Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/165

Rh with pink feathers drooping from immense hats; and misshapen shoes, vying in the longitude of their peaks with a barber's pole: he will be reminded of grim-visaged emperors ornamented with royal beards, and projecting jaws—in short, he will distinguish the whole of what these volumes delineate. There is in the British Museum a beautiful manuscript of the "Romant de la Rose," which will, in most respects, exemplify my observations.

It would appear that hospitality was a never-failing virtue; and the eagerness with which pilgrims and way-faring persons were invited to share the repast, and partake the couch of the friendly citizen; or to occupy the castle of the knight, is a pleasing trait in the character of the times. But it will be thought, that wisdom was a scarce commodity, when three prudential maxims were