“The qualifications for a knight, cavallero, or horse-soldier, in the barbarous stage of society, were three: _1st_, That he should be able to endure fatigue, hardship, and privations. _2dly_, That he should have been used to strike, that his blows might be the more deadly. _3dly_, That he should be bloody-minded, and rob, hack, and destroy the enemy without compunction. The persons, therefore, who were preferred, were mountaineers, accustomed to hunting,—carpenters, blacksmiths, stone-cutters, and butchers. But it being found that such persons would sometimes run away, it was then discovered that they who were chosen for cavaliers ought to have a natural sense of shame. And for this reason it was appointed that they should be men of family.”—_Partida, ii. T. 21. L. 2. Vegetius, l. 1. c. 7._ The privileges of knighthood were at one time so great, that if the goods of a knight were liable to seizure, they could not be seized where he or his wife were present, nor even where his cloak or shield was to be found.—_Part. ii. Tit. 21. Ley 23._ * * * * * _The coated scales of steel Which o’er the tunic to his knees depend._—XII. p. 111. Canciani (T. 3. p. 34.) gives a representation of Roland from the porch of the Cathedral at Verona, which is supposed to have been built about the beginning of the ninth century. The figure is identified by the inscription on the sword, ... _Du-rin-dar-da_. The _lorica_, which Canciani explains, _Vestica bellica maculis ferreis contexta_, is illustrated by this figure. It is a coat or frock of _scale_-mail reaching to the knees, and with half sleeves. The only hand which appears is unarmed, as far as the elbow. The right leg also is unarmed, the other leg and foot are in the same sort of armour as the coat. The end of a loose garment appears under the mail. The shield reaches from the chin to the middle of the leg, it is broad enough at the top to cover the breast and shoulder, and slopes gradually off to the form of a long oval. * * * * * _At every saddle-bow A gory head was hung._—XIV. p. 127. This picture frequently occurs in the Spanish Chronicles. Sigurd the elder, Earl of Orkney, owed his death to a like custom. “Suddenly clapping spurs to his horse, as he was returning home in triumph, bearing, like each of his followers, one of these bloody spoils, a large front tooth in the mouth of the head which hung dangling by his side, cut the calf of his leg,—the wound mortified, and he died.—The Earl must have been bare-legged.”—_Torfæus, quoted in Edmonston’s View of the Zetland Islands_, vol. i. p. 33. * * * * * _In reverence to the priestly character._—XV. p. 135.