THE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF CHIVALRY, OR KNIGHTHOOD. THIS book was translated from the French, and printed by Caxton. It is a thin quarto, and without a date, though it is supposed to have been printed about the year 1484. It is divided into eight chapters. The 1st shews how a knight, who was a hermit, bestowed this rule, or order of chivalry, upon a squire. The 2d treats of the original of chivalry, or knighthood. 3. Of the office of chivalry. 4. Of the examination that ought to be made of the esquire, when he enters into the order. 5. In what manner the squire ought to receive chivalry. 6. Of the signefyaunce of the arms belonging to a knight. 7. Of the customs that appertain to a knight. 8. Of the honours that ought to be done to a knight. The following is a short abstract of the first chapter, declaring how a good hermit devised to the esquire, the rule and order of chivalry: A certain knight, who had grown old in deeds of war, and feats of chivalry, had retired from the world, that he might consecrate the remainder of his days to acts of devotion, in a deep and venerable forest. Some king, "noble, wise, and full of good customs," having proclaimed a court general, for the purpose of being made himself a new knight, and afterwards of making others, a certain esquire, ambitious of the honour of knighthood, immediately set out on his journey that he may receive it on this illustrious occasion. As he proceeded on his solitary way, he was overcome by the fatigues of his journey; and falling asleep, his horse deviated from the right tract, and accidentally carried him into the forest inhabited by the hermit-knight. The hermit, who was offering up his orisons by the side of a fountain, the accustomed scene of his devotions, on perceiving the approach of a horseman, rose, and awaited him under the shadow of a tree; at the same time reading in a little book placed upon his lap. |