Eleanor of Aquitaine was divorced from her first husband, Louis VII. of France, on account of misbehavior at Antioch, during the Second Crusade. Her conduct after her second marriage, with Henry II. of England, is agreed to have been irreproachable on the score of chastity. It is rather hard, therefore, that her reputation should be assailed as it is here; but if we complain of this injustice, what shall we say when we find, further on, the same story, with others even more ridiculous, told of the virtuous Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I.? See Peele's _Chronicle History of Edward I._, Dyce's ed. i. 185, 188, _seq._, and the ballad in vol. vii., 291. Both of these ballads are indeed pretty specimens of the historical value of popular traditions. The idea of the unlucky shrift is borrowed from some old story-teller. It occurs in the _fabliau Du Chevalier qui fist sa Fame confesse_, Barbazan, ed. M['e]on, iii. 229, in Boccaccio G. vii. 5, Bandello, Malespini, &c.; also in La Fontaine's _Le Mari Confesseur_. The following ballad is from the _Collection_ of 1723, vol. i. p. 18. There are several other versions: Percy's _Reliques_, ii. 165 (with corrections); Buchan's _Gleanings_, p. 77; Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, p. 1 (_Earl Marshal_, from recitation); Aytoun's _Ballads of Scotland_, new ed. i. 196; Kinloch's _Ancient Scottish Ballads_, p. 247. Queen Eleanor was a sick woman, And afraid that she should dye; Then she sent for two fryars of France, To speak with her speedily. The King call'd down his nobles all, 5 By one, by two, by three, And sent away for Earl Marshal, To speak with him speedily. When that he came before the King, He fell on his bended knee; 10 "A boon, a boon, our gracious king, That you sent so hastily." "I'll pawn my lands," the King then cry'd, "My sceptre and my crown, That whatsoe're Queen Eleanor says, 15 I will not write it down. "Do you put on a fryar's coat, And I'll put on another; And we will to Queen Eleanor go, Like fryar and his brother." 20 Thus both attired then they go: When they came to Whitehall, The bells did ring, and the choristers sing, And the torches did light them all. When that they came before the Queen, 25 They fell on their bended knee; "A boon, a boon, our gracious queen, That you sent so hastily." "Are you two fryars of France," she said, "As I suppose you be? 30 But if you are two English fryars, Then hanged you shall be." "We are two fryars of France," they said, "As you suppose we be; We have not been at any mass 35 Since we came from the sea."