of youth and beauty, and himself a perfect adept in all the accomplishments of chivalry, to whose sports he was passionately addicted, had some time before published a notice to all princes and knights, according to the ancient formula of invitation, that upon a specified day he meant to commence a series of carousals at Paris, to consist of justs, tilts, and a tournament with clashing of swords, in the presence of ladies and damsels, and under the customary regulations. Prodigious bustle and interest had been excited by this announcement; arrangements were made by the court for celebrating the festival with a magnificence that should eclipse all former precedent; the Place Carrousel in the Louvre was fitted up for the courses with extraordinary splendour; and every individual who was to figure in this royal entertainment, seemed resolved to equip himself with a brilliancy worthy of the occasion, and of the lavish expenditure of the monarch. Armour of all sorts was instantly put into busy requisition; cuirasses of Milan steel, inlaid with gold or precious stones; gorgeous casques, embossed or sculptured by Benvenuto Cellini ; swords of Damascus, Toledo, or Ferrara; gorgets, cuisses, gauntlets; all were ferreted out from their repositories, and furbished up for selection; while many a long lance was taken down from its rest, and poised by the intended combatants, that they might decide upon the proper weight and length.

Nor were the ladies of the court, and others who had obtained the enviable privilege of being admitted into the galleries, less solicitous to do justice to the occasion, as well as to their own charms, by the gallant bravery of their decorations. Silks and satins, plumes, diamonds, and jewellery, with all the paraphernalia of the female toilette, kept every heart in a constant flutter of agitation, so difficult was the choice, and so great the competition with which each fair candidate for admiration would necessarily have to contend.

Sir Guy Narborough, an English knight, hitherto unrivalled at these sports, came to Paris upon the occasion, and had selected James Crofts, on account of his great personal comeliness, for his principal squire. He was in search of another, every combatant being required to have two of these attendants, when the youth suggested that his friend Jocelyn, from his superior height, age, and skill, was better qualified than himself for the office of principal squire, which he was willing to resign in his favour, and would content himself with the station of the second. For this purpose they called upon Jocelyn, who was not less flattered by the preference, than delighted at an opportunity of witnessing, and even figuring in a spectacle, of which all Paris was absolutely mad to obtain a glimpse. Proceeding immediately to the Manêge, Sir Guy was delighted with his manner of going through his exercises, and appointed a meeting at the same

place every morning to practise their evolutions, taking upon himself the task of equipping both his pages in an elegant suit of half-armour.

Intense was the public curiosity, and indescribable was the individual anxiety, as the important day approached which had so long absorbed the thoughts and conversation of the Parisians. They who had the distribution of tickets for admission into the courts and galleries were flattered and besieged as if they held the keys of Paradise; they might dictate their own terms for the obtainment of this paramount distinction; princes became supplicants; duchesses were humble solicitors for their friends; and scandal scrupled not to assert that some, who had been long and hopeless wooers to their fair mistresses, immediately softened their obdurate hearts by the presentation of this irresistible card. At length the long expected morning arrived, ushered in by a cloudless sun, as if heaven itself were anxious to add splendour to a scene already emblazoned with all the magnificence of earth. When the sound of trumpets and kettledrums gave notice that the procession was about to commence, every street, window, cornice, projection, and house-top, through which it was to pass, became thickly studded with heads, whose eager eyes glittering in the sun, looked like the countless dew-drops that hang upon the forest-leaves as they sparkle in the first rays of morning.

The knights of the carousal, formed into four

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parties or quadrilles, and attended by their squires, pages, and footmen, with kettle-drums and trumpets, commenced the procession. Each quadrille was distinguished by its own colours and the emblazoned cognizance of the illustrious knight who had been chosen to lead it; and each was enriched with such a glistering gorgeousness of decoration, that it appeared, as it passed, to wrest the palm of admiration from its predecessor. When Jocelyn, however, and his young companion encountered the public eye, equipped in plain half-armour, without helmets on their heads, (for Sir Guy had insisted, that they should carry them in their hands during the procession) it seemed as if the very plainness of their trappings became them better than all that could have been achieved by the most sumptuous ornaments. Gold, silver, and steel, plumes and priceless jewels, had been profusely displayed by others; magnificence and art had done their utmost. Nature was now to assert her supremacy, and to make the superiority of her beauty be felt as well as seen. The symmetry of these two unadorned figures, and the comeliness of their fine faces, shaded by their dark clustering locks, sent a thrill to every bosom; whose effect was testified by the brightened eyes that were rivetted to them as they passed, and by the buzz of admiration that followed their career.

A salvo of cannon, shortly after, announced that the King and his party were about to enter the

great court of the Carousal. First, came a band of Swiss on foot, habited in black velvet toques, led by two gallant cavaliers, in scarlet-coloured satin, and followed by the Grand Provost, wearing in his cap a panache of heron feathers, with a diamond bandeau, and surrounded by twelve little Swiss boys with halberds. Then came the grandees and nobility, magnificently attired and mounted, the whole troop being covered with gold, jewels, and rich caparisons, followed by trumpeters and heralds in blue velvet, and the King's squires bearing the swords and prizes which were to be distributed among the successful combatants. To these succeeded the royal servants and body guard; and lastly, appeared the King himself, mounted on a beautiful Arabian, whose housings were studded with crosses of the order of the Holy Ghost, and Fleur de lis. The monarch, in compliment to the occasion, wore a corslet of steel blazing with diamonds, with a mantle of the richest embroidery, and carried his plumed casque in his hand, courteously saluting the ladies and acclamators, who filled the air with shouts of "Vive le roi!"

The King and his whole court being seated upon the scaffoldings that had been erected in the square, the kettle-drums and trumpets outside the lists sounded for the commencement of the courses, which consisted in the first instance, of running at the ring, or tilting at the Saracen's Head; whoever carried away the four heads being saluted with a