But in modern times literary habits have been comparatively rare among princes, and of those who turned their attention in this direction--- more as a pastime than a study--few names would have survived in the literary world had it not been for their connection with Royalty. On the other hand, many of our queens have interested themselves in literature, and it is recorded how Adelicia of Louvaine--surnamed “The Fair Maid of Brabant”--second queen of Henry I., employed her days of widowhood in collecting materials for the history of her mighty lord; and Eleanora of Aquitaine was a popular troubadour poet, her chansons having been famous long after her death. By hereditary right, too, she was reviewer of the poets of Provence, and at the “Courts of Love,” when chansons were sung or recited before her by the troubadours, she sat in judgment, and passed sentence on their literary merits. Richard I. was a troubadour poet, and Matthew Paris tells how, when he was imprisoned at Tenebreuse, he composed a poem, preserved in the Bibliothèque Royal. Eleanor of Provence, queen of Henry III., almost before she entered her teens, had written an heroic poem in her native Provençal tongue, and her taste for literature she seems to have imparted to her husband, for his reign affords the first example of a poet-laureate, in the person of one Master Henry, to whom by the name of “our beloved versificator” his Majesty ordered “one hundred shillings to be given in payment of his arrears;” and several romances are said to have been written under this monarch’s supervision. Eleanora of Castile, in addition to her many other accomplishments, was fond of literature, and gave it every encouragement. According to Warton, she paid forty shillings to one Richard du Marche for illuminating a psalter, and at her request John de Pentham translated from Latin into French a treatise of religion, called “Hierarchy,” which is preserved in the library of St. Geneviève in Paris. Adversity appears to have had a sobering and hallowing influence on Edward II., the following lines having been written by him in Latin during his captivity:-- “On my devoted head Her bitterest showers, All from a wintry cloud, Stern Fortune pours. View but her favourite, Sage and discerning, Graced with fair comeliness, Famed for his learning; Should she withdraw her smiles, Each grace she banishes, Wisdom and wit are flown, And beauty vanishes.” It was, however, a different motive that prompted a royal Plantagenet poet, Edward, Duke of York, cousin-german to King Henry IV., to write the following amatory stanzas in praise of the attractive Joanna of Navarre:-- “Excellent sovereign! seemly to see, Proved prudence, peerless of price; Bright blossom of benignity, Of figure fairest, and freshest of days!