"Then were the tables taken all away, And every knight, and every gentle squire, Gan choose his dame with _basciomani_[194] gay, With whom he meant to make his sport and play, * * * * * Some fell to dance; some fell to hazardry; Some to make love; some to make merriment." Every knight was welcome at another knight's castle, if it were only for the intelligence he could communicate regarding the deeds of arms that had been done in the countries which he had visited; and the great charm of the castle of the Earl of Foix, to the imagination of Froissart, was the goodly company of knights and squires of honor, pages and damsels, that he met in the hall, chamber, and court, going up and down, and talking of arms and amours.[195] "After meat they went to play, All the people, as I you say; Some to chamber, and some to bower, And some to the high tower, And some in the hall stode, And spake what them thought gode; Men that were of that cytè, Enquired of men of other contrè."[196] [Sidenote: Nature and forms of chivalric entertainments.] Knights were wont, at these entertainments, to repose on couches, or sit on benches. The guests were placed two by two, and only one plate was allotted to each pair; for to eat on the same trencher or plate with any one was considered the strongest mark of friendship or love.[197] Peacocks and pheasants were the peculiar food of knights on great and festival occasions; they were said to be the nutriment of lovers, and the viand of worthies. The peacock was as much esteemed in chivalric as in classic times; and as Jupiter clothed himself with a robe made of that bird's feathers, so Pope Paul, sending to King Pepin a sword, in sign of true regard, accompanied it with a mantle ornamented with a peacock's plumes. The highest honours were conferred on these birds; for knights associated them with all their ideas of fame, and vowed by the peacock, as well as by the ladies, to perform their highest enterprises. A graceful splendour often characterised the circumstances in which the vow of the pheasant or peacock was made.