=The Three Preparatory Stages of Education.=--There were three periods in the preparatory training of a knight. First, until the child was seven or eight, he was trained in religion, politeness, and physique at home by his mother. After this he became a ‘valet’ or ‘page’ at the home of a nobleman, who was generally his father’s feudal superior. Here he performed personal duties for his lord and lady, and his education was conducted mostly by the latter. He learned the game of chess, acquired the etiquette of love and honor, and was taught to play the harp and pipe and to sing, to read and write, and to compose in verse. Outside the castle, the pages were trained in running, wrestling, boxing, riding, and rudimentary tilting (Fig. 14). In the third stage, at fourteen or fifteen the youth passed to the grade of ‘squire,’ and, while he still attended the lady and carved the meat or handed around the viands for the guests, his chief service was to the knight and his training came through him. He slept near him at night, groomed his horses, kept his armor and weapons in condition, and attended him at the tournament or upon the battlefield. Through this service the squire himself was practiced in all the warlike arts. Toward the close of the period the embryo knight also chose his lady-love, and learned to write verses and dance. When the squire became twenty-one, he was knighted with many religious ceremonies. After a season of fasting, the candidate entered the church in full armor and spent a night in vigil and holy meditation. In the morning he confessed, had his sword blessed upon the altar by the priest, and took an oath to defend the church, protect women, and succor the poor. He then knelt before his lord, who laid his own sword upon the candidate and dubbed him knight. [Sidenote: Courage, but cruelty;] [Sidenote: self-respect, but pride;] [Sidenote: liberality, but extravagance;] [Sidenote: and other anomalies.] [Sidenote: Counteraction of otherworldliness.]