astonishment, "Why, noble dame, you have taken off your hood to a tailor."--"Yes," she replied, "and I would rather have doffed it to him than to a gentleman:" and her courteous friends reputed that she had done right well.[202] [Sidenote: Education.] [Sidenote: Music.] The mental education of women of those days was not of a very high polish. To repeat the prayers of the church, to sing the brief piece of poetry called the lai, or the longer romaunt were the only tasks on the intellect. "The king had a daughter dear, That maiden Ysonde hight; That glee was lef to hear And romance to read aright."[203] The ladies also played upon the harp. "They were wont to harp and syng, And be the merriest in chamber comyng."[204] The same particular of ancient manners is recorded by another poet: "The lady that was so fair and bright, Upon the bed she sat down right, The harpers notes sweet and fine, Her maids filled a price of wine. And Sir Degore sat him down, For to hear the harper's sown."[205] [Sidenote: Graver sciences.] But sometimes the graver sciences were introduced into female education, and Felice, the daughter of Rohand, Earl of Warwick, was not without parallels. "Gentle she was, and as demure As ger-fauk, or falcon to lure, That out of mew were y-drawe. So fair was none, in sooth sawe. She was thereto courteous, and free and wise, And in the seven arts learned withouten miss. Her masters were thither come Out of Thoulouse all and some, White and hoar all they were; Busy they were that maiden to lere; And they her lered of astronomy, Of armsmetrick, and of geometry; Of sophistry she was also witty, Of rhetorick, and of other clergy: Learned she was in musick; Of clergy was her none like."[206] Maidens were taught that a mild dignity of demeanour beseemed them, and moralising their duty into a thousand similies, their teachers declared that they ought not to resemble the tortoise or the crane, which turn the visage and the head above their shoulders, and winde their head like a vane; but their regard and manner ought to be steadfast, in imitation of the beautiful hare, which always looks right on. If an occasion required a damsel to look aside, she ought to turn the visage and body together, and so her estate would be more firm and sure; for it was unmaidenly lightly to cast about her sight and head, and turn her face here and there.[207] [Sidenote: Dress.]