Nothing distinguishes him from the mercenary bravo, but a
spirit of patriotism, or a thirst for glory. It is the fashion
now-a-days, my son," said he, "to laugh at the spirit of chivalry;
when that spirit is really extinct, the profession of the soldier
becomes a mere trade of blood." He then set before him the conduct of
Edward the Black Prince, who is his mirror of chivalry; valiant,
generous, affable, humane; gallant in the field. But when he came to
dwell on his courtesy toward his prisoner, the king of France; how he
received him in his tent, rather as a conqueror than as a captive;
attended on him at table like one of his retinue; rode uncovered
beside him on his entry into London, mounted on a common palfrey,
while his prisoner was mounted in state on a white steed of stately
beauty; the tears of enthusiasm stood in the old gentleman's eyes.
Finally, on taking leave, the good Squire put in his son's hands, as a
manual, one of his favourite old volumes, the life of the Chevalier
Bayard, by Godefroy; on a blank page of which he had written an
extract from the Morte d'Arthur, containing the eulogy of Sir Ector
over the body of Sir Launcelot of the Lake, which the Squire considers
as comprising the excellencies of a true soldier.
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