There were held at that time certain gay assemblies at Puy Sainte Marie, where the noble ladies and gentlemen of many miles round met for a season to enjoy courteous pastimes. The knights measured their strength in the lists, the troubadours sang their sweetest _canzos_ for prizes, made more valuable by the beautiful hands which distributed them. At this gay court the Monk of Montaudon was now created master of the revels, and in this capacity had to hold the celebrated sparrow-hawk, a time-honoured ceremony, performed by him with portly dignity, we may imagine. At the beginning of each of these annual feasts the ‘Master of the Court of Puy’ stood in the midst of the noble guests, took a sparrow-hawk on his fist, and calmly waited till one of the great barons relieved him of his burden. The acceptance of the bird involved the obligation of bearing the not inconsiderable expenses of the whole feast, and was therefore the exclusive privilege of the richest and most liberal nobles. Perhaps it was owing to this pretty but frequently ruinous custom that the Court of Puy itself came to an untimely end. After its expiration the Monk of Montaudon went to Spain, where his abbot conferred upon him the dignity of Prior of Villafranca, in acknowledgment, most likely, of his exemplary life. This monastery, also, the monk enriched with the gifts of his literary patrons. He lived to an advanced age, and died much esteemed and loved by his brethren. He flourished about the end of the twelfth century. From this short sketch of the monk’s life some anticipatory notion of his poetry may be formed. There is in his works a spirit of freshness and animal vigour which ought somewhat to atone for a considerable admixture of grossness in thought and expression. Whatever the poet’s faults may be, hypocrisy is not amongst them; and, to leave no doubt whatever as to his tastes, he has dedicated three entire songs of moderate size to the enumeration of all the things in the world which excite his just displeasure. A fourth and supplementary poem describes the more agreeable aspects of life by way of contrast. This _catalogue raisonné_ of lights and shadows is exceedingly curious, and outspoken beyond the imagination and endurance of polite minds and ears.