Who made the harps of the minstrels ring?
Oh, well they might imagine it
Hard for chivalry's ranks to show
A knight more gallant to face a foe,
With a firmer lance or a heavier blow,
Than Richard I. Plantagenet;

Or gayer withal: for he loved his joke,
As well as he loved, with slashing stroke,
The haughtiest helm to hack at:
Wine or blood he laughingly poured;
'Twas a lightsome word or a heavy sword,
As he found a foe or a festive board,
With a skull or a joke to crack at.

Yet some their candid belief avow,
That, if Richard lived in England now,
And his lot were only a common one,
He ne'er had meddled with kings or states,
But might have been a bruiser of pates
And champion now of the "heavy weights,"--
A first-rate "Fighting Phenomenon."

A vassal bound in peace and war
To Richard I. was Vidomar,--
A noble as proud and needy
As ever before that monarch bowed,
But not so needy and not so proud
As the monarch himself was greedy.