Education--ah, how unlike that which falls to the lot of the
schoolboy of the nineteenth century. As a rule, the care of the
mother was deemed too tender and the paternal roof too indulgent
for a boy after his twelfth year, so he was sent, not exactly to a
boarding school, but to the castle of some eminent noble, such as
the one under our observation; and here, in the company of from ten
to twenty companions of his own age, he began his studies.

We have previously described this course of education in a former
tale, The Rival Heirs, but for the benefit of those who have not read
the afore-said story we must be pardoned a little recapitulation.

He was daily exercised in the use of all manner of weapons,
beginning with such as were of simple character; he was taught to
ride, not only in the saddle, but to sit a horse bare-backed, or
under any conceivable circumstances which might occur. He had to
bend the stout yew bow and to wield the sword, he had to couch the
lance, which art he acquired with dexterity by the practice at the
quintain.

He had also to do the work of a menial, but not in a menial spirit.
It was his to wait upon his lord at table, to be a graceful cup
bearer, a clever carver, able to select the titbits for the ladies,
and then to assign the other portions according to rank.

It was his to follow the hounds, to learn the blasts of the horn,
which belonged to each detail of the field; to track the hunted
animal, to rush in upon boar or stag at bay, to break up or
disembowel the captured quarry.