therefore retired into the depths of the sweet English country,
among the then unspoilt forests and woodlands, and there happening
to find a small manor-house for immediate sale, surrounded by a
considerable quantity of land, he purchased it for the ready cash
he had about him and settled down in it for the remainder of his
life. Little by little, such social ambitions as he had ever
possessed left him, and with every passing year he grew more and
more attached to the simplicity and seclusion of his surroundings.
He had leisure for the indulgence of his delight in books, and he
was able to give the rein to his passion for poetry, though it is
nowhere recorded that he ever published the numerous essays,
sonnets and rhymed pieces which, written in the picturesque
caligraphy of the period, and roughly bound by himself in
sheepskin, occupied a couple of shelves in his library. He entered
with animation and interest into the pleasures of farming and
other agricultural pursuits, and by-and-bye as time went on and
the former idol of his dreams descended from her fair estate of
virtue and scandalised the world by her liaison with Lord
Mountjoy, he appears to have gradually resigned the illusions of
his first love, for he married a simple village girl, remarkable,
so it was said, for her beauty, but more so for her skill in
making butter and cheese. She could neither read nor write,
however, and the traditions concerning the Sieur Amadis relate
that he took a singular pleasure in teaching her these
accomplishments, as well as in training her to sing and to
accompany herself upon the lute in a very pretty manner. She made
him an excellent wife, and gave him no less than six children,
three boys and three girls, all of whom were brought up at home
under the supervision of their father and mother, and encouraged
to excel in country pursuits and to understand the art of