oodville Lord Scales has himself
explained in a letter to the bastard, still extant, and of which an
extract may be seen in the popular and delightful biographies of Miss
Strickland. [Queens of England, vol. iii. p. 380] It seems that, on the
Wednesday before Easter Day, 1465, as Sir Anthony was speaking to his
royal sister, "on his knees," all the ladies of the court gathered
round him, and bound to his left knee a band of gold adorned with stones
fashioned into the letters S. S. (souvenance or remembrance), and to
this band was suspended an enamelled "Forget-me-not." "And one of the
ladies said that 'he ought to take a step fitting for the times.'" This
step was denoted by a letter on vellum, bound with a gold thread, placed
in his cap; and having obtained the king's permission to bring the
adventure of the flower of souvenance to a conclusion, the gallant
Anthony forwarded the articles and the enamelled flower to the Bastard
of Burgundy, beseeching him to touch the latter with his knightly hand,
in token of his accepting the challenge. The Count de la Roche did
so, but was not sent by his brother amongst the knights whom Charolois
despatched to England, and the combat had been suspended to the present
time.

But now the intriguing Rivers and his duchess gladly availed themselves
of so fair a pretext for introducing to Edward the able brother of
Warwick's enemy and the French prince's rival, Charles of Burgundy;
and Anthony Woodville, too gentle and knightly a person to have abetted
their cunning projects in any mode less chivalrous, willingly consented
to revive a challenge in honour of the ladies of England.

The only one amongst the courtiers who seemed dissatisfied with the
meditated visit of the doughty Burgundian champion was the Lord Montagu.
This penetrating and experienced personage was not to be duped by an
affectation of that chivalry which, however natural at the court of
Edward III., was no longer in unison with the more intriguing and
ambitious times over which presided the luxurious husband of Elizabeth
Woodville. He had noticed of late, with suspicion, that Edward had held
several councils with the anti-Nevile faction, from which he himself was
excluded. The king, who heretofore had delighted in his companionship,
had shown him marks of coldness and estrangement; and there was an
exulting malice in the looks of the Duchess of Bedford, which augured
some approaching triumph over the great family which