for display and the
source of mild enjoyments. There was probably something of his rooted
delight in pageantry, as well as a good deal of gentle piety, in the
feelings with which Charles gave dinner every Friday to thirteen poor
people, served them himself, and washed their feet with his own
hands.[48] Solemn affairs would interest Charles and his courtiers from
their trivial side. The duke perhaps cared less for the deliverance of
Guyenne and Normandy than for his own verses on the occasion; just as
Dr. Russell's correspondence in _The Times_ was among the most material
parts of the Crimean War for that talented correspondent. And I think it
scarcely cynical to suppose that religion as well as patriotism was
principally cultivated as a means of filling up the day.

It was not only messengers fiery red with haste and charged with the
destiny of nations who were made welcome at the gates of Blois. If any
man of accomplishment came that way, he was sure of an audience, and
something for his pocket. The courtiers would have received Ben Jonson
like Drummond of Hawthornden, and a good pugilist like Captain Barclay.
They were catholic, as none but the entirely idle can be catholic. It
might be Pierre, called Dieu d'amours, the juggler; or it might be
three high English minstrels; or the two men, players of ghitterns, from
the kingdom of Scotland, who sang the destruction of the Turks; or again
Jehan Rognelet, player of instruments of music, who played and danced
with his wife and two children; they would each be called into the
castle to give a taste of his proficiency before my lord the duke.[49]
Sometimes the performance was of a more personal interest, and produced
much the same sensations as are felt on an English green on the arrival
of a professional cricketer, or round an English billiard-table during a
match between Roberts and Cook. This was when Jehan Negre, the Lombard,
came to Blois and played chess against all these chess-players, and won
much money from my lord and his intimates; or when Baudet Harenc of
Chalons made ballades before all these ballade-makers.[50]

It will not surprise the reader to learn they were all makers of
ballades and rondels. To write verses for May-day seems to have been as
much a matter of course as to ride out with the cavalcade that went to
gat