During the Christmas festivities of this period the most noble Order of the Garter was instituted by King Edward III. to excite emulation amongst the aristocratic warriors of the time, in imitation of orders of a similar kind, both religious and military, which had been instituted by different monarchs of Europe; and that those who were admitted to the order were enjoined to exalt the religion of Christ is evident from some lines which Chaucer addressed to the Lords and Knights-- "Do forth, do forth, continue your succour, Hold up Christ's banner, let it not fall." And again-- "Ye Lordis eke, shining in noble fame, To which appropered is the maintenance Of Christ 'is cause; in honour of his name, Shove on, and put his foes to utterance." In imitation of King Arthur, Edward III. set up at Windsor a Round Table, which was consecrated with feasts and tournaments, and baptized with the blood of the brave. On New Year's Day, 1344, he issued his royal letters of protection for the safe-coming and return of foreign knights to the solemn jousts which he appointed to be held at Windsor on St. Hilary's Day, in extension of the Christmas festivities. The festival was opened with a splendid supper; and the next day, and until Lent, all kinds of knightly feats of arms were performed. "The queen and her ladies," says an old historian, "that they might with more convenience behold this spectacle, were orderly seated upon a firm ballustrade, or scaffold, with rails before it, running all round the lists. And certainly their extraordinary beauties, set so advantageously forth with excessive riches of apparel, did prove a sight as full of pleasant encouragement to the combatants, as the fierce hacklings of men and horses, gallantly armed, were a delightful terror to the feminine beholders." [Illustration: LADIES LOOKING FROM THE HUSTINGS UPON THE TOURNAMENT.]