subsequent notes) between 1507 and 1509, and we are of
opinion that the Queen of Navarre has made her heroine
rather older than she really was, and that the story indeed
begins in or about 1505, when Rolandine can have been little
more than five or six and twenty.--Ed.

3 See notes to Tale XL. (vol. iv).

Thus, owing to her father's neglect and her mistress's disdain, the poor
maiden continued unmarried for a long while; and this at last made her
sad at heart, not so much because she longed to be married as because
she was ashamed at not being so, wherefore she forsook the vanities and
pomps of the Court and gave herself up wholly to the worship of God. Her
sole delight consisted in prayer or needlework, and thus in retirement
she passed her youthful years, living in the most virtuous and holy
manner imaginable.

Now, when she was approaching her thirtieth year, there was at Court a
gentleman who was a Bastard of a high and noble house; (4) he was one of
the pleasantest comrades and most worshipful men of his day, but he was
wholly without fortune, and possessed of such scant comeliness that no
lady would have chosen him for her lover.

4 One cannot absolutely identify this personage; but judging
by what is said of him in the story--that he came of a great
house, that he was very brave but poor, neither rich enough
to marry Rolandine nor handsome enough to be made a lover
of, and that a lady, who was a near relative of his, came to
the Court after his intrigue had been going on for a couple
of years--he would certainly appear to be John, Bastard of