missal, asked, "Will you receive the order of knighthood in the name of the Lord God, and observe these rules?" The young Count having replied, that he would, the Bishop gave him in writing the form of the oath he was to take, which, without rising from his knees, he proceeded to read aloud in the following terms: "I, William of Hainault, Count of Ostrevant, and vassal of the Holy Roman Empire, promise upon oath, in presence of my Lords, Peter Bishop of Cambray, and the illustrious Prince William Count of Hainault, Holland, and Zealand, Lord of Friesland, my lord and father, and of the noble peers of Hainault and Valenciennes, to keep all the laws of chivalry, by my hands placed on these Holy Evangelists."

The Bishop then told him, that he gave him the order in remission of his sins; upon which, his father advanced and struck him with his sword, saying, "I dub thee knight, for the honor and in the name, of God Almighty, and I receive you into our order of chivalry. Remember to keep all the ordinances of knighthood!" Immediately the two heralds of Hainault and Valenciennes bade the trumpets sound, and called aloud three times,

Long live William of Hainault, Count of Ostrevant!" After which, the procession again formed, and moved back to the palace, where a splendid banquet was served up, and the day concluded with

a tournament.

Such was the ceremony of conferring knighthood,

when all circumstances permitted pageantry and splendour to accompany the solemn act: but it took place upon many other occasions when such could not be the case; and it may be easily conceived, that previous to, or immediately after, a great battle, the proceedings were very different, and perhaps less splendid, but not less solemn. Nor were the duties less strictly pointed out and enjoined on these occasions than on others. Of this we have a very striking instance, in the account given of the reception of the young Prince Joam of Portugal into the order of chivalry, immediately after the storming of the Moorish fortress of Arsilla, by his father, Alphonso V. In a former campaign the King of Portugal had met with most severe and terrible reverses, and the honor of his arms had been, for the time, sadly diminished; but after a pause of several years, he returned to Africa with a considerable army, and attacked the town of Arsilla, situated on the shores of the Atlantic. The defence was resolute; but the Portuguese monarch was determined to recover his renown; and the city being taken by storm, no quarter was given. The desperate resistance of the garrison, however, had caused a number of the most gallant Portuguese knights to fall in the assault; and amongst these was the Count of Marialva, whose body was carried into the chief mosque, and a crucifix placed upon it. Such was the moment, and such was the scene, in which Alphonso chose to bestow knighthood on his

son, who had greatly distinguished himself in the attack. After praying for some time by the side of the dead body, he commanded the prince to kneel down by it also; and drawing his sword, he announced to him his intention of conferring on him. the order of chivalry, and arming him with his own hand. "But in the first place, my son," he said, "know that chivalry consists in an alliance between power and virtue, for the purpose of establishing peace among men, whenever ambition, avarice, or tyranny, trouble states, or injure individuals; for knights are bound to employ their swords to destroy tyrants, and to raise good men in their place. They are likewise obliged to be faithful to their sovereign, to obey their leaders in war, and to give them good counsel. It is also the duty of a knight to be frank and liberal, and to look on nothing as his own, except his horse and arms, which he is bound to keep for the sake of acquiring honor, in the defence of his religion, his country, and the oppressed. As the priesthood was instituted for divine service, so was knighthood for the maintenance of religion and justice. A knight ought to be the husband of widows, the father of orphans, the protector of the poor, and the prop of those who have no other support. Those who do not thus act, are unworthy of the name of knight. These, my son, are the obligations which the order of chivalry will impose upon you; are you desirous of obtaining it on such terms?"

The Prince replied in the affirmative; the King exacted from him a promise to perform all that the customs of the order required, and then struck him three times with his sword on the helmet, saying, "I dub you knight, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and the Holy Ghost;" after which, he pointed to the corpse of Marialva, saying, "God make you as good a knight as this, whose body you see pierced in several places for the service of God and his sovereign !"*

Many variations took place in the different parts of the ceremonial, according to the circumstances of the parties. The words of the adjuration varied in various countries, in reference to the patron saint of each; but the name of St. George was called upon by almost all nations. Thus we find, that the common expression used in France, was, "In the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George, I dub thee knight-be loyal, bold, and true."

In general, if the ceremony was performed in the time of peace, the arms were buckled on by the hands of the persons present, and frequently

* I have abridged this account a good deal. Mariana does not mention the knighthood, but he confirms the account of the King's observation on the body of Marialva, saying, "Ca murió mucha gente noble, en particular los condes, el de Montesanto llamado don Alvaro de Castro, y el de Marialva por nombre don Juan Coutiño cuyo cuerpo muerto como el Rey le viese, vuelto á su hijo Oxalá (dixo) Dios te haga tal y tan grande soldado."

by the ladies of the court in which it took place, commencing, usually, with the spurs of gold, which custom gave occasion of the common expression, when any young aspirant to chivalry had particularly distinguished himself, that he had won his spurs. It must be remarked, also, that according to the rules of that day, the golden spurs were the first ornaments of that precious metal which a young nobleman was permitted to wear; the use of gold in their garments being generally prohibited to all, however high their rank, who had not received the order of knighthood.

I have met with no account of the particular ceremonies observed, when the King of France received Richard, afterwards King of England, into the order of chivalry. They were probably, however, accompanied by all the pageantry and splendour which the court of France could display on such an occasion; but the very fact of his son receiving knighthood from the hands of Louis, must have been a very great mortification to Henry the Second. It was even in some degree a disadvantage, also, to that monarch; for between the young knight and the person who had dubbed him, was created, by the very fact, a sort of chivalrous affinity which could never be shaken off. The person who had dubbed the other, was called his godfather, and was looked upon in some degree as his father in arms; so that, although inferior persons were proud and happy to see their sons receive the order of chivalry from high nobles