Stanza XXVII. line 506. my = 'of me,' retains the old genitive force as in Elizabethan English. Cp. Julius Caesar, i. I. 55:-- 'In HIS way That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood.' line 516. The very old fancy of a forsaken lover's revenge has been powerfully utilized in D. G. Rossetti's fascinating ballad, 'Sister Helen':-- 'Pale, pale her cheeks, that in pride did glow, Sister Helen, 'Neath the bridal-wreath three days ago.' 'One morn for pride and three days for woe, Little brother!' Stanza XXVIII. line 520. plight, woven, united, as in Spenser F. Q., II. vi. 7:-- 'Fresh flowerets dight About her necke, or rings of rushes PLIGHT.' lines 524-40. The reference in these lines is to what was known as the appeal to the judgment of God. On this subject, Scott at the close of the second head in his 'Essay on Chivalry,' says, 'In the appeal to this awful criterion, the combatants, whether personally concerned, or appearing as champions, were understood, in martial law, to take on themselves the full risk of all consequences. And, as the defendant, or his champion, in case of being overcome, was subjected to the punishment proper to the crime of which he was accused, so the appellant, if vanquished, was, whether a principal or substitute, condemned to the same doom to which his success would have exposed the accused. Whichever combatant was vanquished he was liable to the penalty of degradation; and, if he survived the combat, the disgrace to which he was subjected was worse than death. His spurs were cut off close to his heels, with a cook's cleaver; his arms were baffled and reversed by the common hangman; his belt was cut to pieces, and his sword broken. Even his horse shared his disgrace, the animal's tail being cut off, close by the rump, and thrown on a dunghill. The death-bell tolled, and the funeral service was said for a knight thus degraded as for one dead to knightly honour. And if he fell in the appeal to the judgment of God, the same dishonour was done to his senseless corpse. If alive, he was only rescued from death to be confined in the cloister. Such at least were the strict roles of Chivalry, though the courtesy of the victor, or the clemency of the prince, might remit them in favourable cases.' For illustration of forms observed at such contests, see Richard II, i. 3. line 524. Each knight declared on oath that he 'had his quarrel just.' The fall of an unworthy knight is referred to below, VI. 961. Stanza XXIX. line 545. This illustrates Henry's impulsive and imperious character, and is not, necessarily, a premonition of his final attitude towards Roman Catholicism.