Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/173

158 home, the men have hunting and hawking, the ladies their household, their embroidery and music; both have dances and honest amusements, "which make us forget a thousand foolish thoughts." In addition to devotion, they must have something which shall take the place of all this. It is then that Parlamente, who takes a sort of second lead in ruling the little society, suggests that they shall imitate the novels of Boccaccio. And a sort of compromise is finally adopted, by which the ladies and gentlemen agree to spend their forenoons in prayer, and their afternoons in pastime.

We can easily imagine that fair and gallant company, mastering in the pleasant warmth of the autumn noonday, along the road that leads from the convent to the pleasant meadow where they hold their sessions. Madame Oisille, all in white and sober black, stands out conspicuously from the knot of gaily-blended colours. Her dress we may fancy to be the same that the Queen of Navarre wears in the illustrations to La Coche. The others are clad after the pattern of the sisters and brothers of the Abbey of Thelema. The men wear close beards and moustaches, their hair clipped very short, and covered with a small low cap of black velvet, from which, towards the front, a white plume of Marabout feathers starts. Their long stockings are white or black, crimson or scarlet; their slashed trunk hose are of the same colours or of a varying and harmonious shade. They wear slashed and embroidered pourpoints, in cloth of gold or silver, damask, satin or velvet; their short cloaks are richly furred and guarded. At his side each man carries a handsome sword, with a gilded hilt and a sheath the same colour as his hose.

The ladies are yet more magnificent. Orange,