"Kings, princes, lords, If there be one, among the fair'st of Greece, That holds his honour higher than his ease; That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril; That knows his valour, and knows not his fear; That loves his mistress more than in confession, (With truant vows to her own lips he loves,) And dare avow her beauty and her worth, In other arms than hers,--to him this challenge. Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks, Shall make it good, or do his best to do it. He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer, Than ever Greek did compass in his arms; And will to-morrow with his trumpet call, Midway between yon tents and walls of Troy, To rouse a Grecian that is true in love: If any come, Hector shall honour him; If none, he'll say in Troy, when he retires, The Grecian dames are sun-burn'd, and not worth The splinter of a lance." Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3. [236] Cronique de Saintré, vol. iii. c. 65. [237] This society of the Penitents of Love is mentioned by the Chevalier of the Tower, whose book I have so often quoted in illustration of the chivalric character. [238] The Lai of Sir Gruélan. [239] Way's Fabliaux, vol. ii. p. 170. The _moral_ of the Lay of Aristotle brings to mind Voltaire's two celebrated lines under a statue of Cupid:-- "Qui que tu sois, tu vois ton maitre, Il l'est, le fut, ou le doit être." [240] Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 8, &c. [241] Ibid. p. 41. [242] Lai of the Canonesses and the Gray Nuns. [243] L'Histoire et plaisante Cronicque du petit Jehan de Saintré, vol. i. c. 7. [244] Lai of the Countess of Vergy. [245] Romance of Guy of Warwick. [246] Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 104. [247] Romance of Sir Bevis. In Ariosto, the heroine Bradamante wishes Rugiero to be baptized; and he replies, with great gallantry, that he would put his head not only into water, but into fire, for the sake of her love. Non che nell' acqua, disse, ma nel foco Per tuo amor porre il capo mi fia poco. Orlando Furioso, canto xxii. st. 36. [248] Don Quixote himself was not a greater idolater of the ladies, than was the valiant Marshal Boucicaut, who, however, carried his fear of impertinent intrusion to a more romantic pitch than perhaps the ladies liked, for he would not even permit the knights of his banner to look a second time at a window where a handsome woman was seated. Mémoires, partie 3. c. 7.