out, "Touch Ralph de Vipont's shield; he has the least sure seat, he is your cheapest bargain.'

5. The champion, moving onward amid these well-meant hints, ascended the platform by the sloping alley which led to it from the lists, and, to the astonishment of all present, riding straight up to the central pavilion, struck with the sharp end of his spear the shield of Brian de Bois-Guilbert until it rung again. All stood astonished at his presumption, but none more than the redoubted knight whom he had thus defied to mortal combat, and who, little expecting so rude a challenge, was standing carelessly at the door of the pavilion.

6. "Have you confessed yourself, brother," said the Templar, "and have you heard mass this morning, that you peril your life so frankly?"

"I am fitter to meet death than thou art," answered the Disinherited Knight; for by this name the stranger had recorded himself in the books of the tourney.

7. "Then take your place in the lists," said BoisGuilbert, "and look your last upon the sun; for this night thou shalt sleep in paradise."

"Gramercy for thy courtesy," replied the Disinherited Knight; "and to requite it, I advise thee to take a fresh horse and a new lance, for by my honour you will need both."

8. However incensed at his adversary for the precautions which he recommended, Brian de BoisGuilbert did not neglect his advice. When the two champions stood opposed to each other at the two extremities of the lists, the public expectation

was strained to the highest pitch. The trumpets had no sooner given the signal than the champions vanished from their posts with the speed of lightning, and closed in the centre of the lists with the shock of a thunderbolt.

9. The lances burst into shivers up to the very grasp, and it seemed at the moment that both knights had fallen, for the shock had made each horse recoil backwards upon its haunches. The address of the riders recovered their steeds by use of the bridle and spur; and, retiring to the extremity of the lists, each received a fresh lance from the attendants. No sooner had the knights resumed their station than the clamour of applause which had been raised was hushed into a silence so deep and so dead that it seemed the multitude were afraid even to breathe.

10. In the second encounter, the Templar aimed at the centre of his antagonist's shield, and struck it so fair and forcibly, that his spear went to shivers, and the Disinherited Knight reeled in his saddle. On the other hand, that champion had, in the beginning of his career, directed the point of his lance towards the Templar's shield; but, changing his aim almost in the moment of encounter, he addressed it to the helmet, a mark more difficult to hit, but which, if attained, rendered the shock more irresistible.

11. Fair and true, he hit the Norman on the visor. The girths of his saddle burst, and saddle, horse, and man rolled on the ground under a cloud of dust. To extricate himself from the stirrups and

fallen steed was to the Templar scarce the work of a moment; and stung with madness, both at his disgrace and at the acclamations with which it was hailed by the spectators, he drew his sword and waved it in defiance of his conqueror.

12. The Disinherited Knight sprung from his steed, and also unsheathed his sword. The marshals of the field, however, spurred their horses between them, and reminded them that the laws of the tournament did not, on the present occasion, permit this species of encounter.

"We shall meet again, I trust," said the Templar, casting a resentful glance at his antagonist; "and where there are none to separate us."

"If we do not," said the Disinherited Knight, "the fault shall not be mine. On foot or horseback, with spear, with axe, or with sword, I am alike ready to encounter thee."

Summary:-Prince John, in the absence of his brother Richard I., presided at the tournament, which was attended by an immense multitude of all ranks and classes. Sir Brian, the Templar Knight, held his own till an unknown knight, bearing the motto "The Disinherited," challenged him to mortal combat. In the first encounter both the knights had their lances burst into shivers; in the second, Sir Brian received such a blow on his visor that horse and man rolled on the ground. About to fight with their swords, the marshals of the field reminded the knights that the laws of the tournament did not on that occasion permit that species of encounter.

Exercises: 1. Write an account of Prince (afterwards King) John.

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2. Explain-"Robes of peace;" Note of defiance;" Public expectation was strained to the highest pitch."

3. The Latin prefix ad signifies to (ad assumes the forms of a, ac, af, ag, al, an, ap, ar, as, at, to correspond with the first letter of the root with which it is joined)-as, accept, to take to oneself; advance, to move to; affix, to fix to; annex, to tie to; append, to hang to; ascend, to climb to. Make sentences containing accept, advance, affix, annex, append, ascend.

V. THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY.

1. Without alighting from his horse, the Disinherited Knight commanded his trumpet to sound a defiance to the challengers, and desired a herald to announce to them that he should make no election

that he was willing to encounter them in the order in which they pleased to advance against him.

2. The gigantic Front-de-Bœuf, armed in sable armour, was the next to take the field. Over this champion the Disinherited Knight obtained a slight but decisive advantage. In the stranger's third encounter, he was equally successful. In his fourth combat, owing to his opponent's horse plunging so as to disturb the rider's aim, he raised his lance, and passed his antagonist without touching him.

3. Riding back to his own end of the lists, he by a herald offered his antagonist the chance of a second encounter. But the defeated knight declined, avowing himself vanquished as much by the